Letter to the Editor: Miscommunicating Mindfulness

. . . in what is presumably an effort to explain how meditation has been shown to influence emotion regulation, correlated with alterations in amygdala activity (e.g., Goldin & Gross, 2010), [Hanson] has stated, “In terms of amygdala activity, people seem to belong to one of three groups . . . the ones with a joyful amygdala—are more focused on promoting the good than on preventing the bad” (Hanson, 2013, pp. 43–44). As a result of such oversimplifications, meditative benefits may be exaggerated and undue societal urgency to undertake mindfulness practices may be encouraged (e.g., Farias & Wikholm, 2015).