With the growing popularity of yoga and meditation, the issue of whether meditation can ever replace psychotherapy in the future is one that often crosses my mind. A number of decades ago, professionals were unaware that mental disorders might be addressed with basic counseling sessions. They turned to more severe procedures, such as electroconvulsive therapy, instead. Such realizations and evolution are continuing to date. People are becoming more conscious of more natural forms of treatment, such as meditation and yoga, in the present day. Hopefully, empirical research and thorough clinical trials will allow us to incorporate more kinds of meditation into the treatment of mental health patients rather than relying on drugs that frequently have detrimental long-term side effects. Potentially, in the future, meditation could even supplant psychotherapy as the most effective treatment for mental health disorders. When it comes to mental health difficulties such as anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, or depression, meditation may be a more effective strategy for treating the disease permanently so that the patient does not relapse, compared to psychotherapy methods or medications.
Numerous psychotherapy treatments, such as rational, emotional behavior therapy, Beck's cognitive therapy, motivational interviewing, and gestalt therapy, focus on treating the patient's conscious way of thinking and shifting their focus to more positive thoughts. The primary goal of these therapies is to bring clarity and increase the client's 'self-awareness.' As a student living in India, a nation with a wealth of spiritual knowledge, I've seen a number of meditation and yoga techniques that might also assist in obtaining the aforementioned outcomes, but potentially in a more profound and meaningful way. “Several studies have indicated a positive impact of meditation in reducing stress and enhancing general well-being. Several studies have also suggested that meditation can be helpful for the treatment of anxiety, addiction, aggression, suicidality, and depression. The seminal work of Marsha Linehan, who developed dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), is one example of the successful integration of mindfulness meditation with psychotherapy for the treatment of character pathology, depression, addictions, and eating disorders.” (McGee, 2008) Another article mentioned how ‘meditation has been found to change certain brain regions that are specifically linked with depression by breaking the connection between the fear center in our brain (amygdala) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Furthermore, with practice, meditation can help many people control how they react to the stress and anxiety that often leads to depression.’ (Harvard Health Publishing, 2018)
A further benefit of meditation is that a psychotherapist can only heal what the client verbally shares with them, whereas meditation techniques can repair problems that individuals are frequently reluctant or ashamed to reveal to therapists. A member of my family experienced significant panic attacks during the lockdown as a result of childhood bullying. She consulted a psychiatrist who prescribed strong medications and provided counseling, but she never informed him about the bullying. She continued to experience regular panic attacks even after several months of therapy, so she stopped taking all of her prescriptions and stopped attending counseling sessions; instead, she began daily meditation. After a month of consistent practice, her panic episodes diminished dramatically, and she opened up to her family about her difficult childhood experiences. Given that this is a single-case study, it is difficult to establish a causal relationship between her decreased panic attacks and her meditation practice. However, she noted that she felt less anxious about missing work every time she had to take leave due to her panic attacks or what her coworkers would think if she had a seizure in front of them. If this feeling of being ‘at ease’ and calm did contribute to the decline in panic attacks, it is safe to say that meditation is a powerful tool that has the potential to reach parts of our conscious and unconscious mind that other forms of psychotherapy and medications cannot always reach.
However, the intangible and ambiguous nature of meditation can also make it more difficult to evaluate its effectiveness. “Investigators have yet to fully identify, with controlled studies, the benefits that are attributable specifically to the act of meditating. More sophisticated studies are needed to define sample populations more thoroughly, adequately isolate the independent variable (the act of meditating) for scrutiny, and then use appropriate control groups.” (McGee, 2008) The more clinical trials we can perform surrounding meditations and their benefits, the sooner we can incorporate them into our practice. And if we are able to do so, it will also help eliminate the sometimes-considered undesirable habit of 'labeling,' as the focus would be less on the particular symptoms and more on holistic mental and physical wellness. And most significantly, it can help us avoid dependence on pharmaceuticals and identify more natural ways to improve our health.
Works Cited
McGee, M. (2008). Meditation and Psychiatry. Psychiatry (Edgmont), 5(1), 28–41. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2719544/
Harvard Health Publishing. (2018, August 1). How meditation helps with depression - Harvard Health. Harvard Health; Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/how-meditation-helps-with-depression
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