CARROLLTON, Ga. – Psychologists and researchers gathering in Durham N.C. next month will discuss apparitions, telepathy, ESP, precognition, psychokinesis, sleep paralysis and near death experiences.

The conference, Clinical Approaches to Exceptional Experiences, is aimed at psychologists, counselors and therapists. Organizers hope that attendees will come away with a greater understanding of these experiences.

The people who experience them should not be labeled as pathological, said Christine Simmonds-Moore, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of West Georgia and an organizer of the conference. UWG’s Department of Psychology and the Rhine Research Center in Durham, N.C. are putting together the conference.

“Exceptional experiences are part of human nature. Sometimes, these can be life-enhancing,” she said. “At other times they can be very distressing. In recent years, researchers and practitioners have developed great insights into these experiences.”

They have also developed a variety of therapeutic tools, she said. The conference will present insights from people who have had these experiences. Attendees will gain a greater knowledge about paranormal and other exceptional experiences, which they will be able to apply to their practices and their own experiences, she said.

Simmonds-Moore is interested in “understanding the differences between experiences which are healthy and those which are more distressing, with a view to helping people who experience these things in a healthy manner.”

The keynote speaker is Martina Belz, the managing director of the Training Institute for Psychotherapy (FAVT) at the University of Freiburg, Germany.  Belz is also a psychotherapist in private practice in Bern, Switzerland and a research fellow at the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Switzerland. Her research includes poltergeist phenomena, apparitions and telepathy. She will discuss her findings and their implications for further research and in clinical settings.

The conference will be in the Millennium Hotel, 2800 Campus Walk Ave., in Durham, N.C. on March 9-10.

For more information go to: http://www.exceptionalexperienceconference.org/home. Or contact: conference.caee@gmail.com.