The Impact of Meditation on Depression and Anxiety

Over the last 20 years the American people have, in increasing numbers, embraced spiritual practices from other cultures as healing modalities for their mental health issues. One of these spiritual practices is meditation. Research is showing that meditation does have therapeutic value in managing some symptoms of depression and anxiety such as ruminative thinking, panic attacks, avoidant behaviors, and some of the physiological responses such as heart rate, respiration, brain processes and more. This paper will explore research on various types of meditation that are being utilized in a variety of settings in the United States as well as in other countries. The research demonstrates that meditation can be an effective tool for symptom management of some psychiatric disorders, and may be universally applied as a healing modality.