Journal of school psychology
June 1, 2014
Willoughby B Britton, Nathaniel E Lepp, Halsey F Niles et al.
253 citations
A pilot trial randomized 101 sixth-grade students to either a daily mindfulness meditation practice during an Asian history course or an active control activity during an African history course. Both groups showed significant decreases in clinical syndrome subscales and negative affect, with no difference between them in the extent of improvement. However, students who meditated were significantly less likely to develop suicidal ideation or thoughts of self-harm compared to controls. The findings suggest that mindfulness training may produce both unique benefits, such as reduced suicidal ideation, and non-specific benefits shared with other novel activities.
Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2017
Rahil Rojiani, Juan F Santoyo, Hadley Rahrig et al.
232 citations
Women who took a 12-week college meditation course showed greater decreases in negative affect and larger increases in mindfulness and self-compassion than men. Women's improvements in negative affect were linked to gains in both mindfulness skills and self-compassion, while men showed non-significant increases in negative affect and their affect changes correlated only with the ability to describe emotions, not with experiential or self-acceptance measures. The findings suggest that women may respond more favorably than men to school-based mindfulness training and that tailoring interventions by gender could improve effectiveness.
Journal of school psychology
June 1, 2018
Yoona Kang, Hadley Rahrig, Kristina Eichel et al.
143 citations
Sixth graders who practiced short mindfulness meditation sessions four to five times per week for six weeks reported greater improvement in emotional wellbeing than those in an active control group. Gender moderated the effect: female meditators showed larger increases in positive affect compared to control females, while males in both groups improved equally. Among females only, gains in self-compassion were linked to better affect. The results suggest school-based mindfulness training benefits early adolescents, with distinct responses by gender.
Consciousness and cognition
March 1, 2024
Nicholas K Canby, Jared Lindahl, Willoughby B Britton et al.
11 citations
Experiences like mystical states, non-dual awareness, selflessness, and ego dissolution are increasingly studied in meditation and psychedelic research, but their definitions and measures often overlap and lack precision, especially regarding pathological experiences. In a survey of 386 people who reported an experience involving a loss of self or self-boundaries, researchers used statistical and qualitative methods to identify 16 distinct characteristics of such experiences. These included different types of changes in sense of self, accompanying phenomena, and cognitive or emotional responses. The results provide a more specific model for measuring and describing these experiences across contexts like meditation, psychedelics, and psychopathology.
PloS one
January 1, 2025
Nicholas K Canby, Elizabeth A Cosby, Roman Palitsky et al.
10 citations
Childhood trauma and PTSD symptoms are linked to worse depression outcomes and more meditation-related adverse effects in mindfulness-based programs. Across two clinical trials, total childhood trauma and childhood sexual abuse consistently predicted poorer depression outcomes. Childhood sexual abuse also predicted dropout in one study. Multiple forms of trauma and PTSD symptoms predicted meditation-related side effects, while total trauma, emotional abuse, and subclinical PTSD predicted lasting adverse effects. These findings suggest that trauma-sensitive modifications, safety monitoring, screening, and provider education are needed when implementing mindfulness programs for depression.
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
December 1, 2024
Roman Palitsky, Nicholas K Canby, Nicholas T Van Dam et al.
6 citations
Research on adverse effects (AEs) of psychedelics has been limited, leading to underspecified profiles and potential undercounting. This article argues that meditation-related AE research, which shares phenomenological and contextual features with psychedelic AEs, offers valuable insights. An integrative review of both fields is presented, recommending that meditation AEs serve as a comparator condition. The authors propose adopting detailed, comprehensive, user-informed, impact-based, standardized, unbiased, and representative measures of AEs, along with examining factors that influence their impacts and trajectories, to advance psychedelic AE research.
Transcultural psychiatry
August 1, 2023
Jared R Lindahl, Roman Palitsky, David J Cooper et al.
Worldviews can both increase the risk of meditation-related challenges and serve as a remedy for them, depending on the individual. Buddhist practitioners and teachers in the contemporary West navigate both religious and scientific explanatory frameworks, a context shaped by "Buddhist modernism" which presents Buddhism as compatible with science. Interview data from the Varieties of Contemplative Experience project show that for some, having, applying, or changing a worldview helped mitigate challenging experiences or distress, while for others, worldviews acted as a risk factor influencing the onset and course of difficulties.