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Stanislav Grof (born 1931) is one of the founders of the field of Transpersonal psychology and a pioneer researcher on the use of altered states of consciousness (otherwise known as "nonordinary states of consciousness") for healing, growth, and insight. Grof is known for his early work on the effects of LSD on the mind. He constructed a theoretical framework for pre- and perinatal psychology and transpersonal psychology in which LSD and other experiences were mapped on to the early fetal and neonatal experiences. Over time, this developed into an in-depth cartography of the deep human psyche. With the legal suppression of the use of LSD in the late 60s he went on to discover that many of these states of mind could be explored without drugs by using breathing techniques in a supportive environment. He continues his work today under the name Holotropic Breathwork.
Born 1931 in Prague, Czechoslovakia he received an M.D. from Charles University, Prague in 1956. He completed his Ph.D. in Medicine at the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences in 1965. He also trained as a Freudian psychoanalyst.
In 1967, he was invited as Clinical and Research Fellow to Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, in the USA and went on to become chief of psychiatric research at the Maryland Psychiatric Center. In 1973, Dr. Grof was invited to the Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California, and lived there until 1987 as Scholar-in-Residence developing his ideas.
He was the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA). He is currently Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies.
Publications
Among his books are
- Psychology of the Future (2001) ; New York: SUNY Press
- Realms of Human Consciousness ; Souvenir Press; ISBN 0-285-64882-9 (1975)
- Beyond the Brain ; State Univ. of New York Press; ISBN 0-87395-899-3 (1985)
- With Hal Zina Bennett ; The Holotropic Mind ; San Francisco: Harper; ISBN 0-06-250367-7 (1992)
- LSD Psychotherapy;MAPS; ISBN 096600194X (2001).
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