Measuring Meditation's Harms in Mindfulness Programs (Britton 2021)
The study that gave meditation's adverse effects a measurement instrument: 58% of MBSR/MBCT participants reported at least one adverse effect — and what that does and does not say about Daoist sitting.
The question
How common are meditation’s harms when someone actually measures them? The Farias 2020 review showed the literature under-reports adverse effects; this study is the measurement-instrument answer — the first standardized tool (the MRAES-MBP) applied to three mindfulness-based programs.
The study
- Design: 96 participants in three variants of MBSR and MBCT; adverse effects assessed with a 32-item structured measure covering what participants experienced, whether it was unwanted, and whether it impaired daily functioning.
- Key structural point: the instrument asks about both valence (was it distressing?) and impact (did it interfere with life?) — separating “unpleasant but manageable” from “harmful.”
Findings (as stated by the authors)
- 58% reported at least one meditation-related adverse effect.
- 37% reported effects with negative impact on daily functioning.
- 6% reported “lasting bad effects” — impairment persisting longer than one month.
- The authors note the rates are comparable to other psychological treatments — meditation is not uniquely risky, but it is not uniquely safe either.
What it does NOT say
- Nothing about Daoist sitting. The sample is clinical mindfulness programs; this page cites the study for its general boundary — harms exist and can be measured — not as evidence about zuowang or jingzuo.
- Not a verdict against practice. The same literature shows benefit; the study’s own frame is that harms should be measured and managed, not that practice should stop.
Why it is here
The site’s safety pages — can sitting go wrong? and zuowang safety without a teacher — need the strongest available numbers behind their caution, and this study is the methodological ceiling of the harms literature. The varieties-of-experience study supplies the qualitative side.
Sources
- Britton, W. B., Lindahl, J. R., Cooper, D. J., Canby, N. K., & Palitsky, R. (2021). Defining and measuring meditation-related adverse effects in mindfulness-based programs. Clinical Psychological Science, 9(6), 1185-1204. DOI: 10.1177/2167702621996340