Dark Night of the Soul

My article in the July 2018 issue of Therapy Today considered the possible risks of negative psychological effects from the practice of “mindfulness”, and explored how and why these might arise.

Describing the history and development of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), which borrows techniques and concepts from Buddhist meditation, I contrast the objectives of MBCT with the Buddha’s stated aim in teaching meditation: awakening or enlightenment.

Because awakening involves seeing through the illusion of self, I highlight the ways in which this may prove unsettling and unhelpful to people already in a state of psychological distress. I argue that, in the West, there is little recognition of the process of awakening, and—consequently— meditators and even their teachers can be unprepared for its sometimes destabilizing effects.

Also included is a short case history, indicating how counselling might help someone troubled by the effects of awakening, and a short description of some of the stages of awakening and the types of experiences to which they might give rise.

Dark Night of the Soul [PDF file, 184 Kb]. © This article was first published in Therapy Today, the journal of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).