Many of us hunger for the esoteric: the mystical and magical. In our secular, popular culture meditation has a mystical, magical appeal. Meditation or mindfulness practice is often seen as a path to gain physical, mental, or spiritual health. But even a little meditation may cause some minds to bend and snap.
Out of the Ordinary: Mindfulness and Madness
In Out of the Ordinary, Jolyon Jenkins, journalist and radio producer, investigates whether meditation could do you more harm than good. Mindfulness is often promoted as a kind of mental detox. Jenkins speaks with practitioners who have had disturbing experiences, including going to psychiatric hospital after going on meditation retreats.
“Even less extreme forms of meditation have proved challenging for some people; rather than being a liberating experience, they find their sense of identity and grasp on reality dissolving as they meditate. These problems are well known in some spiritual traditions where they are seen as necessary milestones on the road to enlightenment. But western medicine seems keen to take on board the supposed benefits of meditation without understanding the risks.”
For the full episode listen to BBC Sounds, Out of the Ordinary: Mindfulness and Madness
Also, read Adverse (Side) Effects of Meditation and Mindfulness on Skeptic Meditations.
Read The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You? referenced in Skeptic Meditations article. Its author, Miguel Farias, interviewed in the BBC Sounds Out of the Ordinary episode.
Featured image: Thierry Ehrmann. Borderline Biennale 2011 – Les Cavaliers de l’Apocalypse, Rodolphe Cintorino acting performance, Flickr, CC BY 2.0