Panic Attack and Depression

 A women when she was 22 years old experienced a panic attack followed by depression after following  a Mindfulness course.

To all those who are considering mindfulness meditation, I would like to tell you that I wish everyday of my life that I had not agreed to practise it. My experience with mindful meditation is perhaps the opposite of what you have heard. It is one that precipitated and I believed caused my depression and anxiety. It provided the opposite of its touted benefits. Continue reading →

Re-experiencing Trauma and Relapse of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Summary: A 38 year old British women, whilst on a silent Mindfulness Teacher Training retreat, re-experienced trauma and had a relapse of OCD symptoms

My history with meditation and contemplative practice feels quite long. All through my primary school years, I used to visit with the nuns in the local convent who taught me to meditate in stillness on the Tabernacle. In times of adversity in childhood and in adolescence, I always knew how to find this “still place”: the watching place. I found it a great source of comfort, often sitting in silence in nature during troubling times.  At 19, a few short months after a particularly traumatic event, I took my first retreat – two days teacher led and seven days within a retreat setting which I found quite healing. Continue reading →

Psychosis and Mania

Damcho Pamo, a British woman, experienced psychosis and mania, when she was 51, while attending an intensive meditation retreat. Prior to this chapter in her life she had no history of psychological problems and in fact was psychologically robust.

In 1997 I became involved with a Zen group. I adopted a daily meditation practice and attended three retreats a year, two weekends and one five day. The retreats were intensive as they were in silence, the only opportunity to talk was in individual interviews with the teacher, and there were around eight hours of meditation a day.

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Panic Attack

A European women, when she was 28 years old, experienced adverse psychological effects after attending an intensive Vipassana retreat.

In my late twenties, I was a yoga teacher. I lived and taught across the world living a vibrant and exciting life that I had chosen and built. In December 2014, because I was advised by many people in my yoga circles to do so, I attended a Vipassana Meditation retreat. It’s a silent retreat that last for 11 days. Continue reading →