The Third Wave of Meditation and Mindfulness Research and Implications for Challenging Experiences: Negative Effects, Transformative Psychological Growth, and Forms of Happiness

Abstract Research on meditation and mindfulness in relation to challenging effects can be understood as consisting of at least two waves: The first wave focused on the efficacy of mindfulness and more broadly the clinically positive effects of meditation. The second wave mainly focused on increasing methodological rigor and uncovering underlying mechanisms. Research on the different kinds and prevalence of potential negative effects was also initiated in this second wave. We propose that future research needs to include the investigation of processes of transformative psychological growth that lead up to and result from advanced meditation and involve complex relationships between positive and challenging effects. Such research is part of a third wave of meditation research, which mainly focuses on advanced meditation. The central point of our argument is that “negative” experiences may be essential to meditative growth. However, it is difficult to define what a negative effect is when considering traditional contemplative perspectives. To conceptualize negative effects, we distinguish between objective and subjective happiness and define “negative effect” as that which overall contributes to both objective and subjective unhappiness. The resulting view represents a common-ground framework that incorporates both psychological and contemplative perspectives.