Meditation as medication: are attitudes changing?

Until recently, the consensus-backed medical operationalisation of meditation was an unlikely prospect. However, 72% of GPs in the UK now believe that patients can derive health benefits by practising meditation.1 Furthermore, two-thirds of GPs are willing to support a public campaign to promote the health benefits of meditation.1 Secularised Buddhist-derived meditation interventions (BDMIs) were first introduced into the medical setting in the 1970s,2 and scientific interest has significantly increased since that time. In 2012, approximately 500 scientific papers concerning a form …