Does Meditation Come With Side Effects? Understanding Possible Risks of Mindfulness and Meditation Practices

From minimizing stress to promoting work performance, meditation has become a catch-all for mental health management.

But for any treatment that’s applied in a medical or clinical setting, a few key questions must be addressed. First, how large of a dose needs to be administered for benefits to occur? And second, are there any adverse or side effects to the treatment?

“This is the kind of research that is done at the very beginning of developing any new treatment intervention program,” said Nicholas Van Dam, a psychologist at the University of Melbourne. “And for various complex reasons, with mindfulness-based programs in particular, that just didn’t happen.”

Over the years, researchers have found that although many people benefit from meditation, a portion of people who meditate experience some side effects. These can include panic attacks, reexperiencing disturbing memories of a traumatic event (related to post-traumatic stress disorder), or at the more extreme end of the spectrum, depersonalization and dissociation. However, as Van Dam pointed out, the rates at which these effects are present are inconsistent within the scientific literature. Some studies conclude that only 1% of meditators experience side effects (Wong et al., 2018). Others find that the number is closer to two thirds (Britton et al., 2021).

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To address these discrepancies, Van Dam led a study published in Clinical Psychological Science aimed at understanding how often meditators experience side effects. They also asked: Are there factors that make a person more at risk for these effects?

Van Dam and his colleagues recruited close to 900 adults in the United States for the study. Using previous data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the team determined what the population of meditators looked like in the country and matched their sample to that composition. The researchers also recruited meditators from a wide range of skill levels, from beginner to advanced, “such that we could kind of get a sense of the full sample of people who engage in meditation within the U.S.,” Van Dam said.

When it came to characterizing adverse effects, Van Dam said, “The devil is in the details,” meaning that how a researcher asks about side effects affects the resulting answers. For instance, side effects are often posed as an open question, also known as spontaneous reporting, he explained. But sometimes respondents don’t know if their experience should be considered adverse and may not bring it up.

So for the new study, Van Dam and his colleagues chose to use a 30-item checklist to assess the side effects of meditation. For each item, participants rated the intensity of the effect they experienced, whether the experience was positive or negative, and whether it disrupted their day-to-day life.

As a result, the study found that nearly 60% of U.S. meditators experienced at least one side effect on the provided checklist (i.e. feeling anxious, feeling disembodied, etc.). Further, roughly 30% reported effects that were challenging or distressing, and 9% reported an effect that caused functional impairment.

As for risk factors, those who experienced mental health symptoms or psychological distress less than 30 days prior to meditating were more likely to experience side effects. But to determine a causal relationship, Van Dam noted that a prospective longitudinal study would be needed to understand the nuances and connections between these factors. The researchers also found that meditators who participated in residential meditation retreats, which are often long and intense experiences, were more likely to have at least one side effect that caused functional impairment.

However, these results should not discourage meditators from continuing or trying the practice. “Our conclusions are not that people should be terrified, or people should not try meditation. It’s really that we think that we should do a better job of providing informed consent,” Van Dam said.

With other treatments, like medical surgery or exposure therapy, clinicians often give a preamble on what a patient may expect. This way, they can understand any potential risks and choose to consent to the treatment and their potential experience of it.

In meditation, that conversation is often missed. “We have to find a way to have that conversation and navigate that space,” Van Dam said. He said that clinicians should find ways to communicate that discomfort is not necessarily a bad thing. Instead, uneasy experiences such as questioning your sense of self and the world around you can be normal with meditation. But distress that disrupts your daily life is a red flag.

“These practices are not for everyone,” he said. “If they’re not working, it’s not necessarily because the person is doing something wrong. It might be because it’s just not a good match.”

(Newswise/NS)

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