Background and Objectives Meditation practices have been marketed broadly to ameliorate human suffering. As such, individuals may seek out and use meditation to control or manage unpleasant thoughts and emotions. Emotion and thought control research suggest that meditation used in this way may potentiate unpleasant private experiences and contribute to negative outcomes. We aimed to evaluate the function or purpose guiding meditation and its relations with anxiety, depression, and other indices of well‐being. Design and Methods In a cross‐sectional design, undergraduate meditators (N = 98) reported intentions guiding their meditation practice (i.e., experiential/emotional control or acceptance/openness) and completed an assessment battery. Results Most participants (58.2%) indicated using meditation to manage, control, or avoid difficult experiences. Participants using meditation with control‐based intentions reported greater worry, anxiety, depression, negative affect, and lower mindfulness relative to their acceptance‐guided counterparts. After controlling for level of anxiety, viewing anxiety as a problem increased the likelihood of using meditation with control‐based intentions. Similar relations were observed between viewing stress as a problem and the likelihood of using meditation for experiential control. Conclusions Findings suggest that (a) how people meditate is significantly related to psychological distress and (b) highlight the importance of evaluating intentions guiding meditative practices, particularly in individuals struggling with unpleasant emotional or psychological experiences.

No abstract

Though anger is a common human emotion, the unfettered behavioral expression of anger is often costly, contributing to a range of functional impairments, poor quality of life, and both physical and mental health problems. The current case illustrates how a third-generation cognitive behavioral therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), may be effective in reducing suffering linked with problematic anger. The client (“Robert”), a treatment-naïve man of low socioeconomic status, presented to a university training clinic reporting problematic anger outbursts that interfered with his relationships at work and with his girlfriend. The therapist conceptualized Robert’s problematic anger through the ACT psychological flexibility model, wherein Robert’s anger appeared to function as experiential avoidance to distance him from underlying emotional hurt. The therapist used ACT over 27 sessions to reduce Robert’s psychological inflexibility while promoting more psychological flexibility. Early sessions highlighted the unworkability of Robert’s anger, whereas subsequent sessions focused on clarifying values, loosening cognitive fusion, facilitating present moment awareness, and cultivating mindful acceptance in the service of living a meaningful life. The therapist monitored treatment progress using quantitative measures and qualitative reports. Collectively, the client showed notable gains. The case study adds to the growing body of literature supporting ACT for problematic anger.