Hi Anita,
You raise a very interesting question and it is one which I also thought about whilst reading this thread.
I have googled this issue and not found anything at all written about meditation causing mental illness. This is not to say there is no connection, but (from the web link provided by anti-ses) there are 60,000,000 TM users representing a staggering $120Bn client base at current rates - ie a big business, and that business is clearly making a big effort to promote its product.
I see a parallel with mobile telephone towers (and the phones themselves) where there is a popular view amongst consumers that there are health issues, but these are not at all reflected in the large body of research available. The suspicion is that the research is manipulated, but there seems to be no evidence to support this. Nevertheless a lot of people are waiting for the "Oops, we now realise there is a problem" reaction from scientists.
I suspect the wider questions are - "What is the incidence of mental illness in SES people?" and "What is the incidence of mental illness in people who were child members of SES?"
I did find the following (nothing special) simple explanation of the causes of mental illness (my highlights) - or mental distress as the site prefers to call it:
www.mind.org.uk wrote:What are the causes of mental distress?
There are many opinions about what causes mental distress. It?s part of a wider debate about what makes people the way they are, whether their personality is shaped by the life experiences they have gone through, or whether it?s determined by their genetic make-up, inherited from their parents. It?s possible that some people are more vulnerable to mental health problems, which could be triggered by stressful or traumatic events. The following are some of the possible causes of mental distress. It may be due to any one of these factors, or to a combination of them.
Difficult family background
Growing up feeling uncared-for, scared of a parent, or having been sexually abused can make people highly insecure and more vulnerable to mental distress. But being much too overprotected as a child can also put you at risk.
Hidden feelings
You may have been discouraged from expressing your feelings from a very early age. As a child, you may even have been punished for getting angry, crying or laughing too loudly. Feelings that are held back, and which are not expressed, affect your physical and mental health.
Stressful life events
These may be traumatic events, such as the death of someone close, or longer-term struggles, such as being the victim of some form of harassment or oppression.
Biochemistry
Your body chemistry can affect your mind. For example, if you are frightened, it triggers the body?s ?fight or flight? response to produce a hormone called adrenalin. If physical activity doesn?t use up all the adrenalin, the body remains tense and the mind stays over-active.
Genes
You inherit physical characteristics from your parents and can pass them on in the same way. It?s possible that your genetic make-up can also affect your personality. There are genes that cause physical illnesses, so there may be genes that predispose a person towards mental illness. There is some scientific evidence to support the idea that one person may be more likely than another to develop a particular problem, such as manic depression or schizophrenia.
I suspect that to investigate any link between TM and mental illness one would have to take the wider SES picture into consideration - and to have any meaning, it would be necessary to commission a properly structured study.
That site also says: "Mental illness is very common. About one in four people in Britain has this diagnosis, but there is a great deal of controversy about what it is, what causes it, and how people can be helped to recover."
My wife (who generally believes I am wasting my time on this site when I should be attending to more practical matters) is very interested in this topic.
I'd personally be happy to be part of a group looking at this. My best friend at SES became mentally ill - spent time at Shenley - and (as far as I could tell) never really recovered. I stuck with him for 5 years but we eventually drifted apart and lost contact.
Clearly any move in this direction would be very uncomfortable for SES and would therefore be very likely to incur their strong opposition.
What other thoughts?
Best wishes,
Ben