Meditation versus therapy

Gorana Arnaud • 17 décembre 2025

What is meditation?

So what is meditation? Quite simply, it is being deeply concentrated on something, anything, rather than the usual thoughts that keep ruminating in our head day and night. Thoughts that can go anything from: « I’ll never get rid of my cancer completely » or « I’ll never be good enough » or « If only I would get this promotion »; you get it, a flux of negative thoughts. Meditation obliges us to stop this mental rumination by being deeply concentrated on something outside ourselves. This can be our breath, but it can also be a monotonous, repetitive task, like sweeping the floor (often a morning ritual at Buddhist temples), pulling out weeds, or knitting. (A few years ago I remember knitting being a « thing » and both Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow being huge knitting advocates precisely for its calming action; I don’t know whether this is still the case).

But meditation can also be the action of being completely, utterly absorbed by a good book. Just like during what happens during hypnosis; when the brain is distracted by an outside stimulus and this allows our heart rate to slow down, regulating blood pressure and bringing a host of other health benefits; our brain activity goes into « calm » mode, producing more alpha and delta waves. These « lower » frequency brain waves bring about the deep relaxation responsible for the wellbeing associated with meditation. Yet, the feeling that many of my patients report, of going to a meditation practice or class, and finding that not only are they unable to concentrate or focus but that their thoughts run wilder and more negative than ever, so that they end up leaving the half hour or hour long meditation practice with a horrible backache from sitting in the lotus position for too long, their anxiety levels higher than ever. This is definitely NOT what meditation is about. Maybe a Buddhist monk can meditate for an hour straight after decades of practice, but for a beginner it is simply too difficult.

So next time you want to have a deep meditation session, you might as well get absorbed in something you really enjoy doing. A run through the forest, if running is your thing. Baking a three-layered cake for a loved one’s birthday. Or simply snuggling up with a good book. The activity itself is less important than the state of flow we get into whilst doing it. And of course, the happiness this brings.

What is therapy?

Therapy is essentially, healing through talk. Yet, the talk that goes on in therapy is very different than talking to a friend, over coffee let’s say. When we voice our innermost hopes and fears in front of someone who is impartial, and yet completely on our side, as a kind of « cheerleader » this creates the necessary space for miracles to happen. We can let go of old habits, old relationships, old weaknesses that make us « stuck » and prevent us from living to our full potential. This is the magic of therapy.

But how exactly does this « magic » happen? Like I said above, the therapist is not our friend, they are someone who is at the same time « neutral » and completely on our side. They will help us figure out and act on the things that we WANT. The things that we « want » are exactly the things that are in our best interest in the long term, but it is us who decides and chooses what they are, and not some outside authority. This is why a therapist is different from a priest or a rabbi. They are not concerned with morality, or the « right » thing to do, they are only concerned with the selfish acts that will make us a happy human being.

Therapy unfolds over time, sometimes the change happens very quickly, in two or three sessions at most, and sometimes it takes much longer. But with perseverance, the results always, always follow. There needs to be a feeling between therapist and patient, and there needs to be sufficient motivation on the part of the patient for the change to occur. These are like the ingredients when baking a cake, without them, the dough won’t rise and the cake simply won’t happen. But when all the necessary elements are there, the result is astounding. I am often surprised how, after a certain amount of sessions, my patients look better rested, healthier, younger. They start dressing better and their posture improves. The wommen look prettier, the men more handsome and self-assured. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why, and over the years I have stopped trying to; it is simply the miracle of therapy.

Which is more effective for stress and other conditions?

Meditation has become hugely popular in recent years. So much so, that there is an increasing confusion as to what exactly the difference is between meditation and psychotherapy, if meditation is actually a form of psychotherapy, and if so, why actually see a therapist at all? After all, if meditation provides us with the peace of mind and serenity needed to put a distance between us and our worries and troubles, surely this is more than enough we can hope for? Better yet, meditation is something we can do on our own, whenever or wherever we choose, it is a truly autonomous and independent practice.

Yet there is a clear difference between meditation and psychotherapy. Yes, meditation does indeed help us accept certain things we cannot change, but therapy gives us the motivation and strength to radically transform our lives, that is to change the things that can be changed. And therapy also provides us with a safe space to distinguish the two.

For example: My mother keeps bombarding me with unexpected phonecalls several times a week, sometimes several times a day. I obviously cannot change my mother. But what I can change, is to receive those phonecalls or not. So therapy will provide me with the opportunity to discuss gentle ways to get the message across to my mother; for example picking up the phone only at certain times, or even gently blocking her number for a week at a time, until the message comes across. I can discuss my options with the help of a kind yet firm therapist. The therapist can also help me identify underlying emotions, for example guilt (I am being very cruel to my poor mother) or anger (doesn’t she understand I have a life too?!).

And then, outside the therapy session, in the peace and comfort of my own home, I can meditate on the guilt, on the anger, and see them as emotions that are painfully unpleasant, but that are ultimately not part of me, not part of who I really am. As in the Boudhist philosophy that teaches us to observe our emotions as we would observe clouds passing by in a blue sky, we can take some necessary distance from our emotions. And they can thus become a little less painful every time we sit down to meditate.

So, meditation and psychotherapy are wonderfully complementary, yet there essence is very different. Ideally, we would engage in some form of the two combined in order to get the best results, in the quickest amount if time.

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