When Does Mindfulness Become Addictive?

Mindfulness is growing in popularity and is increasingly being used by healthcare

professionals for treating mental health problems. There has also been a gradual
uptake of mindfulness by a range of organisations including schools, universities,
large corporations, and the armed forces. However, the rate at which mindfulness
has been assimilated by Western society has in our opinion meant that there has
been a lack of research exploring the circumstances where mindfulness may actually
cause a person harm. An example of a potentially harmful consequence of
mindfulness that we have identified in our own research is that of a person
developing an addiction to mindfulness.
Being addicted to mindfulness would constitute a form of behavioural addiction (i.e.,
as opposed to chemical addiction). Examples of better known forms of behavioural
addiction are gambling disorder, internet gaming disorder, problematic internet use,
sex addiction, and workaholism. According to a model of addiction formulated by
our research colleague Dr Mark Griffiths (a Professor of behavioural addiction) a
person suffers from a behavioural addiction when in respect of the behaviour in
question, they satisfy the following six criteria:
Salience: Mindfulness has become the single most important activity in their life.
Mood Modification: Practising mindfulness in order to alleviate emotional stress or
to engender euphoric or high states.
3. Tolerance: Practising mindfulness for longer durations in order to derive the same
mood-modifying effects.
4. Withdrawal: Experiencing emotional and physical distress (e.g., painful bodily
sensations) when not practising mindfulness.
5. Conflict: The individuals routine of mindfulness practice causes (i) interpersonal
conflict with family members and friends, (ii) conflict with activities such as
1.
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work, socialising, and exercising, and (iii) psychological and emotional conflict
(also known as intra-psychic conflict).
6. Relapse: Reverting to earlier patterns of excessive mindfulness practice following
periods of control.
In modern society, the word addiction has negative connotations but it should be
remembered that an addiction can be both positive and negative. For example, in
separate clinical case studies that we conducted with individuals suffering from
pathological gambling, sex addiction, and workaholism, it was observed that the
participants substituted their addiction to gambling, work, or sex for an addiction to
mindfulness. In the beginning phases of psychotherapy, this process of addiction
substitution represented a move forward in terms of the individuals therapeutic
recovery. However, as the therapy progressed and the individuals dependency on
gambling, work, or sex began to weaken, their addiction to mindfulness was
restricting their personal and spiritual growth, and was starting to cause conflict in
other areas of their life. Therefore, it became necessary to help them change the way
they practiced and related to mindfulness.
Mindfulness is a technique or behaviour that an individual can choose to practice.
However, the idea is that the individual doesnt separate mindfulness from the rest
of their lives. If an individual sees mindfulness as a practice or something that they
need to do in order to find calm and escape from their problems, there is risk that
they will become addicted to it. It is for this reason that we always exercise caution
before recommending that people follow a strict daily routine of mindfulness
practice. In fact, in the mindfulness intervention that we developed called Meditation
Awareness Training, we dont encourage participants to practice at set times of day
or to adhere to a rigid routine. Rather, we guide participants to follow a dynamic
routine of mindfulness practice that is flexible and that can be adapted according to
the demands of daily living. For example, if a baby decides to wake up earlier than
usual one morning, the mother can tell it to wait and be quite because its interfering
with her time for practising mindfulness meditation. Rather, she has to tend to the
baby and find another time to sit in meditation. Or better still, she can tend to the
baby with love and awareness, and turn the encounter with her child into a form of
mindfulness practice. We live in a very uncertain world and so it is valuable if we can
learn to be accommodating and work mindfully with situations as they unfold
around us.
One of the components of Professor Griffiths model of addiction is salience or
importance. In general, if an individual prioritises a behaviour (such as gambling) or
substance (such as cannabis) above all other aspects of their life, then its probably

fair to say that their perspective on life is misguided and that they are in need of help
and support. However, as far as mindfulness is concerned, we would argue that its
good if it becomes the most important thing in a persons life. Human beings dont
live very long and there can be no guarantee that a person will survive the next week,
let alone the next year. Therefore, its our view that it is a wise move to dedicate
oneself to some form of authentic spiritual practice. However, there is a big
difference between understanding the importance of mindfulness and correctly
assimilating it into ones life, and becoming dependant on it.
If a person becomes dependant on mindfulness, it means that it has remained
external to their being. It means that they dont live and breathe mindfulness, and
that they see it as a method of coping with (or even avoiding) the rest of their life.
Under these circumstances, its easy to see how a person can develop an addiction
to mindfulness, and how they can become irritable with both themselves and others
when they dont receive their normal fix of mindfulness on a given day.
Mindfulness is a relatively simple practice but its also very subtle. It takes a highly
skilled and experienced meditation teacher to correctly and safely instruct people in
how to practise mindfulness. Its our view that because the rate of uptake of
mindfulness in the West has been rather fast, in the future there will be more and
more people who experience problems including mental health problems such as
being addicted to mindfulness as a result of practising mindfulness. Of course, its
not mindfulness itself that will cause their problems to arise. Rather, problems will
arise because people have been taught how to practice mindfulness by instructors
who are not teaching from an experiential perspective and who dont really know
what they are talking about. From personal experience, we know that mindfulness
works and that it is good for a persons physical, mental, and spiritual health.
However, we also know that teaching mindfulness and meditation incorrectly can
give rise to harmful consequences, including developing an addiction to mindfulness.
Ven Dr Edo Shonin and Ven William Van Gordon

Further Reading
Griffiths, M. D. (2005). A components model of addiction within a biopsychosocial
framework. Journal of Substance Use, 10, 191-197.
Shonin, E., Van Gordon, W., & Griffiths, M. D. (2013). Buddhist philosophy for
the treatment of problem gambling. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 2, 63-71.

Shonin, E., Van Gordon, W., & Griffiths, M. D. (2014). The treatment of
workaholism with Meditation Awareness Training: A case study. Explore: The
Journal of Science and Healing, 10, 193-195.
Shonin, E., Van Gordon W., & Griffiths, M. D. (2014). Mindfulness as a treatment
for behavioral addiction. Journal of Addiction Research and Therapy, 5, e122. doi:
10.4172/2155-6105.1000e122.
Shonin, E., Van Gordon W., & Griffiths, M. D. (2015). Are there risks associated
with using mindfulness for the treatment of psychopathology? Clinical Practice,
11, 389-382.
Sussman, S., Lisha, N., Griffiths, M. D. (2011). Prevalence of the addictions: A
problem of the majority or the minority? Evaluation and the Health Professionals,
34, 3-56.
Van Gordon, W., Shonin, E., & Griffiths, M.D. (2015). Mindfulness in mental
health: A critical reflection. Journal of Psychology, Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Brain
Stimulation, 1(1), 102.
Van Gordon, W., Shonin, E., & Griffiths, M. D. (2016). Meditation Awareness
Training for the treatment of sex addiction: A case study. Journal of Behavioral
Addiction, 5, 363-372.
Van Gordon, W., Shonin, E., & Griffiths, M. D. (2016). Ontological addiction:
Classification, etiology, and treatment. Mindfulness, 7, 660-671.