Episode 80: Mindfulness meditation

Pay attention. Focus on your breathing. Live in the moment. Accept yourself. Do you have a self? Focus on that self. And so on. This is, of course, the practice of mindfulness meditation, which seems to be everywhere: in schools, at work, in apps, and all over the scientific literature.

Do any of the claimed effects of mindfulness meditation (relieving your depression! Changing the structure of your brain!) actually add up? In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart focus calmly, serenely, and gratefully on their own thoughts, and then find out.

The Studies Show is brought to you by Works in Progress magazine. WiP has started doing its own podcasts! Don’t worry—we give you permission to listen to them. The one we mentioned on the show this week is an interview with Stian Westlake, the extremely interesting Chief Executive of the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council and expert in the “intangible” economy.

Show notes

* When Sam Harris tried to get Richard Dawkins to meditate on a podcast

* Tom’s 2014 article on mindfulness, before all the criticisms started appearing

* Mindfulness tips from the NHS

* The 2017 critical paper from Perspectives on Psychological Science

* 2014 meta-analysis finding no effect beyond active controls

* 2021 meta-analysis drawing a similar conclusion

* The now-retracted 2023 Scientific Reports meta-analysis on mindfulness and brain structure

* Eiko Fried’s article discussing his experience critiquing the paper

* The eventual retraction note

* PLOS ONE paper from 2016 on the number of positive results found in mindfulness trials

* 2015 meta-analysis on mindfulness in healthcare

* The eventual retraction note

* 2022 writeup of the MYRIAD study of school-based mindfulness techniques

* Critical opinion piece by a mindfulness sceptic

* Study on mindfulness in the context of neoliberal capitalism

Credits

The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe