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Stanislav and Christina Grof: Cartographers of the Psyche greatly expanded our view of human con- individual unconscious. Grof proposed that the sciousness. traditional model be expanded to include two additional levels of the psyche: the perina- By Mason Schreck Over the course of his career Grof conducted tal (involving the process of birth) and the more than four thousand individual psyche- transpersonal (involving relationships beyond delic sessions, so developing both a personal the self). and professional understanding of psychedel- ics as “nonspecific amplifiers” of the human As Grof’s patients underwent repeated ses- psyche and tools for unveiling deep aspects of sions they traversed a set of what he saw as personhood. Believing that “psychedelics, used clearly distinct experiential states. These states responsibly and with proper caution, would be reiterated sequences from the individual’s own for psychiatry what the microscope is to the gestation and birth. Through the vehicle of the study of biology and medicine or the telescope non-ordinary state, one could re-experience for astronomy,” he dispelled the initial view and work through early pre- and perinatal ex- While struggling to envision a psychotherapy that would afford greater that these profound states of consciousness periences and traumas. This discovery lead to were reducible to psychotomimetic occur- the development of perinatal psychology and therapeutic benefit to his psychiatric patients, Dr. Stanislav Grof had a rences. [4] the recognition that these primary experiences chance encounter with an experimental substance from the Swiss phar- impact human development into adulthood. maceutical designer Sandoz. This exciting and mysterious molecule was The impression that the LSD state Another major LSD-25. was just a simple theoretical contri- break with real- bution from Grof’s ity was reinforced work with psy- At the time it was thought that, due to its unique ability to radically shift by the dramatic chedelics has been [email protected] human consciousness, experiential observations of the LSD state might emotions, vivid the recognition of offer clinicians new insights into the symptomatology of psychoses and changes in percep- transpersonal phe- tion, and psycho- nomena. Transper- schizophrenia. Led by his desire to know more intimately the inner life of motor excitement sonal experiences, his patients and to develop new treatment protocols, Grof opted to receive evoked by LSD. meaning experi- psychedelic training in “experimental psychoses” induced by LSD. The nu- These behaviors ences that go be- stood in sharp con- yond the solitary Christina and Stanislav Grof minous visions that emerged from this initial experience redirected Grof’s trast to the rela- self, were seen as professional career and forever altered both psychiatry and psychology. [1] tively rigid state of unique manifesta- psychotherapy that tions of conscious- Following this early encounter with LSD, Grof Abraham Maslow, the founder of humanistic encouraged civil ness not under- noted that for him, human consciousness was psychology, noted that Grof’s work is one of erudition and rigid free-association. From the standable through mainstream psychology or immediately the most compelling subject of the most important contributors to personality perspective of mainstream psychiatry, the in- materialism: they surpass personal boundaries, study. [1] It demanded his attention. He went theory. [2] The preeminent religious scholar th tense activity that emerged from non-ordinary as well as those of space and time. In Grof’s on to work in a psychedelic research program Huston Smith proclaimed Grof to be one of the states violated basic therapeutic principles. framework, phenomena such as out-of-body at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, most influential people of the 20 century. [3] Academic psychiatry and psychology were states and mystical experiences are natural and Czechoslovakia, where he was a Principal In- limited to a model of the self informed only by normal aspects of human psychology. [4]

vestigator during the 1960s. He then served as Western academic psychology and psychiatry biology, postnatal life history, and the indi- Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland had been developed from experiences and ob- vidual unconscious. [4] The new field of Transpersonal Psychology Psychiatric Research Center and as Assistant servations derived from ordinary (rather than entailed a new approach to psychotherapy that Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins non-ordinary) states of consciousness. With Grof’s observations offered a new vision of con- emphasized the direct expression of intense University School of Medicine in Baltimore, the exception of dreams, non-ordinary states sciousness and human psychology. It became emotions, deep regression, and the release of Maryland. Later, he would become a Scholar- were (and often still are) seen as pathological clear that the unconscious material arising physical energies—just as in Grof’s psychedelic in-Residence at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, conditions, and the goal of treatment was to spontaneously in the LSD state could more therapy sessions. Psychedelic states were seen California. [2] suppress or eliminate them. The notions that fully explain numerous emotional and psycho- to be opportunities for greater psychospiritual such states could have therapeutic value or somatic disorders. From this new perspective, wholeness and development, and for this rea- In their 50 years of experience studying the could contribute to understanding the psyche it became possible to differentiate between cer- son were termed “holotropic” states (from the healing potential of psychedelics and non- were largely beyond the scope of analysis. [4] tain forms of psychosis, discover more effective Greek holos, or “whole,” and trepain, for “moving ordinary states of consciousness, Stan and his mechanisms for healing and transformation, forward”). [5] Psychedelic psychotherapy, with wife Christina have contributed immeasurably It was in this restrictive milieu that Grof and develop new therapeutic techniques and its focus on helping patients create positive to the fields of psychology and psychedelic conducted his first careful clinical observations strategies for self-exploration. relationships with their own profound and medicine. and developed descriptions of non-ordinary transpersonal experiences, offered many pa- states from thousands of psychedelic-assisted With this new perspective came a radically tients the possibility of dramatic emotional and Through his work with psychedelics, Grof has psychotherapy sessions. [5] His synthesis of new theory of mind. Evidence from LSD psy- psychosomatic healing. [4] redefined non-ordinary states of consciousness, these findings offered psychology not only a chotherapy sessions suggested that individu- revolutionized our view of the human psyche, new vision of the therapeutic potential of the als were encountering realms of experience Following the criminalization of LSD, Stan and ushered in a psychology of the future. psychedelics and non-ordinary states but also that lay beyond just personal biography and and his wife Christina worked to develop a 28 maps bulletin • volume xxi number 3 maps bulletin • volume xxi number 3 29

