Buddhist Geeks 231: The Dark Side of Dharma w/ Willoughby Britton

Cool topic - I am always interested in the intersection between neuroscience and Buddhism.

Willoughby Britton received a B.A. in Neuroscience from Colgate University, a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Arizona, and completed her clinical internship at Brown Medical School. She received sleep/EEG technician training at Harvard Medical School and was a Research Fellow at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA/NIH) and at Andrew Weil's Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. She spent several years in Asia studying meditative techniques and received her mindfulness instructor certification training at the Center for Mindfulness at the UMASS Medical School. Dr. Britton's research includes sleep, emotional disturbances, and new treatment/prevention strategies. She recently completed a 3-year NIH-funded clinical trial on the neurophysiological effects of mindfulness meditation in depression, and continues to examine the link between sleep, affective disturbance and emotional regulation strategies.

Enjoy the talk - Vince asks some good questions.

BG 231: The Dark Side of Dharma

by Willoughby Britton

Episode Description:

We’re joined this week by Brown University neuroscience researcher Willougbhy Britton. In this episode Dr. Britton shares some of the details of a research project that she’s working on called, “The Difficult Stages of the Contemplative Path.” She goes into the purpose of the research project and also some of the research methods she’s using to establish a helpful subjective phenomenology for these difficult stages.

She also speaks about how she has collaborated with both meditation teachers and Buddhist scholars to help determine what the common experiences are for practitioners, and whether they have textual references in the Buddhist canons. And to make matters even more interesting, she shares what her personal experiences have been like, as she’s a committed meditation practitioner herself.

This is part 1 of a two-part series. Listen to part 2 (airing next week).

Episode Links:

• Willoughby Britton @ Brown University
• Britton Lab
• Willoughby Britton at the Buddhist Geeks Conference, on the Problem with Meditation – LA Weekly
• Video Interviews with Daniel Ingram
• Cheetah House

Transcript