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. 2021;12(3):763-774.
doi: 10.1007/s12671-020-01547-8. Epub 2020 Dec 2.

Frequency of Self-reported Unpleasant Events and Harm in a Mindfulness-Based Program in Two General Population Samples

Ruth Baer  1 , Catherine Crane  1 , Jesus Montero-Marin  1 , Alice Phillips  1 , Laura Taylor  1 , Alice Tickell  1 , Willem Kuyken  1 ; MYRIAD team
Affiliations

Frequency of Self-reported Unpleasant Events and Harm in a Mindfulness-Based Program in Two General Population Samples

Ruth Baer et al. Mindfulness (N Y). 2021.

Abstract

Objectives: Evidence-based mindfulness programs have well-established benefits, but the potential for harmful effects is understudied. We explored the frequency and severity of unpleasant experiences and harm in two nonclinical samples participating in an adaptation of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for the general population.

Methods: Study 1 included 84 schoolteachers; study 2 included 74 university students. Both studies were uncontrolled. Participants completed self-report questionnaires about psychological symptoms before and after the 8-week mindfulness course. After the course, they responded to a survey designed for this study that included Likert ratings and free-text questions about unpleasant experiences and harm. All data were collected online.

Results: In both samples, about two-thirds of participants reported unpleasant experiences associated with mindfulness practice during the course. Most participants (85-92%) rated these experiences as not at all or somewhat upsetting; some indicated that difficult experiences led to important learning or were beneficial in some way. The proportion of participants reporting harm from the mindfulness course ranged from 3 to 7%. The proportion showing reliable deterioration on symptom questionnaires ranged from 2 to 7%. Those reporting harm and those showing reliable deterioration on questionnaires were largely separate subgroups; only one participant fell in both.

Conclusions: Findings highlight the need for mindfulness teachers to manage expectations about benefits and difficulties that may occur in mindfulness-based programs and to work skilfully with participants experiencing difficulties. Experiences of harm may not be captured by symptom questionnaires and should be explicitly assessed in other ways.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-020-01547-8.

Keywords: Adverse effects; Mindfulness-based program; Secondary teachers; Side effects; University students.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestRuth Baer is affiliated with the Oxford Mindfulness Centre and receives occasional payments for training workshops and presentations related to mindfulness. She also receives royalties for several books related to mindfulness. Jesus Montero-Marin is affiliated with the Oxford Mindfulness Centre and funded by the Wellcome Trust on a strategic award exploring the role of mindfulness training in adolescence. He does not receive additional remuneration for training workshops or presentations related to mindfulness. At the time the study was conducted, Catherine Crane, Alice Tickell, Alice Phillips, Laura Taylor, and the MYRIAD team were affiliated with the Oxford Mindfulness Centre and funded by the Wellcome Trust on a strategic award exploring the role of mindfulness training in adolescence. They did not receive additional remuneration for training workshops or presentations related to mindfulness. Willem Kuyken is the director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. He receives payments for training workshops and presentations related to mindfulness and donates all such payments to the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation, a charitable trust that supports the work of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. Willem Kuyken was until 2015 an unpaid Director of the Mindfulness Network Community Interest Company and gave evidence to the UK Mindfulness All Party Parliamentary Group.

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