Stanislav Grof’s professional career has covered a period of over 50 years in which his primary interest has been research of the heuristic and therapeutic potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness. This included initially four years of laboratory research of psychedelics – LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and tryptamine derivatives – (1956-1960) and fourteen years of research of psychedelic psychotherapy. He spent seven of these years (1960-1967) as Principal Investigator of the psychedelic research program at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, Czechoslovakia. This was followed by seven years of research of psychedelic psychotherapy in the United States.

Developed, with his wife Christina, Holotropic Breathwork (a method of psychotherapy that uses non-ordinary states induced by faster breathing, evocative music, and focused body work), and The Grof Transpersonal Training, an extensive training program for Holotropic Breathwork facilitators that has certified over 1000 practitioners in various parts of the world.

Formulated jointly with Abraham Maslow, Anthony Sutich, Sonya Margulies and Jim Fadiman the basic principles of transpersonal psychology, a discipline that explores the full spectrum of human experience and attempts to integrate spirituality and new paradigm science.

Created a new extended cartography of the psyche that includes, besides the biographical-recollective level and the Freudian individual unconscious, two additional levels – perinatal (related to the trauma of birth) and transpersonal (including the ancestral, racial, collective, phylogenetic, karmic, and archetypal matrices).

Developed theory and practice of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and described it in his book LSD Psychotherapy, which has been until this day the only comprehensive treatise on this subject.

Published over 150 articles and 20 books discussing the theoretical and practical implications of modern consciousness research for psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy.