BMJ mental health
February 28, 2024
Maris Vainre, Tim Dalgleish, Peter Watson et al.
1 citation
A randomized trial tested whether a 4-week, self-guided, online mindfulness-based programme could improve work performance compared with a light physical exercise programme among 241 employees from eight employers. Both interventions were highly acceptable, and most participants started the course. The mindfulness programme offered negligible benefits for work performance at both post-intervention and 12-week follow-up. Both interventions improved mental health outcomes, but differences between them were small. The trial was feasible, but results provide little support for a later-phase trial comparing the two approaches, suggesting mindfulness programmes are unlikely to improve work performance beyond light physical exercise.
Apollo (University of Cambridge)
November 17, 2016
Peter Jones, Géraldine Dufour, Julieta Galante et al.
1 citation
A collaborative research project between the University of Cambridge and the NIHR CLAHRC East of England is investigating whether mindfulness can reduce student stress. The article describes the project's purpose, focus, and how mindfulness sessions are delivered to students.
June 25, 2026
Nicholas Bowles, Nicholas T. van Dam, Jonathan N. Davies et al.
preprint
Among 716 meditation-naïve healthy adults randomly assigned to 4, 10, 20, or 30 minutes of daily mindfulness meditation over 28 days, all groups showed significant improvements in wellbeing and mental health symptoms from baseline to post-intervention. No evidence of a dose–response effect emerged: longer assigned practice durations were not more beneficial than shorter ones. Adherence declined with longer assignments; 70.9% of the 10-minute group completed at least two-thirds of sessions versus 48.5% of the 30-minute group. Exploratory analyses indicated that actual practice engagement and confidence in meditation's efficacy predicted better outcomes, suggesting that adherence and expectancy may matter more than prescribed length.
JMIR mHealth and uHealth
June 8, 2026
Julia Adams, Jonathan Davies, Prai Wattanatakulchat et al.
Meditation app use is generally low: half of users engage for 16 minutes or less in the first month after download, and fewer than 20% continue past 14 days. Intended use far exceeds actual use. Higher engagement is associated with expectation match, expectations for anxiety and attention, conscientiousness, satisfaction with life, and well-being, while neuroticism, perceived stress, psychological distress, and lower quality of life are linked to lower engagement. Readiness to change uniquely predicts higher engagement. Acute stress motivates use, but chronic stress disrupts it. Engagement is best when experiences match expectations and users are prepared to change.
Scientific Reports
May 19, 2026
Karin Matko, Cate Bailey, Julieta Galante et al.
Seventy percent of adults in Australia and New Zealand engaged in contemplative practices such as meditation, yoga, or breathing techniques in the past year, most commonly meditation (31%). Practitioners reported higher psychological distress and greater use of mental healthcare than non-practitioners. After adjusting for sociodemographic differences, the association with distress disappeared for yoga and relaxation practitioners but remained for breathing techniques, which were linked to increased distress in all models. Among those with unmet healthcare needs, meditators and relaxation practitioners reported less distress than non-practitioners with unmet needs. The findings suggest contemplative practices may serve as complements to mental healthcare, but their complex relationships with mental health require further study.
Mindfulness
May 19, 2026
Tim Wood, Merle Kock, Nicholas T van Dam et al.
Intense meditation-related experiences (IMREs) can suddenly alter a person's sense of self, worldview, and emotions, but their meaning often shifts as meditators reflect and interpret them over time within their social and cultural context. Through in-depth interviews with 13 participants, four themes emerged: watching the self and world transform; emotional explosions leading to insight; deciding whether to share the experience or remain silent; and developing new perspectives and agency. Most participants found that the meaning of their IMREs became clearer through conversation with others, using concepts from science and meditation traditions. These experiences were transformative, offering new ways of perceiving and acting in the world.
Scientific reports
May 8, 2026
Erola Pons, Julieta Galante, Nicholas T Van Dam et al.
Depersonalization and derealization (DPDR) involve feeling detached from one's body, thoughts, or emotions, typically triggered by trauma, stress, or drugs and causing high distress. Similar experiences arise during meditation, where they are often described as positive and meaningful. This cross-sectional study compared DPDR-like states triggered by meditation (60 participants) versus other triggers (61 participants). The meditation-triggered group rated their experiences as substantially more positive, though most participants in both groups described them as mixed. Meditation-induced DPDR occurred across types and experience levels. These experiences are phenomenologically similar but more welcome, pleasant, and spiritually meaningful than those from trauma or cannabis, though distress is not uncommon. Contemplative approaches may inform clinical support for DPDR, and guidance within meditation settings is needed.
April 26, 2026
Olivier Sandilands, Julieta Galante, Brian Spittles et al.
preprint
Emergent phenomena, experiences, and effects (EPEEs)—including flow states, energetic phenomena, and visionary experiences—arise from diverse causes such as meditation, psychedelics, stress, or major life changes. While some EPEEs are therapeutic and linked to positive development and flourishing, others cause distress and can overlap with psychiatric symptoms. Despite their prevalence, EPEEs are underrecognized in clinical settings, leaving many without adequate support. This paper argues that the lack of clinical awareness and research into EPEEs violates ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice, limiting informed consent and equitable care. It calls for a dedicated research agenda to address the risks and benefits of EPEEs.
