the dark side of mindfulness

2-3 minutes


While mindfulness is widely promoted as a universal remedy for stress, research shows it can cause adverse psychological and emotional effects in some individuals.

Psychological and Physiological Risks

  • Hyperarousal: Practitioners can experience severe anxiety, panic attacks, agitation, insomnia, and intrusive traumatic memories or flashbacks.
  • Hypoarousal and Dissociation: Some individuals report feeling emotionally numb, detached from their bodies, or experiencing a depersonalized sense of non-existence.
  • Psychiatric Complications: In rare or more intense cases, meditation practices have triggered severe depression, psychotic features, or delusional symptoms, even in people with no prior mental health history.
  • Overtraining: Like physical exercise or body awareness, pushing past an optimal threshold can be counterproductive and destabilizing.

Corporate and Social Critiques

  • The "McMindfulness" Effect: Critics argue that corporate mindfulness programs use these practices as a disciplinary tool of self-control to help workers cope with systemic stress rather than addressing the actual root causes of poor workplace conditions.

If you'd like to explore this further, let me know if you want to discuss:

  • Specific warning signs to watch out for before starting a meditation practice
  • How researchers like Dr. Willoughby Britton classify these meditation-related difficulties

  • The Dark Side of Mindfulness - The Atlantic

    Sep 4, 2026 — The Dark Side of Mindfulness * In 2004, Willoughby Britton, then a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the University of ...

  • Meditation And Mindfulness Can Have a Dark Side That We Don't Talk About : ScienceAlert

    Feb 16, 2025 — This information does not constitute medical advice or diagnosis. Mindfulness is a type of Buddhist-based meditation that involves...

  • The Dark Side of Mindfulness: Workplace Socialization ...

    Dec 13, 2022 — Purpose: The aim of our paper is to analyze the role of mindfulness in organizational socialization, particularly how these techni...