Mental Health Symptoms Do Not Increase Risk for Distressing Experiences During Intensive Mindfulness Meditation Training: Evidence from a Prospective Matched-Control Intervention Study

Objective We aimed to test whether mental health problems are associated with distressing experiences during intensive meditation training and with the impact of these experiences following intensive training. Method We conducted a preregistered prospective matched-control study comparing 6-day insight mindfulness meditation retreats ( n = 89) to daily living among matched controls ( n = 44). Results Unexpectedly, lower, and not higher, pre-retreat depression and anxiety symptoms were associated with greater endorsement of distressing experiences during the retreats compared to daily living among matched controls. Moreover, at 2-week follow-up, retreat participants with low and those with high pre-retreat anxiety symptoms reported more positive than negative impact of distressing experiences endorsed during the retreat. Conclusions The findings challenge claims that depression and anxiety symptoms are a risk factor for heightened distressing experiences during intensive meditation training or the adverse effects of these meditation-related experiences. Preregistration The study was preregistered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT04749264; 20 December 2020).