Lindahl Jared R, Fisher Nathan E, Cooper David J, Rosen Rochelle K, Britton Willoughby B
Cogut Center for the Humanities, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America.
Department of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2017 May 24;12(5):e0176239. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176239. eCollection 2017.
Buddhist-derived meditation practices are currently being employed as a popular form of health promotion. While meditation programs draw inspiration from Buddhist textual sources for the benefits of meditation, these sources also acknowledge a wide range of other effects beyond health-related outcomes. The Varieties of Contemplative Experience study investigates meditation-related experiences that are typically underreported, particularly experiences that are described as challenging, difficult, distressing, functionally impairing, and/or requiring additional support. A mixed-methods approach featured qualitative interviews with Western Buddhist meditation practitioners and experts in Theravāda, Zen, and Tibetan traditions. Interview questions probed meditation experiences and influencing factors, including interpretations and management strategies. A follow-up survey provided quantitative assessments of causality, impairment and other demographic and practice-related variables. The content-driven thematic analysis of interviews yielded a taxonomy of 59 meditation-related experiences across 7 domains: cognitive, perceptual, affective, somatic, conative, sense of self, and social. Even in cases where the phenomenology was similar across participants, interpretations of and responses to the experiences differed considerably. The associated valence ranged from very positive to very negative, and the associated level of distress and functional impairment ranged from minimal and transient to severe and enduring. In order to determine what factors may influence the valence, impact, and response to any given experience, the study also identified 26 categories of influencing factors across 4 domains: practitioner-level factors, practice-level factors, relationships, and health behaviors. By identifying a broader range of experiences associated with meditation, along with the factors that contribute to the presence and management of experiences reported as challenging, difficult, distressing or functionally impairing, this study aims to increase our understanding of the effects of contemplative practices and to provide resources for mediators, clinicians, meditation researchers, and meditation teachers.
源自佛教的冥想练习目前正被用作一种流行的健康促进形式。虽然冥想项目从佛教文本来源汲取灵感以获取冥想的益处，但这些来源也承认除了与健康相关的结果之外还有广泛的其他影响。《冥想体验的多样性》研究调查了通常未被充分报道的与冥想相关的体验，特别是那些被描述为具有挑战性、困难、痛苦、功能受损和/或需要额外支持的体验。一种混合方法包括对西方佛教冥想修行者以及上座部、禅宗和藏传佛教传统的专家进行定性访谈。访谈问题探究了冥想体验和影响因素，包括解读和管理策略。一项后续调查对因果关系、损害以及其他人口统计学和与修行相关的变量进行了定量评估。对访谈进行的内容驱动主题分析得出了一个分类法，涵盖7个领域的59种与冥想相关的体验：认知、感知、情感、身体、意动、自我意识和社交。即使在参与者的现象学相似的情况下，对这些体验的解读和反应也有很大差异。相关的效价范围从非常积极到非常消极，相关的痛苦程度和功能受损程度范围从最小和短暂到严重和持久。为了确定哪些因素可能影响对任何特定体验的效价、影响和反应，该研究还在4个领域确定了26类影响因素：修行者层面因素、修行层面因素、人际关系和健康行为。通过识别与冥想相关的更广泛的体验，以及促成被报告为具有挑战性、困难、痛苦或功能受损的体验的存在和管理的因素，本研究旨在增进我们对冥想练习效果的理解，并为冥想者、临床医生、冥想研究人员和冥想教师提供资源。
