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Cited by 55Mindfulness and Compassion InterventionsReligion, Spirituality, and PsychologyPsychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

Meditation Benefits and Drawbacks: Empirical Codebook and Implications for Teaching

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Anderson, Thomas, Suresh, Mallika, Farb, Norman AS·2019·Journal of Cognitive Enhancement
DOI 10.1007/s41465-018-00119-y
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Abstract

Meditation has become a cultural phenomenon, and modern scientific research on the topic has exploded. Thousands of scientific articles report various benefits of meditation including clinical, physiological and well-being outcomes. Despite these benefits, drop-out rates in mindfulness-based interventions remain a problem and little work has studied the drawbacks of meditation. Reports of adverse reactions to meditation have emerged and critical voices have begun advocating caution, rather than enthusiasm, for meditation training. Furthermore, the experiences of meditators outside interventions and conventional lab studies are not well understood. Here we develop an empirical codebook of and framework for meditation benefits and drawbacks (MBDs), discussing the actionable implications for meditation training in the real world. These data reveal the major drawbacks hindering real-world meditators, including several less intuitive drawbacks. We also report the major benefits of meditation and generate a structural framework from which they can be understood in parallel with drawbacks. We investigate whether meditation styles affect MBDs and report comparisons between current and former meditators. These results bring cogent structure to the variety of meditation outcomes laypeople experience. As the number of meditators continues to increase, we need such structures to inform how meditation is taught, ensuring ethically informed consent and optimizing practice-fit. Mixed-methods research such as this study allows a greater practical understanding of how meditation is experienced in situ. This work complements the literature on the clinical benefits and neurophysiological mechanisms of meditation and this framework will inform clinicians, researchers and meditation teachers as best practices are reviewed in the coming years.

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48 of 48 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • There is no reasonable doubt that meditation can cause challenging experiences.

    “There is no reasonable doubt that meditation can cause challenging experiences.”

    From Prevalence of meditation-related adverse effects in a population-based sample in the United States (2022) · cites this paper as Anderson et al., 2019

  • The prevalence of unpleasant meditation-related experiences found in this study is in line with rates found in previous studies using a similar open-ended question format, whereas studies using systematic monitoring found higher rates.

    “Those numbers are in line with rates found in previous studies that used a similar open-ended question format,6,25–28 whereas studies using systematic monitoring of unpleasant experiences found higher rates.7,8”

    From Prevalence, predictors and types of unpleasant and adverse effects of meditation in regular meditators: international cross-sectional study (2022) · cites this paper as [25]

  • Experiential challenges during mindfulness practice include affective demands such as cognitive effort and frustration, task demands introduced by the physical environment such as noisy surroundings and people, and negative emotional or psychological outcomes such as boredom, upsetting thoughts, and emotions.

    “Anderson et al [10] recently summarized a range of experiential challenges that can arise during mindfulness practice. These include affective demands such as cognitive effort and frustration, task demands introduced by the physical environment (eg, noisy surroundings and people), and negative emotional or psychological outcomes, such as boredom, upsetting thoughts, and emotions.”

    From Understanding How Virtual Reality Can Support Mindfulness Practice: Mixed Methods Study (2020) · cites this paper as [10]

  • Being engaged in the VE was beneficial in that it maintained interest across the practice, and the VE itself was neither overwhelming nor burdensome on concentration for most participants-a challenge often reported with conventional mindfulness practice.

    “Being engaged in the VE was beneficial in that it maintained interest across the practice, and the VE itself was neither overwhelming nor burdensome on concentration for most participants—a challenge often reported with conventional mindfulness practice [10].”

    From Understanding How Virtual Reality Can Support Mindfulness Practice: Mixed Methods Study (2020) · cites this paper as [10]

  • Demands introduced by the physical environment have been discussed in previous research as a prominent challenge in conventional meditation practice.

    “Demands introduced by the physical environment have been discussed in previous research as a prominent challenge in conventional meditation practice [10]”

    From Understanding How Virtual Reality Can Support Mindfulness Practice: Mixed Methods Study (2020) · cites this paper as [10]

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Authors
Anderson, T., Suresh, M., & Farb, N. A.
Affiliations
University of Toronto (CA)
Corresponding author
Anderson, Thomas
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Cognitive Enhancement
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2019-01-14
Volume
3
Issue
2
Pages
207-220
ISSN
  • 2509-3290 (ISSN-L)
  • 2509-3304
DOI
10.1007/s41465-018-00119-y
OpenAlex
W2910469383
Semantic Scholar
b49c5579e64816ae09f6afbc1ee20fb1aed3d4f0
Cited by
55
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2
FWCI
6.43
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Cognitive Enhancement (publishedVersion)
  • OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
  • Canadian Foundation for Innovation
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
Keywords
meditation, mindfulness-based interventions

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