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7/22/2019 Stan Grof and Holotropic Breathwork and Rick Doblin and MAPS
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Critical Remarks on Holotropic Breathworkand the MAPS Strategy
l to r: Stanislav Grof, Rick Doblin
Guide to contents
An entrepreneurial therapy devised at Esalen Grof Transpersonal Training Inc.
should be viewed with caution LSD and MDMA therapies of Grof are in strong
contention the underground movement in LSD therapy MDMA is closely associated
with MAPS, founded by Rick Doblin Grof lore is not a convincing rationale forHolotropic Breathwork, which is noted for aftermath dysfunctions the Grof theme of
spiritual emergency is a red herring the Findhorn Foundation support group for
victims of Holotropic Breathwork MAPS favours the use of MDMA for post-traumatic
stress disorder psychedelics and psychiatry is a hazardous theme The Royal
College of Psychiatrists is a danger zone due to an extremist wing the Scientific and
Medical Network (SMN) have acted as a sponsor of Chris Bache and his LSD therapy
acquired from Grof Bache a hero of MAPS the Wikipedia entry on Holotropic
Breathwork and the errors of Grof exponents Kate Thomas misrepresented by Grof
lore Regius Professor Busuttil also misrepresented by Grof lore Rick Doblin dosedwith MDMA by Grof at Esalen Grofs failure to reply to the complaint of Kate Thomas
the recreational and spiritual use of both LSD and Ecstasy a very dubious theme
associated with MAPS Jablett favours the MAPS proposal for MDMA parallel with
the Sathya Sai Baba cult Minehunter at a disadvantage with a groundless
assumption the MDMA proposal of MAPS in South Carolina, Europe, and Israel the
four strategies associated with MAPS E. Patrick Curry exposes the unscientific
nature of Grof lore the LSD user Andrew Weil the FDA approval of MAPS research
countered by American scientists significant press release from Professors Lilienfeld
and Sampson MDMA implicated in damage to dopamine receptors the MDMAproposal of MAPS based upon Grofs LSD therapy the Secret Chief hundreds of
illegal practitioners in the underground LSD therapy Grof resided at Esalen for
fourteen years and invoked astral travel in an MDMA trip drug-aided mind
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manipulation many people were dosed with drugs at Esalen the Scientific and
Medical Network (SMN) is now strongly associated with LSD therapy due to the
sustained presence of Bache on their website Grofs disappearance at the Findhorn
Foundation in the early 90s MDMA users are in danger Dr. Maartje M. de Win and
low dosage MDMA the American NIDA survey of MDMA use Grofs hallucinatory
visions induced by a 200 milligram intake SUNY Press in contention
GROF THERAPY AND MAPS
CONTENTS KEY
1. Holotropic Breathwork and LSD Therapy
2. MAPS and Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP)
3. Scientific and Medical Network (SMN)
4. Wikipedia Article on Holotropic Breathwork
5. The MAPS Website
6. Critical Research
7. MDMA Therapy
8. Rick Doblin
9. Influence of Grof at Esalen and Findhorn Foundation
10. Dosages of MDMA
Bibliography
1. Holotropic Breathwork and LSD Therapy
Some analysts conclude that the underlying reason for promotion of the controversial
Holotropic Breathwork is the fees involved. Stanislav Grofs "therapy" emerged as a
trademark device, early appearing with the logo of Holotropic Breathwork, and
furthermore conducted under the auspices of Grof Transpersonal Training Inc.
(Castro, Hypocrisy and Dissent within the Findhorn Foundation, 1996, pp. 79ff.). Such
factors arouse strong reserve about the nature of the activities involved, which are not
philanthropic.
