Meditation Styles Compared: Different Tools, Not One Magic Practice

Summary

Meditation is a toolbox of distinct practices (focused-attention, mindfulness/open-monitoring, loving-kindness, mantra/TM, body-scan, movement), each with its own best-use and its own evidence quality, and the honest picture is both-ways: it produces real, moderate benefit for anxiety, depression and pain (comparable to a primary-care antidepressant), AND it is massively oversold as a panacea, never beats other good options head-to-head, carries real and under-reported adverse effects, and is the wrong first move for trauma and psychosis histories. ---