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What Everybody Should Know About the Dangers of Meditation

By Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D.

In his recent article, Enlightenment Therapy, Chip Brown writes about a real life story that conveys the pitfalls of meditation, the importance of therapy …
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23 Comments to
“What Everybody Should Know About the Dangers of Meditation”

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farouk 4:16 am on April 29th, 2009

oh, so he was meditation to escape the pain! quite a dangerous application

DonD; 6:04 am on April 29th, 2009

One of the real payoffs for me with working at mindfulness was eliminating being upset about being upset. The non-judgmental observing has allowed me to realize that my thoughts and emotions are just that and not an indication of my mental health. As I accept ALL of those thoughts and feelings, I find I accept more of me; warts and all.

lindaj 7:24 am on April 29th, 2009

I read that article too-strikes me that in trying to use “eastern” practices we in the west get confused about ego-in the west we value a strong ego in order to establish ourselves in the world- then many of us see this as bad and that we have to get rid of our ego-women especially need to build a stong ego because our tendency is to give ourselves away. The writer in the article never had a chance to build his ego before he started giving himself away. Seems we need both in our culture-mindfulness meditation allows you to recognize the needs of your ego and if necessary to let them go- not disregard them.

Delia Shugetsu Garigan 11:21 am on April 29th, 2009

I have been practicing Zen for a number of years and it seems to me that there is something specific to the Zen approach, particularly of the Rinzai school, that feeds into a preexisting desire for self-annihilation. Taken in small doses, being instructed to “slice” and “cut away” the ego probably aren’t too harmful, and are a helpful balance to the “Me”-centered lives most of us lead! However, in an intensive context, when you pursue Pure Experience for weeks at a time as a way of life, the more pedestrian sides of the self languish, suffer, and eventually act out.

Nordstrom’s story really touched me because it contains elements of my own experience with Zen practice. My sense these days is that any spiritual or psychological undertaking can be coopted in an unproductive way by someone seeking to salve their pain. Psychology professionals are trained to detect when a client is trying to twist the therapeutic experience to further their own neurosis, and they do occasionally fail at this. Zen teachers are usually not trained to detect comparable behavior in their students, and may not recognize “loss of self” that is actually damaging to the student’s life.

In the end, each of us must ask if our meditation practice (or therapy) is helping us. Are we better able to engage with our lives? Does it afford some measure of comfort, spaciousness, and joy? If we are gritting our teeth and putting up with it in order to be “good”–if the experience is deepening our suffering, or substituting one pain for another, we need to move on.

I agree with previous commenters that the cultural aspect of things is confounding. For most of its history Zen flourished in societies (China, Japan) where individual identity was not nearly so prominent as in our culture. Polishing away your ego and living out your life in service to a temple, a teacher, or “The Dharma” was unremarkable, even a privilege, in a context where most people were in some form of servitude and individual self-expression was pretty much a non-issue.

I continue to ask myself to what extent the traditional Zen approach is grounded in a psychosocial reality that isn’t so relevant to this particular time and place. No answer yet.

Donia Schloot 1:33 pm on April 29th, 2009

One time, I used meditation to keep myself from freaking out during a time of high anxiety that lasted 24/7 until I got myself to my psychiatrist and on an anti-anxiety medication. I was so terrified after finding out that I could end up having my brain lesion biopsied. I had been told that I have tiny holes in the brain in the area of my brain lesion after it shrunk. It was like a month or so before I was diagnosed of having had a stroke. After that diagnosis, I “bolted” from that neurologist because I couldn’t deal with it anymore. Hehe. I pray it is the right diagnosis, even though my current neurologist believes it is the right diagnosis. It’s just too strange to have had a stroke at the young age of 33 when I have no blood clotting issues or any family history of that. I have no family history of strokes, either.

At that time of high anxiety, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to live and my neurologist was freaking me out with this or that. Everything just seemed so unreal. It was as if I had one foot in this life and the other foot in the afterlife. The sunset was weirdly beautiful. It was as if my back yard was the afterlife. It was not scary. Death was/is not scary. It was just too weird. Reality seemed too brutal and harsh. Meditation offered me safety. So into meditation I went. When I was done meditating, reality would just pounce on me like a monster pouncing on me. I couldn’t stand it, so back into meditation I went. This lasted for weeks. Of course, I knew that it wasn’t healthy at all. So, I at my appointment with my psychiatrist, I told him about it and he told me that my adrenaline was stuck on overdrive. I was prescribed an anti-anxiety medication. It really made a difference and “brought me back onto Earth.” I was on that medication for a few months. I left that neurologist and dropped that medical mystery case because I knew I couldn’t stay on that anti-anxiety medication forever.

twara 4:09 am on April 30th, 2009

A very prescient observation. I personally am struck by this article because I am just about to embark on therapy. I have been practising Vipassana meditation since the last few years. Though central to my self-managemnet, I felt that yet there are things that remain to be addressed. Yet, I think that Vipassana meditation is a very empowering tool but in life there is an importance verbalising one;s concerns and have someone objective and wise to hear us out… that is where therapy comes in.

