Mindfulness Teacher Trainees' Experiences (MTTE): An investigation of intense experiences in mindfulness-based interventions.

Mindfulness practice can produce intense experiences that for some individuals resemble psychotic-like experiences, according to a qualitative study of 13 mindfulness teacher trainees. Over four months, participants submitted fortnightly meditation reports. Most practitioners frequently described intense experiences during meditation, and in some cases these experiences were similar to psychotic-like experiences. The findings suggest that adverse effects, including intense and potentially psychosis-like experiences, can occur as a natural part of mindfulness practice, raising concerns for both clinical and non-clinical settings.

Study at a glance

Abstract

With the increasing interest in mindfulness practices within clinical as well as non-clinical settings and the increasing body of research on the positive effects of mindfulness, concerns have been raised that mindfulness might also produce adverse effects including intense experiences and psychosis. The aim of this study was to investigate if intense experiences occur as a natural part of mindfulness practice, and if so to examine the characteristics of such experiences. We conducted a qualitative analysis based on fortnightly meditation reports from 13 mindfulness teacher trainees for 4 months. Intense experiences in meditation were frequently expressed in the reports of most of the practitioners and in some individuals these experiences were similar to psychotic-like experiences. This study presents suggestive evidence that mindfulness practices can produce intense experiences and that for some individuals these intense experiences may resemble psychotic-like experiences.