Efficacy of meditation in depression or anxiety

I would like to know what empirical studies show any conclusive efficacy of using meditation and where they can be found? I have been practicing vipassna meditation for about 4 years and have attended numerous weeklong retreats. With the exception of Jon Kabat-Zinn, when I've asked my teachers about mediation as a relaxation method, they have ususualy been less than supportive. The problem with using meditation as a modality of treatment is in the expectation that appeals to the mind that wants to avoid unpleasant data and to cling to pleasant or neutral data. It seems that meditation as a method of waking up can just as easily induce panic as reduce it, especially within Varjaryana teachings. My second question then is how can we promise symptom alleviation at the conventional level of clinical agendas while remaining true to the spirit of meditaiton practice which calls upon the meditator to abandon all preconceptions of outcome?

Replies:

Zen and Depression/Anxiety, by Jim Spira, 4/18/98 Zen and Psychotherapy, by Dino Di Donato, 8/1/98 Untitled, by Scott M., 5/5/98 Well, actually . . . ., by Jim Spira, 5/6/98 Small steps in mindfulness research , by Zindel Segal, 5/6/98 GREAT!, by Jim Spira, 5/9/98 Now there's a book on MBCT, by David Peterzell, 02/17/03 Re:Small steps in mindfulness research , by Michael Anderson, 5/17/99 Well, actually...., by Scott M., 5/14/98 Intuiting Zen, by John H., 10/15/98 beginner's mind and quality of life, by steve pashko, 2/27/99 Untitled, by Scott M., 5/5/98 Untitled, by Judith Murray, 7/21/98

| Behavior OnLine Home Page | Disclaimer |

Copyright © 1996-2004 Behavior OnLine, Inc. All rights reserved.