Mindfulness
February 25, 2026
Cate Bailey, Nicholas T. van Dam, Jonathan N Davies et al.
A nationally representative Australian survey compared quality of life, health service use, and costs among meditators, other contemplative practitioners, and non-practitioners. Unadjusted quality-of-life scores were higher for non-practitioners, and this difference persisted after accounting for demographics but disappeared when mental health service use was included. Unmet mental-health service need was highest among meditators (13.9%) versus non-practitioners (2.4%). The average annual cost of contemplative practice was $1,281 per person. The findings provide preliminary data for future economic evaluations of contemplative practices.
Journal of medical Internet research
February 2, 2026
Julia Adams, Jonathan Davies, Prai Wattanatakulchat et al.
Most people who download meditation apps use them very little. In a survey of 536 recent users across five English-speaking countries, those who were more educated, more open to new experiences, and who held stronger beliefs that meditation apps would help them were more likely to engage regularly. Readiness to change, expectations for sleep and thriving, and perceived app quality and appeal were also linked to greater use. Age and higher education were among the strongest predictors of engagement. The findings suggest that user characteristics and attitudes toward the app matter more than mental health symptoms for determining how much someone uses a meditation app.
Pedagogy Culture and Society
December 8, 2025
Christopher T. Mccaw, Haisu Sun, Julieta Galante et al.
A model for applying contemplative pedagogy in higher education emphasizes rich contextualization and interdisciplinarity. The framework places embodied contemplative practices within concentric layers of context, drawing from multiple disciplinary perspectives. It addresses challenges educators face in contemporary universities, using cosmopolitanism to navigate epistemological, cultural, and practical diversity. The course 'The Art and Science of Meditation' illustrates this approach.
Current Psychology
December 1, 2025
Nandini Karunamuni, Tim Wood, Julieta Galante
The mind-brain relationship problem is a key philosophical issue with significant implications for mental health research and practice. This article explores the nature of subjective first-person experiences, which help define the mind, and contrasts them with third-person scientific understandings of the brain. The first-person and third-person perspectives are presented as two distinct but equally valid epistemological frameworks: first-person insights cultivate self-knowledge and wisdom, while third-person analysis illuminates the workings of the world. The mind is described as a dynamic system of constantly changing sensory encounters and mental processes involving past, present, and future, to be regarded as a distinct variable. The article advocates for a broader, more inclusive approach to mental health research and treatment without denying neurobiological correlates of mental states.
October 20, 2025
Karin Matko, Cate Bailey, Julieta Galante et al.
preprint
A nationally representative survey of 2,640 Australians and New Zealanders found that 70% had engaged in contemplative practices over the past year, most commonly meditation, relaxation, breathing techniques, and yoga. Users of these practices reported higher psychological distress and mental healthcare use than non-practitioners. After adjusting for socio-demographic differences, the association with distress disappeared for yoga and relaxation practitioners; for meditators it disappeared when accounting for mental healthcare use. Breathing practice remained linked to increased distress across all models. However, meditators and relaxation practitioners with unmet healthcare needs reported less distress than non-practitioners with unmet needs. The practices may play a complementary or alternative role in managing mental health.
September 16, 2025
Cate Bailey, Nicholas T. van Dam, Jonathan N. Davies et al.
preprint
A nationally representative Australian survey of 2,065 people found that meditators and other contemplative practitioners had lower unadjusted quality-of-life than non-practitioners, a difference that persisted after accounting for demographics but disappeared when mental health service use was considered. Unmet mental-health service need was highest among meditators (13.9%) versus non-practitioners (2.4%), and 8.9% of the overall sample had unmet need. The average annual cost of contemplative practices was $1,281 per person. The findings provide preliminary data for future cost-effectiveness evaluations of contemplative practices, with the EQ-HWB-9 index performing well as an outcome measure.
JMIR research protocols
July 29, 2025
Nicholas Bowles, Alexander Burger, Jonathan N Davies et al.
A proposed randomized controlled trial will test whether longer daily mindfulness meditation sessions produce greater improvements in well-being. Healthy adults aged 18–65 will be assigned to 4-week online courses with 10, 20, or 30 minutes of daily practice, or a 4-minute control condition. The primary outcome is psychological well-being, measured at baseline, midintervention, postintervention, and one-month follow-up. The trial aims to enroll at least 688 participants; as of end of 2024, 70 eligible participants were enrolled. Results are expected by March 2026.
July 25, 2025
Tom Wood, Merle Kock, Nicholas T. van Dam et al.
preprint
Intense meditation-related experiences (IMREs) can alter the sense of self, worldview, and emotions, impacting daily life. Through in-depth interviews with thirteen meditators, four themes emerged: watching the self and world transform; emotional explosions leading to insight; gaining new perspectives and agency; and challenges in talking about the experience. Meditators used concepts from science and meditative traditions to make sense of IMREs, which were profound transformative experiences that changed how they perceived and acted in the world. The meaning of these experiences was immediately clear for some but clarified over time for most.
