Can you use meditation as medication? A federal panel recently
released a report with results that might surprise you. Patrick
Slavens says he often found himself caught up with everyday
life. His ADHD and smoking habit didn’t help. Then the former
marine tried this. “I never thought I’d end up to be the warm,
fuzzy, meditating kinda guy,” Slavens said. “It’s the kind of
thing that has very, very few downsides,” said Dr. Richard J.
Davidson, Psychology and Psychiatry Professor at the Center for
Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-
Madison. Davidson has been studying meditation for decades. A
friend of the Dalai Lama, he’s scanned the brains of Buddhist
monks as they meditated. He tells us the brain can actually make
new connections; even grow new neurons in this state. It’s
called neuroplasticity. He believes with practice, meditation
can improve symptoms of social anxiety, phobias, and
inflammatory problems like asthma or psoriasis. “My own view is
that it’s best considered as an adjunc