https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5584749/ (online survey, 84 respondants)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32820538/ (meta analysis, 6703 total participants across 55 studies)
My reading of this is we can't make claims like X% practicioners have negative outcomes - the numbers are too messy. We can definitely say a significant amount of practictioners do have negative outcomes.
But, those negative outcomes are wide and while they include suicide, depression and panic attacks, the majority of them are things like anxiety.
You are digging into and tinkering with your psyche. Of course there are going to be negative outcomes. I would be more skeptical if the claim was meditation did something and never had negative effects.
Ibuprofen is a great drug and I recommend it. It also kills people, is toxic, and can have severe side effects especially when misused.
If something is powerful and has an effect.. it will have side effects and negative outcomes.
Even as a secularist, I think we lost some of safety practices that were encoded in religious meditative practices.
I should say that I'm fine with the idea of pushing for caution. I just have major suspicions when a practice is pushed with a mentality that you need expert guidance to get layman benefits.
I should also state that my personal stance is that the majority of meditation, if it is working, is not working for the reasons that the practitioners think it is working.