Elisha Goldstein, PhD 8:37 am on April 30th, 2009

I really want to acknowledge the really insightful comments drawn from such rich experience in this group. This is a powerful teaching of how we can really use this tool of blogging to cultivate this living wisdom. The wisdom is in each of us and your comments really help enrich all of us, thank you.

leslie devries 9:55 am on April 30th, 2009

I am glad you mentioned this article. I was stunned by this one; it explained so much to me about the process and inner workings of someone I am very close to whom I have seen struggle more and more as he works harder and harder on meditation. The denial level, the ability to expose the disengagement that this therapist exposed and his manner of doing so were highly insightful.

Not that I do not meditate myself, but I always keep in mind Joseph Campbell’s statement about sitting; “It’s like being constipated.” He said (at Esalen I think) that he would rather spend his time reading. I personally believe that as I grow the non-attachment to all expectation and ritual is an important part of my living joyfully.

Robert Martin-Hill II 1:48 pm on April 30th, 2009

If we want real wisdom and knowledge maybe we should stop using magical thinking and tricks to try to fix things.
We live in a real world, analogies and myths can only take you so far.

And no amount of thinking will turn salt into sugar, or make it taste sweet.

Karen Maezen Miller 11:35 am on May 3rd, 2009

I agree with Shugetsu that the test of any practice is whether one’s life – one’s daily life – is enhanced with vibrancy, relationship and joy. There is no mystery to it, no myth, and nothing cultural. Let’s not confuse the appearance of meditation with the actualization of living practice. Sitting and thinking is indeed constipating. Sitting and practicing, on the other hand, is liberating oneself and all sentient beings from suffering. Nordstrom’s meditation may have further confused him, but we do not need to use his story to confuse ourselves. In that way, it is a teaching.

Anon 4:30 am on May 16th, 2009

I wonder how much meditation do i really need? Because i noticed that mindfulness did allow me to concentrate better, but it also turned me into a kinda blank dull slate. Which is odd since I usually have a very active and engaging personality. I thought mindfulness meditation was supposed to strengthen your natural personality, but the more i practice it, the duller i become. I’ve even noticed a lot of people just walking over, something they would never do before.

The real problem is, it’s difficult to find some real useful information about the difficulties concerning meditation, most of what i can find assumes there are no side-effects. And everything else was written by some new-age hippies who keep talking about seeds at bottom of wells, harmony, love, peace, loving kindness, and the beauty in a single drop of water. I’d really prefer to have some practical advise from people who at least know that there are no magical energies in your body etc. As far as the being duller concerned, what am i doing wrong?

Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. 9:49 am on May 18th, 2009

Hi Anon,
One of the paradoxes of meditation is that while we’re doing it, we want to not expect some special feeling state. When we do that we set ourselves up for a mind trap where if we don’t get that state, we immediately become disappointed and think we are doing something wrong. See if you can just do the practice for its own sake. This is like planting seeds and sowing them. Research and experience tells us that in doing it this way, the fruits will come.

Joanna Poppink 4:56 pm on June 15th, 2009

This post and the discussion following is so great. I want to support and thank everyone.

In my opinion and experience, east and west not only use different lanuages, but come from a differing kinds of philosophical experience in the world. When we use the same words we often don’t mean the same thing.

I’ve met meditation and Buddhist study beginners who believe that being unattached and in a meditative state means they are in some other place, not connected to anything or anyone and perhaps even a rather emotionally cold place. For some, such a place means safety.

But over time I’ve learned that being unattached means being unattached to my own personal sense of ego and the way things are as I see them from my limited POV. When I meditate I am more here, not less. Even that’s not quite right because my “I” sense fades as I get nearer to more (if you can elaborate metaphysically on what “more” can mean.)

I almost used the word, “connected” but the word connected is an issue because it implies a two dimensional linkage, more than linear but less than the enormity of universal presence.

I’m a psychotherapist. I’m also a student of Buddhism. I also have taken the Mind Brain Stress Reduction course which has as its focus, various meditation practices.

I see no conflict between these approaches to self understanding and healthy presence in the world. world? Cosmos? ….. in what is.

In terms of therapy, when we hide, deny, numb ourselves to what is we build up internal pressures and/or develop self protective measures that can harm us and others.

When we can get closer to what is we can heal and grow.

The great news is that even getting near gives us many benefits. We don’t have to become Buddha. We do have to become ourselves.

Thank you again for this all aspects of this valuable discussion.

anonymous 2:39 am on July 5th, 2009

Excellent article, I found insight from both perspectives. The Patient commenting on what he recognized his own issues to be; and the Therapist finding insight within his own patient. It sounds like a rewarding, if not sometimes confusing set of circumstances!

jessaka 2:28 pm on July 11th, 2009

This is an excellent article. Would be nice if more people were made aware of the dangers.

I did some research into the dangers of meditation after hearing about it from some teachers. dr. lois vanderkooi did her doctoral on Meditation-Related Psychosis, and she allowed me to post it on my blog. A long read.

