Prevalence and Predictors of Self-Reported Adverse Experiences in Digital Meditation Training: 2 Randomized Controlled Trials
Polina Beloborodova, Lillian M Smith, Kevin M Riordan, Otto Simonsson, Lilah T Dottori, Helen Q Song, Nicholas S Shashko, Raquel Tatar, Scott A Baldwin, Amit Bernstein, John D Dunne, Richard J Davidson, Matthew J Hirshberg, Simon B Goldberg, John Torous · 2026
Read Prevalence and Predictors of Self-Reported Adverse Experiences in Digital Meditation Training: 2 Randomized Controlled Trials by Polina Beloborodova, Lillian M Smith, Kevin M Riordan, Otto Simonsson, Lilah T Dottori, Helen Q Song, Nicholas S Shashko, Raquel Tatar, Scott A Baldwin, Amit Bernstein, John D Dunne, Richard J Davidson, Matthew J Hirshberg, Simon B Goldberg, John Torous (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13263023.txt.
Description
Polina Beloborodova and a large team of co-authors count bad experiences during app based meditation training in a 2026 paper. Digital meditation reaches millions, but how often users report adverse experiences, and whether the practice itself causes them, is disputed. The team draw on two randomized trials of one program, plus a small interview study.
In the two trials, about a quarter and about a tenth of users reported at least one adverse experience, with a smaller share reporting impaired function. Rates did not differ between users who did and did not complete guided sessions, which argues against the practice itself as the cause. Higher prior distress predicted such reports.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Polina Beloborodova, Lillian M Smith, Kevin M Riordan, Otto Simonsson, Lilah T Dottori, Helen Q Song, Nicholas S Shashko, Raquel Tatar, Scott A Baldwin, Amit Bernstein, John D Dunne, Richard J Davidson, Matthew J Hirshberg, Simon B Goldberg, John Torous |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 87 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |