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What are the negative effects of meditation?

Is anyone developing a neuroscientific catalog of the effects of meditation on the brain?

  • What I would love to see is a thorough and as-comprehensive-as-possible catalog of all the effects that different types of meditation have on the brain. Ideally, it would include complete histories on that type of meditation, the affiliated religious/spiritual/secular tradition, contemporary teachers that are practicing and teaching it, full description of each method, the desired effects on the person's psyche/soul/mind, the actual effects as recorded by MRI, fMRI and all known neuroscience tools. Does anyone know if something like this is being assembled? I think it would go a long way in contributing to the general knowledge and practical benefits of various types of meditation.

  • Answer:

    I don't believe that the catalog you refer to is in development; maybe you should start it :) Here's another solid entry point: John Kabat-Zinn[1]. He is the man who basically introduced Zen Buddhist meditation to the Western scientific-medical establishment. He has produced a number of clinical trials of mindfulness meditation, but there are others. [Added] I must also note that any such catalog would have to include the effects of meditation on other people's brains, specifically the findings that group meditation in the Transcendental style is associated with a 23% reduction in violent crime in one significant experiment in Washington, D.C.[2]. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Kabat-Zinn [2] http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/dc_md.html

Andrew Ross Long at Quora Visit the source

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A catalog of that could would be a very interesting resource, but I don't think that neuroscientists usually operate that way. Scientific publications are usually limited to individual articles that aim to answer one very small question. When larger works are written, they tend to fall into one of two categories. Popular Science Books- This is when a scientist writes about a topic using language that is (supposed to be!) accessible to non-experts. Consider "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat" and "Incognito" for some popular neuroscience examples. These books are usually focused around a particular theme or question. Textbooks- These books are much more technical, and usually written for experts. They can be general or very specific, but they go into a lot of depth on their topic. What you're proposing sounds a little like a textbook, though I suppose it could just as soon be an online resource. I don't think that anything quite like what you describe exists. Maybe that's partially because it's a format that's never been done before (at least as far as I know). However, there are some great resources on neuroscience and meditation, even if they're not as comprehensive as what you're looking for. I've listed some of them below. If you want to take 's great advice and start your own catalog, these could be a great place to start! The Rewire Your Brain for Love Blog (http://rewireyourbrainforlove.com/blog/): Apparently "Rewire you Brain for Love" is a self help book, but I'm mainly aware of the blog. It mostly just links to other content rather than generating anything original, but it is a great source to find content on neuroscience and meditation. "Zen and the Brain," by James Austin. (http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=6211). As the title suggests, this really only focuses on one meditative tradition, but it goes into incredible depth. It's a very thick book, with very serious writing on both Zen Buddhism and neuroscience. The scholarly and popular works of Andrew B. Newberg. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_B._Newberg). Dr. Newberg is a neuroscientist who made headlines a few years ago with his discovery that certain parts of the brain are much less active during deep prayer and meditation. He has extensively researched and written about the neuroscience of religious experience, including meditation.

Peter Hildebrand

Here is a monthly published compendium of all the latest research related to mindfulness meditation. For a variety of reasons, this is the type of meditation most studied within the research community. http://www.mindfulexperience.org/newsletter.php

Albert Grabb

Just adding to Peter Hildebrand's answer, James Austen's latest book has some discussion of possible neurological differences between concentration and insight/open awareness styles of meditation. The MARC at ucla is a good resource and I think Richard Davidson at U Wisconsin is also a compendious source and researcher.

Simon Mundy

See which collects a number of scientific sources on the subject.

Kevin Johnsrude

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