Over the years, meditation and many of its variants have taken deep root in the Western world.
And there are multiple variants of meditation and Eastern principles with a lot of potential to improve people’s lives.
But not everything is rosy. Is Mindfulness good for everyone? Can it solve all the psychological problems that society suffers from? Keep reading.
The benefits of Mindfulness
The potential benefits of Mindfulness are undeniable. I practice it myself in my daily life, and sometimes I use it as a tool in therapy.
Mindfulness has become very fashionable over the years in Western countries. Mindfulness emerges as a relatively simple, cheap tool, accessible to practically anyone have Internet access or a meditation class center in your neighborhood.
And many people have seen videos and documentaries about the scientific studies that have been done, about Tibetan monks with electrodes on their heads, showing that after years of intense meditation practice, their brain waves are different from those of the typical stressed Western person.
Many books have been written (and sold) on the subject, courses have been taught, some companies even included Mindfulness as part of their employees’ work routine (whether they want them or not).
The general idea that is established in the collective memory is that Mindfulness is useful for everything, from treating anxiety or depression problems, to multiplying your performance at work or even opening the doors to another spiritual reality.
What very few people know is that Mindfulness It doesn’t work with everyone In specific cases, it can even make things worse.
Possible dangers of Mindfulness for some people
Mindfulness is trendy, and like any great trend, there are many people making money with it. When someone’s finances depend on their ability to sell books, courses or Mindfulness classes, it is difficult to expect that person to show us “the dark side” of meditation.
Little is said about it, but there is a multitude of scientific research that shows how, among all the people who practice Mindfulness, there is always a small percentage of them who report episodes of anxiety, panic or even derealization Obviously, this doesn’t happen to everyone. But it happens.
The main mistake, from the experts’ point of view, is placing too many expectations on Mindfulness as a tool.
Yes, it is very useful in certain clinical cases, it can be extremely useful for managing day-to-day stress and worries. But Mindfulness, On its own, it cannot make depression, anxiety, or panic attacks go away Especially if people “self-medicate” by watching videos on the internet, without consulting a professional first.
Mindfulness and panic attacks
For example, the case of panic attacks or anxiety. We can understand these problems as excessive hypervigilance towards certain physical sensations or thoughts.
The person’s natural stress response is activated (by any element in the environment), and that the person, upon perceiving nervous symptoms, becomes more nervous Then bodily sensations and anxious thoughts intensify. Then it continues to escalate, until the person loses control.
If that person, instead of going to a psychologist, decides to start doing Mindfulness on their own, they could increase the chances of experiencing a panic attack during their meditation. Because that is exactly what Mindfulness is: making us more aware of our sensations and thoughts, accepting them and letting them go.
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But if the person’s problem is precisely hypervigilance or over-reactivity to certain stimuli… could end up triggering the entire sequence up to the panic attack
If the person had first gone to a psychology professional, they would have first done an evaluation, a functional analysis, and the person’s learning history would have been studied. The irrational beliefs that cause and maintain panic attacks would have been worked on.
And eventually, the person would have been exposed little by little to the feared stimuli, with a hierarchical system and under supervision. Little by little. He would have prepared the person correctly.
Mindfulness as an escape from reality
Another mistake in expectations of many people is to think that by doing Mindfulness, their worries will disappear, or that they will stop experiencing fear, worry or anguish.
Unfortunately, that’s not up to us. unpleasant emotions are an inherent part of life
Some people begin to practice Mindfulness believing the positive dogma that “everything depends on our attitude.” And yes, our attitude when reacting to problems is important. But the origin of the problems does not disappear, because we can never have 100% control of the world
Precisely, by becoming too obsessed with these types of ideas, we can put too much responsibility on ourselves. Our families, our bosses, our partners, the politicians of our countries, all have responsibility for the things they do to us.
So, if I convince myself that “everything” depends on my attitude, I am sending myself the message that everything is my fault, my lack of personal growth. And I lose the opportunity to fight for social improvements, for changes in context that do solve many real problems.
Mindfulness is a wonderful tool. But just as you can’t build a house with just a hammer, you can’t solve all psychological problems just by meditating.
Do you suffer from anxiety?
Anxiety does not have to be a problem in your life, if you let science be with you I am Luis Miguel Real, a psychologist, and throughout these years I have helped many people overcome their anxiety and feel satisfied with their lives again.
Mindfulness will be just one of the many tools we have at our disposal to work on any psychological problem. Contact me, and we will start working on it as soon as possible.
Use this citation format to reference the article clearly and help readers find the original source.
PsychologyFor. (2024). The Dangers of Using Mindfulness Incorrectly. PsychologyFor. https://psychologyfor.com/the-dangers-of-using-mindfulness-incorrectly/