Grofs operation at Esalen was commercially geared. He wanted a substitute for LSD
therapy when the danger drug became illegal, and HB was improvised in the 1970s as
http://www.citizeninitiative.com/grof_therapy_and_maps.htm#bibliographyhttp://www.citizeninitiative.com/grof_therapy_and_maps.htm#dosageshttp://www.citizeninitiative.com/grof_therapy_and_maps.htm#esalenhttp://www.citizeninitiative.com/grof_therapy_and_maps.htm#Doblinhttp://www.citizeninitiative.com/grof_therapy_and_maps.htm#MDMAhttp://www.citizeninitiative.com/grof_therapy_and_maps.htm#researchhttp://www.citizeninitiative.com/grof_therapy_and_maps.htm#MAPShttp://www.citizeninitiative.com/grof_therapy_and_maps.htm#wikipediahttp://www.citizeninitiative.com/grof_therapy_and_maps.htm#networkhttp://www.citizeninitiative.com/grof_therapy_and_maps.htm#psychiatristshttp://www.citizeninitiative.com/grof_therapy_and_maps.htm#holotropic7/22/2019 Stan Grof and Holotropic Breathwork and Rick Doblin and MAPS
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a way out of the entrepreneurial dilemma. HB involves hyperventilation (abnormally
increased speed and depth of breathing). Some critics now state that HB is one of the
tools in the strategy of MAPS (Multidisciplinary Assn for Psychedelic Studies), founded
by Rick Doblin. That Grof-related organisation has an underlying aim to spread the use
of psychoactive drugs according to the Grof mandate, which connotes a psychedelic
society.
HB practitioners endlessly repeat the mantras of Grofian Esalen. They so frequentlystate that critics do not understand the HB prowess in mysticism. An alternative angle
is that the activities of HB partisans prove that they do not comprehend the obscured
subject of mysticism, which they have replaced with Grof theory and Grof commerce.
The influence of Dr. Stanislav Grof is total amongst HB practitioners, many of them
having been trained by him. Some of them state that they do not rely upon
psychoactive drugs, and that HB is an independent subject. Yet this is a contradiction,
because the underlying ideology involved in HB is inseparably related to Grofs LSD
and MDMA therapies, as attested by the books of Grof.
There is known to be an underground movement in LSD therapy, as attested by the
report of E. P. Curry, an American consumer health advocate (Shepherd, Pointed
Observations, 2005, p. 17). MDMA therapy is strongly implied in this underground
trend, which is closely associated with MAPS, founded by a well known disciple of
Grof noted for his partiality to MDMA (Ecstasy), as dosed by Grof in the recreational
activities of this sector. The underground movement is believed to be percolating
various alternative organisations in different countries, bodies which are typically
evasive about such matters.
HB workshops have relied upon hyperventilation, evocative music, and strenuous
bodywork. This situation produces unpredictable emotional states, often extreme. A
more relaxed preference for lying on mats is deceptive, in that hyperventilation can
produce drawbacks in any bodily position, not to mention the continual delusions
fostered in clients by the practitioners, who claim a healing process in HB. Some
clients experience euphoria, while others find difficulty in regaining equilibrium. Acute
traumas and hallucinations can occur, plus a variety of disruptive symptoms which
can linger afterwards. Enthusiasts rely upon Grof lore for a rationale, but this is totallyunconvincing to observers.
Some aftermath dysfunctions created by HB are mentioned in my Letter to BBC
Radio(booklet version, pp. 3, 5). Yet such drawbacks are constantly camouflaged by
the Grofian propaganda. Inadequate explanations are kept alive by Grofs fantastic
theme of HB being a spiritual technique with an ancient shamanistic lineage
(Shepherd, Letter of Complaint to David Lorimer, booklet version, p. 17). Such
unconvincing beliefs were promoted by the Findhorn Foundation during the early 90s,
even while the many states of aftermath dysfunction were being witnessed by closeobservers in that sector.
An amusing accompaniment was in the form of constant references to Stanislav Grofs
theory of "spiritual emergency" by the Findhorn Foundation partisans of HB. Grof
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claimed to assist personal crises which he invariably deemed "spiritual." In actual fact,
he continually created such crises by his recommendation of psychoactive drugs and
HB.
