First - there is insufficient evidence to support the idea that meditation, as conceived and tested by scientific researchers in the West, is any more effective than simple relaxation or rest.
Second - the use of high face-validity control groups is critical in meditation research because of the need to exclude the important confounding effects of non-specific factors [...]
The design of RCTs ( randomized controlled trials) for meditation (or any behaviour-based therapy for that matter) involves a number of unique challenges compared with pharmacological trials.
While both categories of trial use an inactive placebo, the pharmaceutical trial uses an inert “sugar tablet” which appears similar to the medication being administered. The participant taking the “sugar [...]
While Mindfulness may be defined as a state in which one passively observes the ebb and flow of thoughts while not getting involved with them, the ancient Eastern meditator seeks to unite their awareness with the “space between the thoughts” in order to achieve mental silence, such as in the practice of Sahaja Yoga meditation. [...]
Psychologically speaking, the objectives of yoga mirror those of conventional methods designed to enhance self-control and self-regulation. For example, yoga-psychology proposes that negative-affect states, even transient ones, are pathological states of mind. Such states include gloominess, doubt, procrastination, sloth, attachment, hallucination, inability to concentrate and instability. Ideas like this delineate an understanding of health that, [...]
In general behaviour strategies of therapy focus on moderating the impact of illness by modifying cognitive appraisal of the symptoms, ameliorating negative mood states and/or reducing physiological arousal (sympathetic activation) associated with stress. They include: breathing exercises, relaxation, cognitive behavioural therapy and biofeedback. Meditation may also appropriately be included in this category.
Dr Ramesh Manocha
One of the central themes of my thesis is that the failure of the proponents of meditation in the West to produce conclusive data on its specific efficacy in the health sphere has been due to understandings having been largely confined to Westernised versions of the practice. Such understandings have meant that the original ideas [...]
In traditional cultures around the world, spirituality has been associated with better health. Both Eastern and Western historical traditions closely linked physicians with the religious establishment. In the East, Traditional Chinese and Indian medical systems clearly describe, even today, the idea that the mind/soul is an important influencing factor in health is integral to their [...]
The yogic idea that one’s state of mind, if not one’s level of consciousness, is a major determinant of one’s general health conveniently combines a number of fashionable notions from popular psychology, alternative medicine and New Age spirituality. Thus it is not surprising that many relatively well educated and discerning Western consumers are attracted by [...]
Pharmacological treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), while at the moment more effective than any other treatment option, is still considerably limited in its usefulness. For instance, although stimulants act for only a limited period, symptoms are continuous. Thus stimulants must be given several times per day (or at least daily in the case of [...]
Herbert Benson (1974, 1975, 1978) argued that Eastern meditative traditions, Western religious practices and even secular activities such as hypnosis or simple rest were essentially the same despite their philosophical or metaphysical differences. He coined the term “Relaxation Response” and proposed it as a universal physiological process underlying apparently divergent tasks such as listening to [...]