"Everybody thinks meditation's hunky-dory … there's just this automatic assumption that it couldn't possibly come in and totally blow up your brain."
uncertain
it → think → brain
Three years ago, Sue discovered pranayama, a type of meditation involving modifying the length and timing of breaths.
asserted
Sue → discover → breaths
But the self-described "spiritual seeker" in her 70s from Florida stopped after having "an acute traumatic experience … caused by meditation".
asserted
seeker → describe → meditation
Research suggests one in 10 meditators will experience an adverse effect that lasts more than a month or is associated with impairment and functioning.
uncertain
that → suggest → impairment
This is significant given the growing popularity of meditation, particularly mindfulness-based meditation.
asserted
This → give → meditation
In the US, the number of people meditating has increased from 10 to 20 per cent of the population over the past two decades.
asserted
number → meditate → decades
In Australia, that figure is even higher, with one third of the population practising some form of meditation.
asserted
third → practise → meditation
But the potential negative or adverse effects of meditation remain relatively unknown and under-researched.
asserted
effects → remain → meditation
The evangelical meditator
Willoughby Britton, an associate professor of psychiatry at Brown University and director of the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab, is a pioneer and world-leading researcher into meditation-related adverse effects.
asserted
Britton → lead → effects
But 20 years ago, Dr Britton was what she now considers an "evangelical meditator".
asserted
she → consider → what
"I spent my first 20 years of meditation research promoting the benefits, stating there were no adverse effects even though I never measured them," she admits.
asserted
she → spend → them
Dr Britton was first introduced to meditation following the death of a childhood friend.
asserted
Britton → introduce → friend
"I was really devastated and anxious and I didn't know what to do and I really didn't want to take medication."
asserted
I → devastate → medication
Instead, Dr Britton's father sent her a book on meditation that she describes as "my gateway drug".
asserted
she → send → drug
After quickly establishing a daily mindfulness routine, she decided to research the impact of meditation on sleep.
asserted
she → establish → sleep
"I was going to prove to everyone that not only was meditation good for sleep, but how it also improved depression because lingering sort of problems with sleep can lead to relapse in depression.
asserted
sort → go → depression
But she was surprised by the results.
asserted
she → surprise → results
Instead of improving sleep quality, the study showed participants' brainwaves got faster and they woke up more after meditation.
asserted
they → improve → meditation
At the time, Dr Britton chose not to publish her findings.
asserted
Britton → choose → findings
A couple of years later while working as a resident doctor at Brown University's psychiatric hospital, she treated two patients with psychotic symptoms who had been on separate meditation retreats.
asserted
who → work → retreats
"It was like some of the most extreme patients that I saw in that hospital all year."
asserted
I → see → hospital
Following those encounters, Dr Britton sought advice from a trusted meditation teacher.
asserted
Britton → follow → teacher
I said, 'Well, have you ever seen this before?'
asserted
you → say → this
"She didn't say anything but I remember the look on her face was like, 'Oh yes, this is definitely a thing that she's seen before'.
asserted
she → say → that
The conversation prompted Dr Britton to embark on decades of research into the field of meditation-related adverse effects.
asserted
conversation → prompt → effects
Very quickly, she says, all her "fantasies about meditation were sobered up".
asserted
fantasies → say → meditation
What are meditation-related adverse effects?
asserted
effects → relate → ?
In 2017, Dr Britton and her team published a 10-year study based on interviews of more than 100 Buddhist meditation practitioners describing challenges they had experienced personally or observed in meditation students.
asserted
they → publish → students
Insomnia, as Dr Britton had previously discovered, was just one of more than 50 adverse meditation-related symptoms reported.
asserted
Britton → discover → symptoms
Many of the adverse symptoms people in the study reported fell into two categories:
Hyperarousal, such as anxiety, fear, insomnia, involuntary movements and emotional flooding; and hypoarousal, such as a lack of emotion, motivation and sense of self.
asserted
reported → report → self
Many people described feeling dysregulated, experiencing a combination of both hypo and hyper arousal.
They also reported psychosis symptoms that lasted on average between one and three years.
asserted
that → feel → symptoms
"There was a considerable amount of impairment where some people were hospitalised, some people became suicidal, many people had to take time off work, or were fired or had to take time off school.
asserted
people → be → school
"So it can be quite a significant impairment in functioning," Dr Britton says.
asserted
Britton → say → functioning
Sue experienced symptoms of hypoarousal and dysregulation after using a meditation app a couple of times each week.
asserted
Sue → experience → times
"I was all by myself in my car and I had this profound sense of myself dissolving … so it was just the void and I was the void … it was really terrifying".
Sue remained in this dysregulated space for about a year and a half.
While Sue experienced negative symptoms after meditating regularly over time, short exposures right through to intensive meditation practices can trigger adverse effects.
asserted
exposures → have → effects
Twenty years ago, Jane, a retiree in her mid-seventies who had practised Zen meditation for several years, experienced a serious and prolonged mental health episode after attending her fourth five-day retreat.
asserted
who → practise → retreat
Jane distinctly remembers the first night of that retreat.
asserted
Jane → remember → retreat
"My mind was just fizzing, like a sort of lemonade bottle, I knew something wasn't right," she says.
"
asserted
she → fizz → bottle
I made an appointment the next morning with the teacher, and she just looked at me and said, 'Oh, you don't need to sleep when you meditate.'
asserted
you → make → me
"
When Jane returned home after completing the course, her husband contacted their local GP who diagnosed her "as being psychotic and manic".
asserted
who → return → her
…and 21 more, not listed.