NOTES A Declaration of Psychedelic Studies: Psychedelic Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences non-pharmacological alternative encouraging holotropic states. What emerged was a power- [1] Grof, C., & Grof, S. (1990). The stormy ful method of therapy that utilizes accelerated search for the self: A guide to personal growth breath, powerful music, and bodywork to through transformation crisis (pp. 18-27). Los induce non-ordinary states of consciousness. Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc. By Neşe Lisa Şenol [6] This method, termed Holotropic Breath- work, has since offered thousands access to the [2] Grof, S. Stanislav Grof. Retrieved Novem- healing potential of these profound states of ber, 1, 2011, from http://www.stanislavgrof. experiences. com/

Aside from co-developing Holotropic Breath- [3] Grof, S. (2006). The ultimate journey: con- work and its certificate training program, sciousness and the mystery of death. Ben Lomond, Christina has advanced her own experiences CA: Multidisciplinary Association for Psyche- and theoretical understanding of psychospiri- delic Studies. tual development, in particular explaining and At this moment in history, the social sciences and humanities need to developing the concept of “spiritual emer- [4] Grof, S (2008). LSD psychotherapy: The work in concert with recent medical advances to address a subject that de- gency.” She notes that personal transforma- healing potential of psychedelic medicine. Ben tion can occasionally take the form of a crisis, Lomond, CA: Multidisciplinary Association for fies standard disciplinary boundaries. I propose the inauguration of Psy- wherein effective therapy requires attention to Psychedelic Studies. chedelic Studies as an interdisciplinary academic field, and I would like to the transpersonal aspects of human experi- do this by building on lessons learned from the earlier academic revolution ence. She founded the Spiritual Emergency [5] Battista, J., Chinen, A., & Scotton, B. (Edi- Network (SEN), a worldwide organization that tors)(1996). Textbook of transpersonal psychiatry known as “queer studies.” supports individuals encountering these chal- [email protected] and psychology. (pp.75-84). New York: Basic lenging experiences. [7] Books. Due to pervasive cultural and legal taboos against psychedelics, I thought Stan and Christina Grof have helped create [6] Grof, C., & Grof, S. (2010). Holotropic my intellectual interests had to remain unspoken. It was only after I a more integrated psychology and enhanced breathwork: A new approach to self-exploration our vision of human potential. Their work found out about the scientific psychedelic renaissance that I realized there and therapy. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. with non-ordinary states of consciousness was a community of scholars working openly on these subjects. I decided has expanded the field of scientific study and [7] Grof, C., & Grof, S. (1989). to plug in, and to come out of the closet. This is a common experience revealed the incredible healing potential of Spiritual emer- psychedelic and holotropic experiences. The gency: when personal transformation becomes a among those who for the first time find a community where they can New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam worldwide renewal of interest in psyche- crisis. speak openly about their interests. delic research is the legacy of their own half century of commitment to charting a new cartography of the psyche. • Scholar David M. Halperin defines queer as “queering” of identity and consciousness rela- “whatever is at odds with the normal, the le- tive to the norm, suggesting the importance of gitimate, the dominant.” Psychedelic culture is, working collectively to support the validity of properly speaking, queer. Some may take issue all forms of identification. with this connection, arguing that while queer or alternative sexuality is an essential or natu- The time is ripe for a genuinely interdisciplin- ral state the use of psychedelics for personal ary field of investigation into psychedelics or therapeutic purposes is a choice. Some may and their correlative cultural roles to come to also claim that queer culture is more demon- fruition. Scientific discourse, while serving ized by society and the state than psychedelic a distinct and timely purpose, is by nature culture, and that therefore queerness and psy- unable to exhaust the psychedelic question. chedelics require distinct scholarly approaches. The findings of multiple fields and methodolo- gies can be mutually informative, enriching But these common reactions reveal a slip- the overall possibilities for the production of pery slope: To claim that queer identity or knowledge. At a premier screening of DMT: culture are somehow deeper or more essential The Spirit Molecule, pioneering psychedelic to our humanity than psychedelic identity or researcher Dr. Rick Strassman remarked: culture undermines the very rights that queer “How to explicate the full meaning…of the theorists and activists want to promote. It is psychedelic experience…? I think it has to be counterproductive to argue that some forms as multidisciplinary a pursuit as possible, be- of oppression are more egregious than others. cause the full psychedelic experience impacts Is there not strong state and social repression on everything—it impacts on art, anthro- against the use of or interest in psychedel- pology, music, religion, cosmology, physics, ics? Many view their psychedelic identities, psychology, cognitive sciences, chemistry, interests, or religious views as inherent to who everything…We don’t want to overextend one they are. Queer studies is largely about the discipline at the expense of the other[s].”