“It’s like a charge – either fuses you or burns you out”: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of extreme mental states in meditation context
Open accessAbstract
Meditation, an ancient Eastern spiritual practice, is increasingly being practised in the West where its benefits for mental and physical health have been established. Extreme mental states that can be encountered in the context of meditation have also been reported and often have been labelled as psychosis or spiritual emergency. This study aimed for more nuanced understanding of the phenomena. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was employed to explore the meaning-making of three meditation teachers from different philosophical traditions. The teachers described phenomenology of various extreme mental states, explained their nature according to their traditions and discussed ways of helping persons who experience these. Significance was given to having a spiritual teacher to provide guidance and support. The study highlights the importance of acknowledging the diverse understandings of the phenomena and cultivating a non-judgemental attitude towards it, which could help clinicians and meditation teachers work together to support persons experiencing these.
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Like in the present study, some teachers in VanderKooi (1997) and Kaselionyte and Gumley (2017) attributed the cause of extreme states or mental health challenges to meditators overidentifying with nonordinary states of consciousness and being unable to disidentify and let go.
“Like in the present study, some teachers in VanderKooi (1997) and Kaselionyte and Gumley (2017) attributed the cause of extreme states or mental health challenges (e.g. psychosis) to meditators 'overidentifying' with nonordinary states of consciousness and 'being unable to disidentify and let go' (VanderKooi 1997, 40).”
From The Teacher Matters: The Role and Impact of Meditation Teachers in the Trajectories of Western Buddhist Meditators Experiencing Meditation-Related Challenges (2025) · cites this paper as Kaselionyte and Gumley (2017)
In “Things are arising, continuing, passing away” (p. 11), a teacher says that giving unusual experiences too much attention probably led some practitioners into delusions, and urges letting go. “Comparison with literature” (p. 16) likewise says that becoming caught up in extreme states could lead to difficulties. The paper does not say that overidentification causes the extreme states themselves or establish psychosis as an outcome, so the citing sentence overstates the causal claim. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredBuddhist teachers interviewed in Kaselionyte and Gumley (2017) acknowledged the limitations of their own monastic training for working with mental health challenges and expressed a willingness to refer practitioners to mental health professionals.
“Buddhist teachers interviewed in Kaselionyte and Gumley (2017) acknowledged the limitations of their own monastic training for working with mental health challenges and expressed a willingness to refer practi tioners to mental health professionals.”
From The Teacher Matters: The Role and Impact of Meditation Teachers in the Trajectories of Western Buddhist Meditators Experiencing Meditation-Related Challenges (2025) · cites this paper as Kaselionyte and Gumley (2017)
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References 45 · Cited by 7
Research works printed but not linked: 14
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- Authors
- Kaselionyte, J., & Gumley, A.
- Affiliations
- Queen Mary University of London (GB)
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Kaselionyte, Justina
- Venue
- Mental Health, Religion & Culture
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2017-11-26
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 986-1001
- ISSN
- 1367-4676 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-9737
- OpenAlex
- W2783130074
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 0.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- eprints.gla.ac.uk
- Licence
- cc-by-sa
- Locations
- Mental Health Religion & Culture (publishedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
- Keywords
- meditation, spiritual crisis, psychosis, meaning-making
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