Engaging in mindfulness meditation can be harmful?

Another problem I see frequently is people who have some type of mood disorder, once they learn that meditation can cause mood disorders, blame everything on meditation.

My advice to anyone who wants to try meditating: try it in small doses and increase the amount gradually, if you find it causes problems stop or try a different technique. In my experience the safest, form with the best results is this: 

https://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/2020/08/prep...-with.html

more here:

https://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/p/meditation.html

[Laird]

@Jim_Smith, it's not clear to me that your previous few posts in this thread adhere to our Guidelines for reproducing external content. Could you please check and confirm?

@Jim_Smith, it's not clear to me that your previous few posts in this thread adhere to our Guidelines for reproducing external content. Could you please check and confirm?

I removed one long quote. The other long quote is from my web site which is original content I created. I give myself permission to reproduce it here.

[Laird]

I removed one long quote. The other long quote is from my web site which is original content I created. I give myself permission to reproduce it here.

Much appreciated.

It appears that some parts of the brain that are activated during psychosis become active during meditation. Perhaps this is the reason why some people report adverse effects:

https://www.popsci.com/health/meditation...osis-rare/

"But like any other treatment or therapy that changes our body, meditation may have side effects. Some of the brain changes we see alongside meditation mimic those that take place during psychosis. For example, there’s evidence to suggest that meditation elevates dopamine in the brain—one of the hallmark characteristics of schizophrenia, says David Zilles-Wegner, a senior physician in psychiatry at University Medical Center Gottingen in Germany".

People are different. For example 5-10% have no inner voice, something I take for granted. I have tried meditation several times and have never found it to have any benefit for me. Others are highly devouted to the practice. Maybe they have a more “turbulent” head.

You have to be at it regularly for some time to really notice anything worthwhile, but as you said, you might still not get any benefits.  I used to find it very restful taking 20 minutes timeout in a deeply peaceful state each day when I used to do it, but it took months of impatient wanting it to be over before I reached the point where it became beneficial to me.  We are not used to stillness.