Cheryl 9:30 am on July 22nd, 2009

Nordstrom’s insight seems so spot-on.
If you have sustained yourself with techniques that take you away from connections with other people – which may have made sense as a child in a crazy family situation – as an adult you do need validation of your experience (the witness)and, I believe, some aid in overcoming the tendency to withdraw(maybe dissociate) from life. Mindfulness meditation – as I see it now – might actually help one to be quiet enough to acknowledge past hurts, to accept who and where you are, and not get caught behavior cycles which are all about avoiding what you fear. To me the detachment sought is from the snare of all-consuming emotions, not from relationships and life at large.

Whoops – I guess I just paraphrased you, Dr. Goldstein! Thanks for this post.

jessaka 6:57 am on July 23rd, 2009

http://jessaka-downthecrookedpath.blogspot.com/2009/07/great-websites-and-books-on-this.html

Here is a link to my blog if it is permitted.

goo 12:30 pm on August 28th, 2009

I find meditation to be a returning to the self, and it allows us to come into contact with who we really are, instead of who we think we are or who we have been taught/trained to be. The ego attachment is something to explore and get better at each moment, you don’t have to kill ego to be a better person, you just need to be aware of your ego and how it operates in your life.

Anonymous 4:56 pm on November 25th, 2009

Hello there,

I just came across this post because of a strange experience I have had.

I read the book “The Mindful Way Through Depression” by Jon Kabat Zin 3/4 months ago and followed the course of meditations he recommends. I continued afterwards and found it useful and powerful to understand my mind better, and see that my thoughts are just thoughts, not reality.

It has felt like I have been making progress, coming to see more who I really am. I have also stopped drinking for a few weeks in an effort to be more in control.

But today I had a bad experience. After meditating in the morning, I was in a great, confident mood all day.

But then I had a coffee date with a girl this afternoon, and all my calmness just disappeared with the girl. I was nervous, not calm and after saying goodbye to her I just felt awful. All these old fears and insecurities arose. It has made me disheartened with Mindfulness meditation.

I feel like I have overriding issues related to self confidence and insecurities which meditation has perhaps been hiding rather than solving.

It actually feels good just to write about it.

Thanks for this post, it has confirmed to a certain extent what I was starting to think, meditating perhaps isn’t in and of itself the magic bullet for me.

jessaka 8:11 am on March 1st, 2010

The exact place of my blog has been changed:

http://downthecrookedpath-meditation.blogspot.com/

Also this information can also be found here:

http://srfblacklist.yuku.com/directory/default/t/yuku-community.html?new_community=true

Kumāra 2:25 am on April 27th, 2011

This post highlights an important point for all who are trying to work for their own true freedom. As a Buddhist monk, I see so many people (Buddhists included) trying to meditate their problems away, which is not too different from some others would try to medicate them away. That makes it at best a management strategy, but I think it’s more accurate to call is an avoidance coping strategy.

A lot of Buddhists are approaching meditation with this entirely wrong attitude, and later wonder why it’s not working, or (worse) pretend that it is! Not many of them are aware that we meditate not to forget our problems, but to understand them. The instruction given by the Buddha in Dhamma Wheel Turning discourse (his inaugural discourse) is “This noble truth of suffering is to be fully understood.” That would include seeing the cause and effect of it, so that the origin of suffering is abandoned by that understanding, so that liberation from it is attained.

Concerned 7:12 am on July 10th, 2011

I would like to share my own experience with meditation practice.

At first, when I went on meditation retreats, I would experience tremendous feelings of rapture, delight and euphoria.

After a few retreats, I started to practice meditation at home and study buddhist texts. I had finally found meaning and purpose in my life.

But then things took a very negative turn. I started to experience intense manic/depressive modes that were triggered by my meditation practice. I had never had any serious mental illness prior to practicing meditation. I am in my 40s.

Over the last few years I have had to be hospitalized on several occasions for psychotic episodes during my manic phases. These manic episodes were then followed by bipolar depression where I became suicidally depressed for months at a time.

Somehow the states of deep concentration I entered altered my brain chemistry.

I currently live in Thailand. I am under the treatment of a Thai psychiatrist here.

He has communicated to me the fact that over his years of practice he has treated many Thai patients including monks and nuns who have suffered hallucinations and other psychotic episodes as a result of intensive meditation practice.

Unfortunately, in the West, there is no discussion regarding the dangers of meditation practice.

While I do believe that mindfulness practice (dry insight) can benefit many people I am wary of recommending intensive concentration practice to anyone.

Ashween 12:45 am on October 19th, 2011

i think the example you have taken is of a person suffering from depression. and have meditated in order to kill the pain. meaning he would have a slightly different mind set. Its more like us doing acid or even milder psychedelics while been sad or depressed. i have also experienced and seen, continuous trying of avoiding pain while using your own technique has lead to been more depressed and sometimes might just break down. so i think it would be better to use the enlightenment technique while been happy rather than trying to avoid pain with those techniques. Its all in the mind ya..