Recent research has uncovered that altered states of consciousness are much more common among those who practice meditation and mindfulness than previously thought. While many individuals report positive and even transformational outcomes, a significant minority experience negative effects that can range from moderate to severe. The findings have been published in the journal Mindfulness.
The popularity of meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and similar practices has surged due to their potential health benefits. However, the experiences and effects of these practices, particularly the altered states of consciousness they can induce, remain underexplored. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital sought to investigate how common these altered states are and their impact on well-being, given the rising number of people engaging in these practices.
To achieve this, they developed a detailed questionnaire in collaboration with a team of experts in psychiatry, neuroscience, meditation, and survey design. The survey was designed to capture the diverse range of experiences associated with these practices and their impact on well-being.
The study involved 3,135 adults from the United States and the United Kingdom. Participants were recruited through online platforms, including Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and Qualtrics, a commercial survey panel. An additional group was drawn from subscribers to a popular Rationalist blog. This mixed-methods approach ensured a broad and diverse sample, covering various demographic backgrounds.
The questionnaire was crafted to elicit detailed information about participants’ experiences with altered states of consciousness. The researchers included questions about specific phenomena such as derealization (a sense of detachment from one’s environment), unitive experiences (a sense of unity or “oneness”), ecstatic thrills, vivid perceptions, changes in perceived size, sensations of bodily heat or electricity, out-of-body experiences, and the perception of non-physical lights.
The questionnaire also included questions about the frequency, nature, and perceived impact of these experiences on their well-being. Participants were encouraged to provide detailed descriptions of their experiences and the subsequent effects on their mental and physical health.
To ensure the accuracy and relevance of the questions, the questionnaire underwent several rounds of pre-testing and refinement. This process involved feedback from the research team, postgraduate students, and a sample of MTurk workers not included in the final study. This iterative approach helped the researchers fine-tune the survey to capture the nuances of altered states of consciousness effectively.
One of the most striking findings was that 45% of participants reported experiencing non-drug-induced altered states of consciousness at least once in their lives. This prevalence is significantly higher than the estimated 5% to 15% of the population who engage in mindfulness practices, suggesting that these experiences are more common than previously thought.
The study revealed a wide range of altered states of consciousness among the participants. The most commonly reported experiences included:
- Derealization: 17% of participants reported feeling detached from their environment.
- Unitive Experiences: 15% experienced a sense of unity or “oneness.”
- Ecstatic Thrills: 15% felt intense pleasurable sensations.
- Vivid Perceptions: 11% noted heightened or sharpened sensory perceptions.
- Changes in Perceived Size: 10% experienced alterations in body perception.
- Bodily Heat or Electricity: 9% reported sensations of warmth or electric currents.
- Out-of-Body Experiences: 8% perceived themselves as being outside their physical body.
- Perception of Non-Physical Lights: 5% saw lights that were not physically present.
Participants reported a mix of positive and negative outcomes following their experiences of altered states of consciousness. While many individuals described these experiences as enriching and even transformational, a substantial minority faced significant challenges. Specifically:
- Positive Outcomes: Many participants noted improvements in their mental and physical well-being, increased feelings of connection, and a greater sense of peace and clarity.
- Negative Outcomes: About 13% of participants reported moderate or greater suffering following their experiences. This suffering included feelings of misery, sadness, and existential discomfort. Alarmingly, 1.1% of participants described their suffering as life-threatening.
“With more people engaging in mindfulness, meditation, and other contemplative and mind-body practices, we thought that altered states and their effects might be common among the general population,” said senior author Matthew D. Sacchet, the director of the Meditation Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “We conducted a series of international surveys to investigate and indeed found that such experiences were widespread.”
“Altered states were most often followed by positive, and sometimes even transformational effects on wellbeing,” Sacchet added. ”With that said negative effects on well-being were also reported in some cases, with a small subset of individuals reporting substantial suffering.”
Despite the significant prevalence of negative experiences, the researchers found that 63% of those who experienced suffering did not seek help. Among those who did seek assistance, the sources varied:
- General Healthcare Providers: 15% sought help from generalist healthcare professionals.
- Family and Friends: 13% turned to their personal support networks.
- Experts in Meditation or Spiritual Practices: 12% consulted specialists in the field.
- Specialist Healthcare Providers: 8% sought help from mental health professionals.
The study also highlighted a lack of awareness about the potential risks associated with altered states of consciousness. Only 47% of all respondents had heard of the risks before taking the survey. Among those who experienced suffering, 29% were still unaware of these risks prior to participating in the study.
“Rather than being extremely unusual and rare, our study found that altered states of consciousness are a common variant of normal human experience,” said Sacchet. “However, we’ve found that those who experience negative outcomes related to these altered states often do not seek help, and that clinicians are poorly prepared to recognize or support these kinds of experiences.”
“This has contributed to what might be considered a public health issue as a certain proportion of people have difficulty integrating their experiences of altered states into their existing conceptions of self and reality.”
The researchers acknowledged several limitations in their study. The reliance on self-reported data introduces potential biases, as participants might not accurately recall or interpret their experiences. Additionally, the sample, while diverse, was limited to adults from the United States and the United Kingdom, which may not fully represent global experiences.
Sacchet emphasized the necessity for further studies to pinpoint the individual traits linked to experiencing altered states of consciousness and the potential suffering that may accompany these states. He also highlighted the need to integrate these research findings into patient care practices.
“We should not dismiss meditation and other practices as inherently dangerous but rather we need to better understand and support meditators to fully realize the potential of these practices,” he said. “Similar to psychotherapy, pharmacology, and other therapeutic tools it’s important that we learn to best implement and support people when engaging with these powerful practices.”
Sacchet added that “ancient meditation manuals from the wisdom traditions may be useful for classifying and understanding altered states of consciousness. They may provide guidance into how to better manage altered states when they may be difficult. We clearly need more research to further study and understand this possibility.”
“Clinical curriculum on altered states of consciousness should be developed to better support clinicians caring for patients experiencing suffering linked to these kinds of experiences,” Sacchet added. “Also, those who teach meditation practices should ensure that participants are aware of potential risk. Together, these kinds of safeguards will help to ensure that these very promising and powerful practices are taught and experienced safely.”
The study, “Altered States of Consciousness are Prevalent and Insufficiently Supported Clinically: A Population Survey,” was authored by Malcolm J. Wright, Julieta Galante, Jessica S. Corneille, Andrea Grabovac, Daniel M. Ingram, and Matthew D. Sacchet.