Meditation offers tranquil relief — unless it doesn’t

Meditation is flourishing in the U.S.

Healthcare professionals advocate the practice as a remedy for anxiety and depression free from the dangers of drug dependence, prompting millions to meditate individually or during retreats. In 2022, the National Institutes of Health reported that 17.3 percent of American adults engaged in meditation, rising from 7.5 percent 20 years earlier.

The outcomes are predominantly beneficial, proven to lessen stress, anxiety, and depression. Neuroimaging research has investigated the neurobiological effects that enhance self-awareness, emotional regulation, and attentional control.

However, not every meditation experience offers relief. Matthew Sacchet, head of the meditation research program at Harvard Medical School, has found in recent investigations that the practice can induce suffering in certain situations, a concern that warrants increased scrutiny from researchers and healthcare practitioners.

Meditation can induce altered states of consciousness that many perceive as mystical, spiritual, energetic, or magical. Although often detailed in traditional meditation texts, these phenomena — which include out-of-body experiences and modifications in perceived size — are frequently neglected in modern academic writings.

“Such experiences are surprisingly common,” remarked Sacchet, who is also an associate professor at HMS.

In a 2024 study, he and his team, including lead author Malcolm Wright from Massey University, discovered that 45 percent of participants reported non-drug-induced meditation-related altered states at least once in their lifetimes. Although most episodes were favorable, Sacchet was taken aback by how frequently they were not — and how rarely those cases were addressed.

“There was a sign of an epidemic of subsequent suffering,” he stated, noting that 13 percent of individuals experienced moderate or more severe detrimental outcomes from their encounters.

As more individuals explore meditation and similar practices that may alter perception, he highlighted that healthcare professionals were either not taking adverse experiences seriously or were simply unaware of their occurrence.

To investigate the range and effects of meditation-related altered states, he and his colleagues analyzed survey data from over 3,000 individuals to identify risk factors for meditation-associated changes in consciousness and subsequent suffering.

They also evaluated how religious involvement, mental health status, and other factors influenced these experiences.

In a 2025 article published in the academic journal Clinical Psychological Science, researchers examined predictors of meditation-related altered states and the challenges arising from those occurrences.

Among the variables they analyzed, the three most significant predictors of meditation-related altered states were attempts at divine, magical, or occult practices; prior psychedelic usage; and contemplation of mysteries.

“If you attempt to distort reality, you may well succeed,” stated Sacchet. “And if you’ve previously used psychedelics, you’re more inclined to have these types of experiences.”

Those same variables, alongside the total duration spent in spiritual or meditative practices apart from retreats, also heightened distress beyond the typical levels following altered states.

These potential adverse outcomes encompassed perceptual alterations, fear, distorted emotions or thoughts, and significant discomfort that sometimes necessitated clinical intervention.

Other practices — such as mindfulness of the body and compassionate loving-kindness meditation — made meditation-related altered states more prevalent but did not disproportionately escalate suffering.

Certain influences made reality-distorting experiences, both positive and negative, less likely. For instance, prayer reduced the likelihood of such experiences by 40 percent.

That was yet another surprise, Sacchet noted, “and perhaps welcome news for conservative religious communities that wish to evade these occurrences while promoting engagement with prayer.”

Sacchet also observed that meditation-related altered states were not linked to specific religious or spiritual traditions but rather to particular practices. Identifying oneself as a Buddhist did not significantly impact the likelihood of such experiences, while practicing mindfulness of the body did. Engaging in prayer reduced the frequency of these experiences, but identifying as Christian had no effect.

While meditation retreats have surged in popularity in recent times, Sacchet and his colleagues discovered they had minimal impact on the overall occurrence of meditation-related altered states within the study population — although such states still occurred. It was practice beyond retreats that more significantly increased individuals’ risks.

“The discovery was almost entirely unanticipated,” he remarked.

By underscoring the prevalence of negative encounters with altered states, Sacchet aims to enhance individuals’ experiences with meditation-related techniques. The more familiar clinicians and practitioners are with the potential adverse effects of altered states of consciousness, the better equipped they will be to navigate and manage such experiences.

“It’s crucial to empower those who undergo these experiences to understand that they are not alone,” he emphasized. “They should feel free to discuss them without being perceived as irrational, and to better assimilate the events into their understanding of the world, while receiving appropriate support from clinicians.”

Sacchet further stressed that encountering difficult, challenging, and negative experiences during meditation, or in life generally, isn’t inherently negative.

“I believe we need to challenge the idea that anything not perceived positively should be avoided,” he stated. “True growth may emerge when confronting such obstacles, and we are actively investigating this possibility.”

In forthcoming research with Harvard’s Meditation Research Program, Sacchet hopes to investigate the risk profiles of specific meditation-related altered states of consciousness and explore whether distinct groups of individuals have varied experiences with meditation-related practices.

This endeavor aligns with Sacchet’s aspiration to bring scientific rigor to a domain that has long been overlooked by academia. “Clearly, we now recognize that these experiences are not uncommon at all,” he affirmed, “and far too significant to be disregarded by science.”