1 / 4 of people that meditate undergo ‘disagreeable’ experiences

One in 4 folks have suffered disagreeable experiences whereas meditating, together with emotions of concern and anxiousness, analysis reveals.

Males had been extra prone to report a nasty expertise than ladies, in keeping with the College School London (UCL) analysis revealed in PLOS ONE.

Lead writer, Marco Schlosser, a psychiatry researcher at UCL, mentioned the findings level to the significance of widening the general public and scientific understanding of meditation past that of a health-promoting method.

“Little or no is thought about why, when, and the way such meditation-related difficulties can happen: extra analysis is now wanted to grasp the character of those experiences,” he added.

The 1,232 members within the examine answered the next query: “Have you ever ever had any notably disagreeable experiences (e.g. anxiousness, concern, distorted feelings or ideas, altered sense of self or the world), which you suppose could have been attributable to your meditation follow?”

Of the members, one in 4 (25.6%) indicated that that they had beforehand encountered notably disagreeable meditation-related experiences.

Male members had been extra prone to have a nasty expertise (28.5%), in comparison with 23% of feminine members.

Spiritual folks had been much less prone to have disagreeable experiences with only one in 5 (20.three%) having a nasty expertise in comparison with 29.2% who weren't non secular, in keeping with the examine reported by the Every day Mail.

“Most analysis on meditation has focussed on its advantages, nonetheless, the vary of meditative experiences studied by scientists must be expanded,” mentioned Schlosser. “It can be crucial at this level not to attract untimely conclusions concerning the potential adverse results of meditation.”