Hello,
My name is Dr Kaja Mitrenga and I work for the Hearing the Voice project based at Durham University. Our project studies the experience of hearing voices that no one else can hear (also called auditory verbal hallucinations). You can find out more about our work on our website ( http://hearingthevoice.org/) and blog ( http://hearingthevoice.org/home/).
I am emailing you because we are looking to recruit participants to take part in our online study on 'felt presence' hallucinations. These are vivid feelings of being in the presence of someone, even when no one is actually there. Such experiences are common in survival situations, bereavement or extreme sports such as mountaineering or polar trekking. You can find out more about this phenomenon in the articles written by my colleagues in The Guardian ( https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/05/the-strange-world-of-felt-presences) and The Psychologist ( https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-29/april/silent-companions).
We would like to hear any accounts of such experiences in people who are interested in ultra-running.
The study is anonymous and online-based. It takes around 15-20 minutes to complete. You can read more about the nature of the study and take part by clicking on this link:
https://durham.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/felt-presences-extreme-sports
If you think this could be of interest to anyone affiliated with Ultrarunning World, I would be the most grateful if you could circulate the study link.
If you have any more questions that you'd like to ask, please do let me know.
Best wishes,
Dr Kaja Mitrenga
Hearing the Voice
Durham University
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