If it really was "plausible" you'd expect professionals in the field to alert about this. I've heard nothing but positive encouragement from many healthcare providers about the benefits of meditation and not a one of them discussed the possibility of psychosis or delirium.
Honestly, I just don't buy that it's a real problem or that meditation alone would cause serious issues. But I do know that many who do meditation often do other things as well, and those other things are typically much more of a concern.
Listen, it is not occurring a lot (not as much as bad trips on LSD or mushrooms), but it _is_ possible. Don't forget some people have real mental (and heck, physical) disabilities which are affected by drugs as well as medication as well as meditation. Meditation is that powerful. As is (long term) dancing, for that matter.
Also, this wasn't about ordinary meditation. This was about long term meditation. Quoting:
> "[...] during a mindfulness meditation retreat last weekend [...]"
Retreat is the keyword. This person was meditating full stop, like going on Vipassana course. That is not the same as someone doing mindfulness for 30 minutes at home and feeling at risk a psychosis occurs.
The example I gave you about withdrawal symptoms occurring during a retreat are also plausible. You have to stay sober in such a retreat. Coffee? Alcohol? Marihuana? LSD? Cocaine? Heroin? Forget about all that. If you sign up for Vipassana, you need to specify what kind of drugs you have used, what kind of medication you have used, and your mental/physical disabilities. Some people however decide to lie about that. Bad idea...
I'm unable to find any academic or journal or industry research papers about these supposed dangers of meditation. I'd like to read them if they are out there.
I have found some blogs on the subject and a couple vague articles on news websites, but that doesn't really mean anything if I can't see real studies on it.
I gave you on two accounts withdrawal symptoms from drugs as example. Surely, you can find scientific information on that. You'd be right that is not the direct result of mindfulness or meditation, but it is indirect result, and since e.g. Vipassana retreat enforces a no drugs an no medication policy it can occur (exceptions can be discussed beforehand though).
We also know that there are people with mental disabilities who are being untreated. Some of those people are sensitive to psychosis, and are at risk f.e. when induced by stress. I myself had a psychosis due to stress (not drugs, not meditation, not medication; I wish it was any of that, but it wasn't; it was stress).
Also, I'm not really sure if such would be reported. Not every psychosis gets documented by doctors. Mine wasn't, because I did not even dare to go outside (light hurted me, severely). I could barely speak. I only drank water for weeks. Barely ate. Bills were piling up. You get the idea.
FWIW, I found this after 3 minutes of searching with DDG:
"In 1994, the “Glossary of Culture-Bound Syndromes” of the diagnostic manual of the American Psychiatric Association states:
Qigong psychotic reaction: A term describing an acute, time-limited episode characterized by dissociative, paranoid, or other psychotic or non-psychotic symptoms that may occur after participation in the Chinese folk health-enhancing practice of qigong. Especially vulnerable are individuals who become overly involved in the practice."
"A scarce literature exists on meditation
and psychosis, and it contains cautions against teaching meditation to people vulnerable to (Yorston, 2001) or currently experiencing active symptoms of psychosis (Deatherage and Lethbridge, 1975)."
Can't say I put a lot of effort in this. Yet I found this rather easily.
TBH, I don't think you are trying hard enough. To me it appears it is not fitting your viewpoint so you just gave up quickly. You also ignore the points I made (see top of my post).
> This is exactly the point I've been making, that the meditation itself is not to blame for these issues.
Well, if the subject lied about their medical conditions, then the retreat has written proof of that. That's why you gotta fill it in (its also why visa waiver asks seemingly ridiculous questions). Its CYA; in this case so it is more difficult to sue them successfully afterwards. That also underlines there is a responsibility for the retreat provider(s). You cannot completely deny responsibility. The relationship between client (customer) and server (provider) is not equal here. The provider is the specialist; the client is not.
> Thanks for the other links, I shall read them.
Great. Be aware I spend 2 + 2 + 3 minutes on it just to prove there is research on this available. I didn't do an exhaustive search so I suggest you push the limit further in that regard.
I find it furthermore ironic you link to that subpart of the Wikipedia page and my browser shows in such a way in the middle of my screen the "Overview of clinical research" (which I read first) where it is written: "Although clinical research examining health effects of qigong is increasing, there is little financial or medical incentive to support research, and still only a limited number of studies meet accepted medical and scientific standards of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).[75]" and "A 2011 overview of systematic reviews of clinical trials concluded that "the effectiveness of qigong is based mostly on poor quality research" and "therefore, it would be unwise to draw firm conclusions at this stage".[3]" yet at the part you link to (which I was searching for in middle of my screen) it says "Qigong is generally viewed as safe.[74]" and "Although a 2010 comprehensive literature review found 77 peer-reviewed RCTs;[75] systematic reviews for particular health conditions show that most clinical research is of poor quality, typically because of small sample size and lack of proper control groups, with lack of blinding associated with high risk of bias.[3]" (Apart from the irony of my experience) this is clearly in contradiction with each other within the same article.
If it really was "plausible" you'd expect professionals in the field to alert about this. I've heard nothing but positive encouragement from many healthcare providers about the benefits of meditation and not a one of them discussed the possibility of psychosis or delirium.
Honestly, I just don't buy that it's a real problem or that meditation alone would cause serious issues. But I do know that many who do meditation often do other things as well, and those other things are typically much more of a concern.