  Why Meditation Might be Bad for You February 18, 2003 Maia
Szalavitz Before you extinguish your ego, consider the
scientific evidence on the risks of meditation  If your only
source of information is the mainstream American media, you may
very well think that meditation is a time-tested, scientifically
proven stress-reducer and anxiety-buster.  This week, Newsweek
regurgitates that line, with a story sub-titled,  "Science shows
that meditation, massage, yoga-even laughter-can change bad
habits in the brain." This follows hard on  pro-meditation
articles in The New York Timesand The Washington Post citing a
brain-imaging study of stressed workers, which found that they
shifted their thinking patterns from the negative-focused right
prefrontal brain areas to the happier left side through
meditation.  But in a rare departure from this trend, John
Horgan, in a Slate essay explaining why he abandoned
Buddhismmentions that meditation has not been definitively shown
to be helpful and can even have harmful effects.