Today while looking at cnn.com, I came across interesting new alternative technique for the prevention of depression called “Compassion Meditation”. The method was inspired by Tibetan Buddhists, specifically the Dalai Lama, who is now an associate professor at Emory University in Atlanta where the new meditation process is being studied.

Dr. Charles Raison, of Emory University, says the idea behind compassion meditation is that “our perceptions of other people are flawed” and that “we tend naturally to see some people as friends and other people as enemies and a whole bunch of people in the middle who are sort of non-entities”. The theory is that those people in the middle become important later on. Raison uses the example; “if you aren’t married yet, a stranger is your wife; a stranger is your next boss”. The meditation processes is a way of changing our minds about how we think about those people in the middle. Dr. Raison believes that through the process of meditation it is hoped that people can become more equitable toward everyone, which will in turn reduce our chances of having depression.

Raison says results from studies being done are “very promising”.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 26 Jan 2008
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.