June 2, 2025
Maris Vainre, Lisa Doan, Cecilie S. Traberg et al.
preprint
Misinformation about mindfulness is becoming more common, leading people to ineffective or harmful programs. Inoculation theory suggests that resistance to misinformation can be built by inducing a sense of threat and offering pre-emptive refutations of deceptive techniques. Two experiments evaluated video-based inoculation interventions targeting inflated benefit claims and emotional manipulation in mindfulness marketing. In Study 1 (554 participants), those who viewed an inoculation video rated a misleading mindfulness program advertisement as significantly less reliable than controls. In Study 2 (590 participants), inoculated participants were less likely to say they would participate in a program advertised with misinformation. Inoculation appears promising for building resistance to mindfulness misinformation.
May 27, 2025
Prai Wattanatakulchat, Julieta Galante, Timothy Wood et al.
preprint
Unwanted meditation-related experiences are common and alternate with positive ones, but predicting them is difficult because they have been studied as isolated events. This survey of 886 U.S. meditators tested whether a modern interpretation of the Stages of Insight (SoI), a Buddhist model of meditative progression, fits contemporary meditators. Only four of the eight stages could be assessed. The pattern of item endorsement predicted the number of stages reached better than chance, but early stages were not more frequently endorsed than later ones, and more meditation experience did not predict classification into later stages. The findings provide no clear evidence that the SoI model applies across contexts and traditions, but show that traditional models can guide research on meditation experiences as developmental processes.
February 17, 2025
Nicholas Bowles, A. Bürger, Jonathan N. Davies et al.
A planned online mindfulness course for healthy adults aged 18–65 years will test whether longer daily meditation practice (10, 20, or 30 minutes) produces greater improvements in well-being and other psychological outcomes than a short control practice (4 minutes). The study aims to enroll at least 688 participants, but recruitment has been slow and affected by fraudulent entries; by the end of 2024 only 70 eligible participants had enrolled. The trial will measure well-being, distress, anxiety, depression, and other factors at several time points, with results expected by March 2026.
February 11, 2025
Christopher T. Mccaw, Julieta Galante, Cullan Joyce et al.
A conceptual framework is presented for applying contemplative pedagogy in higher education, emphasizing rich contextualization and interdisciplinarity. The model places embodied contemplative activities within concentric layers of socio-cultural, political, religious, ethical, and material context. Cosmopolitanism is introduced to address epistemological, cultural, and practical diversity encountered by educators and students. The framework is illustrated through a case study of an undergraduate subject, The Art and Science of Meditation, designed by the authors.
Syst Rev
August 6, 2024
Claire Friedrich, Toni Fairbairn, Graham Denton et al.
This paper describes a process of public involvement in a meta-analysis that combines both aggregate and individual participant data to examine mindfulness-based programs for mental health promotion. The involvement includes contributions from people with lived experience and members of the public in shaping the research questions, interpreting findings, and disseminating results. The work highlights how such collaboration can enhance the relevance and applicability of evidence synthesis in mental health.
JMIR research protocols
July 17, 2026
Lillian Ofori Ward, Cate Bailey, Prai Wattanatakulchat et al.
A protocol for a prospective longitudinal cohort study will follow 600 beginner meditators in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom over one year to investigate whether regular meditation practice improves quality of life and mental well-being. The study will compare effects between secular and spiritual practitioners, assess cost-effectiveness in terms of quality of life, and track the incidence and functional impact of any adverse effects. Participants report practice frequency and duration weekly via an app, with monthly sampling of quality of life, well-being, practice characteristics, costs, and adverse effects. Data collection began in October 2025; results are expected in January 2028.
Mindfulness
May 1, 2024
Malcolm J. Wright, Julieta Galante, J. S. Corneille et al.
About 45% of people from three international communities—UK online panelists, US-based MTurk workers, and readers of a rationalist blog—report having had at least one sudden unusual mental or somatic experience, not caused by drugs, that is often interpreted as spiritual or mystical. The most common experiences include derealization (17%), unitive experiences (15%), and ecstatic thrills (15%). Following such experiences, respondents reported a mix of positive and negative well-being outcomes; 13% reported moderate or greater suffering and 1.1% reported life-threatening suffering. Of those who suffered, 63% did not seek help. These emergent phenomena appear widespread and can lead to both benefits and harms that are not adequately addressed by clinical practice.
Erola Pons, Julieta Galante, Axel Lindner
preprint
Meditation can trigger states phenomenologically similar to depersonalization/derealization (DPDR), but these experiences are typically rated as more positive, welcome, and spiritually meaningful than DPDR triggered by trauma, stress, or cannabis. In a cross-sectional survey comparing 60 people whose DPDR-like experiences came from meditation with 61 whose came from other triggers, the two groups scored similarly on the Cambridge Depersonalisation Scale but differed on measures of mysticism, ego dissolution, challenging experiences, and mindfulness. Most participants in both groups described their experiences as mixed, yet the meditation group rated them as much more positive. The findings suggest that contemplative approaches could inform clinical support for DPDR and that guidance is needed within meditation settings.