These kinds of practices are meant to ground you in the present moment and the effects can be seen in brain scans, with growth in the insula cortex, a region that is involved in bodily perception and emotion. As a result, mindfulness training can leave us more in touch with our feelings, which is important for good decision making. Many mindfulness practices also encourage a more general “observing awareness”, in which you train yourself to notice your thoughts and feelings without reacting or judging. With practice, this can increase your capacity for emotional regulation so that you are no longer as susceptible to flashes of anger, for instance.
Ideally, these changes should complement each other and result in greater wellbeing. But that’s only possible if they occur in balance and moderation. Unfortunately, some meditators may pass the optimum point on either one of these elements, leading to distress.
We’ve had an overwhelming number of people contacting the lab and saying, ‘I can't feel anything, I don't feel any love for my family. What do I do?’ – Willoughby Britton
Take the effects of body scan, with the heightened activity in the insular cortex. “It’s like somebody turned up the volume knob, and the intensity of all your emotions is going to be louder,” says Britton, whose recent paper reviewed the potential ways that meditation could backfire. Eventually, your sensitivity to every slight change could become overwhelming. The result could be full-on panic attacks, as, indeed, around 14% meditators reported in a Portuguese study.
Other meditators might have the opposite problem. Studies have shown that meditation can increase activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, for instance, which in turn regulates the limbic system, and the amygdala, another region where emotional salience is processed. In the right amount, prefrontal control over the limbic system can result in better focus and less emotional reactivity, says Britton. But when that’s taken beyond optimal levels, it can blunt all emotions, both negative and positive, so that they no longer feel extreme joy or happiness. In extreme cases, this can result in the unsettling sense of “dissociation” from their life – which affected around 8% of meditators in the Portuguese study.