An international study is running at our dark retreats. Voluntary and anonymous

Dear friends of the dark retreat,

a study is currently running at our dark retreats. We want you to hear it from us, and in good time, not from an email just before you arrive. So how does it work?

Who runs the dark retreat study

The study is called Vy a pobyt ve tmě (“You and a dark retreat”). It is the research of Mgr. Marek Maluš, Ph.D. from Ambis University, who has been researching dark retreats since 2010. He invited students to join, who are also working on it for their theses: Sabína Oršová and Paulína Zmečeková from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, and Bc. Kristýna Koutná from the Department of Psychology and Social Sciences at Ambis University. So it is an international research team. Marek has led research with us before, most recently with Filip Horáček at the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava.

We run the retreats, but we don’t run the study, we only let you know about it. The questionnaires, the data and the results are entirely in the hands of the research team.

So what is DTF?

The results of the study will be published under DTF, short for the Darkness Therapy Foundation. It is a non-profit foundation devoted to the scientific study, development and awareness of darkness-based therapies. It describes itself as a leading organisation in its field, connecting researchers from around the world who care about mental well-being. It is based in Stockholm.

Marek Maluš is its co-founder and scientific director. Its scientific advisory board includes international experts, for example Peter Suedfeld, Anette Kjellgren, Maria Niemi and Michael Skragge.

You can read more about the foundation at darknesstherapy.org.

What the study looks at in a dark retreat

The research team is looking at whether and how the following change with a dark retreat:

• thoughts and experience, meaning how you feel at a given moment,
• mindfulness, meaning attention to your own mind and experience,
• body awareness, meaning how you perceive the signals of your own body,
• stress, meaning how you experience it over time.

There is little research on dark retreats so far, and it works with small groups of people. The least explored are the first days after you come back from the dark. What we mostly see is how people leave, but we can’t describe it precisely. That’s why we’re curious what comes out of it. So far the research only suggests what a dark retreat may bring people, and every further experience helps us understand it better.

It’s voluntary

Taking part is entirely voluntary. If you don’t join, it has no effect on your stay. If you join and change your mind later, you can stop at any time and you don’t have to explain anything. You can, and you don’t have to, that’s freedom 🙂

There are no right or wrong answers. The questionnaires ask how you perceive and experience things, so you answer the way that is true for you at that moment. A pleasant experience, a difficult one and one that brings no obvious change are all equally valuable for the research.

It’s anonymous

This matters, so let’s be specific:

• Your answers are stored under a code you create yourself, separately from your email.
• Only the research team, briefed on data protection, has access to them.
• We won’t see your answers. We don’t even know who took part and who didn’t, because registration goes directly through the research team.
• The results are published only in aggregate, so no individual can be identified.
• The contact details you give at registration will be deleted by the team within 12 months of your last questionnaire.

How the study works before and after a dark retreat

Everything is online, you don’t have to travel anywhere.

1. Invitation. In the “Off into the dark” email (Hurá do tmy), which we send 14 days before your stay (or straight after you book, if you book at the last minute), you will find an invitation to the study as a PDF, with a registration link inside. Please register as soon as you get it.
2. First set of questionnaires. After you register, the research team will email you the first set. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to fill in. The team needs it completed about a week before your stay, so that everyone answers at the same distance from the retreat and the results are meaningful. The earlier you register, the more time and calm you have to fill it in.
3. You fill in nothing in the dark.
4. After your stay. The second set has two parts: the first arrives shortly after your stay, the second a week later. A month after your stay comes the third set. All the later sets are shorter than the first. The research team will send you the links directly. We can’t do that, because we don’t know who took part.

Change over time can only be captured from answers at all the time points. According to the research team, answers shortly after the end of the stay are especially valuable for the research.

What you get from taking part

According to the research team:

• on request you can receive an overview of your evaluated results as a thank-you for completing all the time points (it is informational, not a psychological diagnosis),
• if you complete all the sets, you can also receive the summary results of the whole study on request,
• the questionnaires can also be a chance to stop and reflect on what you are going through before and after your stay.

Any questions?

For questions about the study, you can contact the research team: tma.vyzkum2026@gmail.com. For questions about your stay, get in touch with us.

Whatever you decide, we look forward to seeing you.

Tomáš and Lenka