Meditation and psychosis: trigger or cure?

This is a review of studies concerning the use of meditation techniques in psychiatry and psychotherapy. A brief history and characteristics of meditation are presented, with an emphasis on mindfulness meditation, which is a type most widely used as a health intervention. Potential adverse effects of meditational practices are also brought to attention. We focus mostly on the links of meditation to psychosis, describing both conditions in which meditation may cause decompensation, as well as presenting research on the effects of the implementation of modified meditation techniques in psychotic patients. In order to better understand the phenomena described we interpret the effects of meditation using psychodynamic and cognitive theories. The studies presented here suggest that in certain circumstances meditation may trigger psychosis, but they also show that interventions based on mindfulness may play an important clinical role in the alleviation of symptoms during psychotic episodes.