Meditation and psychiatry.

How might meditation promote wellness and healing from psychiatric illness? How might it contribute to the practice of psychiatry? This review of the literature attempts to answer these questions. Meditation is the consciously willed practice of two actions, attending and abstaining, that all people spontaneously perform to a greater or lesser degree. Psychological health may correlate in part with the degree to which we naturally perform these actions. This review analyzes the nature of meditation and its therapeutic benefits. It then concludes with a summary of the issues pertinent to the adjunctive use of meditation in psychiatric care.