The Scientific History of Mindfulness: 1938 to 2020

Since 1970, scientists have been investigating the therapeutic effects of religious meditation methods. Thousands of preliminary experiments claim psychological benefits from mindfulness practices. Over the last 20 years, many stakeholders from different sections of society, including science, politics, and the business community, have supported a 'mindfulness revolution'. The current purported benefits of mindfulness are so widespread that they extend well beyond health and wellbeing. Social policy agents even advocated using mindfulness in schools to support the UK's future economic performance. However, there is a limiting contradiction in mindfulness research. The narrative that mindfulness's benefits are scientifically validated has been challenged for decades by methodologically robust scientific reviews. These two conflicting evaluations have led to growing concerns among meditation scientists. A major investigation in 2018 by Nicholas Van Dam and 14 co-authors argued that the hyping of poor-quality preliminary results could harm mindfulness consumers. Major research findings since 2020 have supported a more critical evaluation of claims made for the benefits of mindfulness.

Two overarching research questions drive this thesis: firstly, how and then why did mindfulness, originally a belief-based practice, become an important object of scientific interest? Throughout this project, understanding how the contradictory views of mindfulness research were developed and maintained has become increasingly important. By applying a transdisciplinary approach, including history of science methodologies, this thesis seeks to contribute new insights to the extensive body of meditation and mindfulness research. Proceeding chronologically, starting in 1938 with William Grey Walter's EEG experiments of the effects of meditation, this research focuses on analysing the creation, distribution, impact and methodological problems of several paradigmatic studies in the field; highlighting the evolution of mindfulness from earlier scientific engagement with meditation. This thesis focuses on clinical and scientific research conducted primarily in the psychological sciences. It also explores how mindfulness has been medicalised, that is, the relocation of religious mindfulness methods into medico-scientific domains and beyond.

In creating a mindfulness-based stress reduction technique (MBSR) in 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn claimed to have founded a conceptual bridge between Buddhist and scientific knowledge. Through case study analysis, it seems likely that rather than integrating religion and science, MBSR was uncoupled from theoretical frameworks. This novel medicalised approach led to a pragmatic paradigm where early-stage experiments frequently found evidence of health benefits without demonstrating how improved patient outcomes were arrived at. Free of overarching testable hypotheses, the MBSR concept was extremely flexible, supporting the proliferation of the technique. Lacking robust scientific replication, dramatic claims based on preliminary mindfulness studies were often contested by scientific reviews. This tension between positive early-stage experiments and more sceptical overarching investigations became a paradox, leading to a crisis in mindfulness research.

This scientific history illustrates that perceptions of the relationship between science and religion depend on many factors, including cultural context and the beliefs of individual scientists. Therefore, systemic limitations potentially exist wherever religious knowledge is relocated to scientific domains. Significant work is necessary to establish the extent to which science adopts an 'outsider' perspective when engaging with non-scientific knowledge. Like previous studies, this thesis argues for improvements in meditation and mindfulness research. However, MBSR may partially reflect a rejection of mechanistic understandings and treatment of health conditions through approaches such as Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs). Further research is also recommended to develop new ontological and epistemological understandings that could support more reliable scientific investigations of traditional meditation and practices.