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Laura House of Daily Mail Australia recently reported comments made by psychologist Dr. Paula Watkins about mental health dangers of meditation. Sober Buddha hopes readers won’t take Watkins or the reporter too seriously. They need to answer these questions:

Where is the clinical research proving that meditation can cause depression and anxiety and exacerbate mental illness by releasing years of repressed trauma?

What specific meditation retreats, held where and led by who, have caused people to suffer negative and overwhelming mental symptoms?

Can you name the retreats that require 10 full hours of meditation for 10 days straight?

Who said meditation should replace psychotherapy? When and where? What was the context of this statement?

Why is a “registered health professional” better qualified to teach and monitor meditation than a meditation teacher who had been trained by a master in one of the authentic lineages like vipassana or Zen?

Can you cite case studies where persons diagnosed with a psychotic mental disorder like schizophrenia have been harmed by practicing meditation?

What qualifies you to give mental health warnings about meditation?  What form of meditation do you practice? Who trained you? How long have you meditated on a daily basis? What retreats have you attended?

Sober Buddha acknowledges Watkins’ sincere professional interest in mental health, but advises her to learn more about meditation. She does not appear to know that authentic meditation techniques like Theravadan vipassana mindfulness practice, Christian contemplative prayer, Zen and others from cultures all over the world, teach practicioners how to manage intensity of thought, body sensations and emotional flavors.

Watkins misinforms readers by claiming that registered psychology professionals should decide who should meditate, how, where and with whom. She needs to remember that meditation has a soulful, spiritual component, not just a clinical cognitive-behavioral effect. The word therapy itself comes from the original Greek and means “to care for the soul.”

For the latest mental health and meditation science, Sober Buddha recommends The Clinical Handbook on Mindfulness edited by Fabrizio DiDonna and the Mindfulness Research Monthly, published by the American Mindfulness Research Association, available at www.goamra.org.

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