The Psychology of Meditation: Research and Practice

In the past 20 years meditation has grown enormously in popularity across the world, practised both by the general public, as well as by an increasing number of psychologists within their daily clinical practice. Meditation is now used to treat a range of disorders, including, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, chronic pain, and addiction. In the past twenty years we have also learned much more about the underlying neural bases for meditation, and why it works.

The Psychology of Meditation: Research and Practice explores the practice of meditation and mindfulness and presents accounts of the cognitive and emotional processes elicited during meditation practice. Written by researchers and practitioners with considerable experience in meditation practice and from different religious or philosophical perspectives, he book examines the evidence for the effects of meditation on emotional and physical well-being in therapeutic contexts and in applied settings. The areas covered include addictions, pain management, psychotherapy, physical health, neuroscience, and the application of meditation in school and workplace settings. Uniquely, the contributors also present accounts of their own personal experience of meditation practice including their history of practice, phenomenology, and the impact it has had on their lives.

Drawing on evidence from both research and practice, this is a valuable synthesis of the ways in which meditation can profoundly enrich human experience.

Michael A. West, Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster

Michael West is Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at Lancaster University Management School, Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund in London, Senior Fellow of The Work Foundation and Emeritus Professor at Aston University. He was formerly Executive Dean of Aston Business School. He graduated from the University of Wales in 1973 and received his PhD in 1977 for work on The Psychology of Meditation. He has authored, edited or co-edited 25 books including The Psychology of Meditation (1987); The Psychology of Work and Organizations (2010); The Essentials of Teamworking: International Perspectives (2005);; Effective Teamwork (2012) the first edition of which has been translated into 12 languages; The International Handbook of Organizational Teamwork and Cooperative Working (2003). He has also published over 200 articles for scientific and practitioner publications, as well as chapters in scholarly books. He is a Fellow of the BPS and the APA