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Crossfire

Does meditation actually make you happier, or just less anxious?

What the experts say

Dan HarrisJournalist and author · former ABC News anchor · no clinical, research or teaching credential claimed

It works, it is the foundation under everything else, and the honest promise is a compounding 10 percent rather than transcendence

What it rests onTwenty years of daily practice and a claim stated without citation: mindfulness meditation 'has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression, boost your immune system, lower your blood pressure.' His brand is itself a cap on the claim: 10 percent, not bliss.

Source: podscripts.co ↗
Laurie R. SantosPhD · cognitive scientist, Yale

The happiness gains from mindfulness are small at best, and of the five most-recommended happiness strategies it has the thinnest pre-registered evidence base

What it rests onFolk and Dunn 2023 systematic review of well-powered pre-registered experiments on the five most media-recommended happiness strategies; 57 studies qualified; mindfulness and meditation fared worst. Conclusion: 'a strong scientific foundation is lacking for some of the most commonly recommended happiness strategies.' Santos cites this review rather than arguing around it.

Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗

Overview

They are measuring different things. Folk and Dunn restrict to non-clinical samples and to subjective wellbeing (positive affect, negative affect, life satisfaction). Goyal et al. 2014, the review that supports Harris's narrower claim, measures symptom reduction in anxiety and depression against active controls in mostly clinical or distressed populations.

Meditation can plausibly reduce anxiety symptoms by a small margin and fail to raise a healthy person's happiness, and the evidence is consistent with exactly that.

Where they agree

Both sides agree the effects are small. Harris's entire brand is an agreement in advance: 10 percent. Neither claims transformation, and neither disputes that the practice is free and low risk.

What would settle it

Well-powered pre-registered trials of brief daily meditation in non-clinical samples measuring subjective wellbeing, with follow-up beyond a few weeks. Also: any trial testing the two outcomes Harris adds without support, immune function and blood pressure, which if tested would most likely move his claim down rather than up.

Practice does not pick a winner here

You do, and your call is dated, kept, and yours to change. Follow the people you already trust and what they publish turns into a short daily practice.

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