Do you ever experience that feeling of being empty? I'm a psychologist-in-training researching what it feels like to have lived with that empty feeling for a long time. DM or email me to talk about your experience and potentially inform how we help people who live with feelings of emptiness.
Hi everyone. I'm Rehnuma, a Psychotherapist and Counselling Psychologist in training at the University of Roehampton, researching what it's like to live with longstanding feelings of emptiness for my doctoral thesis.
I guess what drew me to this topic is hearing clients over the years talk about feeling empty - with everyone having such different experiences of this. It comes up fairly often in my practice - but there doesn't seem to be a lot of detailed research on what it's like to live with it. We have a lot of (mostly psychoanalytic) theory around why people feel empty, but not a lot of first-hand accounts of people talking about their experience of it - which seems unthinkable given that it's one of the DSM diagnostic criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
My research will be one of the first attempts to highlight in detail people's actual lived experiences of emptiness, so we can inform training for mental health professionals and most importantly, think about what people who live with feelings of emptiness need to live fulfilling lives.
If you've experienced longstanding feelings of emptiness, I'd be interested to hear what that's been like for you over the years. You can take part as long as you are:
- Over 18
- Living in the UK
- You have had longstanding experiences of feeling empty - whatever that means to you.
- You're OK to talk in detail about your experiences of emptiness and how it affects you.
You do not need a diagnosis of any kind to take part.
Please contact me by DM with your email address, or email me on choudhur1@roehampton.ac.uk expressing your interest and I'll be in touch to arrange the screening and online interview with you, and answer any questions you might have.
Thanks all, hope to hear from you soon.
Rehnuma Choudhury,
Psychotherapist and Trainee Counselling Psychologist