The "spiritual emergencies" require a far more realistic description, which was not
forthcoming from the indoctrinated HB practitioners at theFindhorn Foundationwho
imagined that the "spiritual technique" of HB was exercising constantly benevolent
effects. In reality, a support group had to be created behind the scenes at theFoundation for victims of HB, and objectors to various casualties were ruthlessly
suppressed (and even ejected). The theory of "spiritual emergency" is a drug-related
fallacy indulged in by people who facilely accept Grofian misconceptions.
2. MAPS and Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP)
The exponents of HB constantly demonstrate a total ignorance of events occurring in
various locales such as Findhorn and Charleston, events which are documented
elsewhere, and in sources not favoured by HB enthusiasts. MDMA was the favouredtool of MAPS chosen by certain HB practitioners in America, and that trend is
spreading due to the persistent strategy of MAPS to bypass legal constraints in lax
bureaucratic milieux. The MAPS ideology is well known amongst critics (Pointed
Observations, pp. 19ff.).
A recent article in a psychiatry journal sanctions MAPS for summarising
experimentation with drugs like psilocybin, and takes at face value the talk about Grof-
related projects in certain countries which investigate "MDMA-assisted psychotherapy
in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder." This is a favoured theme of MAPS,who instigated the notorious event in Charleston a few years ago when two HB
practitioners were funded by MAPS to reintroduce MDMA therapy. Scientists
subsequently opposed the MAPS strategy (Pointed Observations, pp. 1718).
The psychiatry journal fails to mention any of the details, and instead the deceptive
article in question dwells upon a related MAPS theme about psychedelics reappearing
in psychiatry. See B. Sessa, "Can psychedelics have a role in psychiatry
again?", British Jnl of Psychiatry(2005), 186, 4578. The MAPS infiltration of psychiatry
is proceeding according to the Grofian plan, and the public can no longer trust thatsector, in case the psychiatrist transpires to be dosing psychoactive drugs instead of
due prescriptions.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) are one of the danger spots in contemporary
psychology, recently becoming noted for an extremist wing associated with such
trends as regression therapy. This branch has been responsible for entertaining on
the RCP website a misleading paper about Grofs "spiritual emergency" theory.
The extremists in RCP are known as the Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest
Group, and in 2005 they hosted such talks as that given by a practitioner of HB who
referred glowingly to Grof and such concepts as that of the "inner healer." There was
no accompanying critical data about Grofs very controversial activities or the many
flaws in his doctrines. See N. Crowley, "Holotropic Breathwork healing through a
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non-ordinary state of consciousness" (2005), which uses Grofs diagram of the
perinatal matrices and which states that the author has enrolled in the Grof
Transpersonal Training Program in HB. The Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Section of
the Royal Society of Medicine were also part of the gullible audience. Cf.
Shepherd, Pointed Observations, pp. 6ff. The so-called "progressive" psychiatric
sector may be held responsible for failure to diagnose social afflictions and public
hazard.
3. Scientific and Medical Network (SMN)
One of the organisations in league with the extremist wing of RCP is the so-called
Scientific and Medical Network (SMN), whose website has been featuring for three
years a misleading paper by Christopher Bache, a professor of religion and a disciple
of Grof now famous for his explicit recommendations of LSD therapy in the book Dark
Night, Early Dawn(2000). HB is closely identified with that book as an ingredient of
Baches practice (which caused some severe discomforts). The SMN website has
failed to incorporate the contesting articles by Kate Thomas, which likewise appeared
in the SMN magazine but which have been ignored by the SMN and the suspect
commercial policy of that "alternative" organisation (the suppressed argument is
included at Against Grof Therapy).
The SMN policy is now in strong dispute. Bache is both a hero and supporter of MAPS.
He has stated that he does not "encourage the hit-or-miss, open-and-close methods of
workshop spirituality" (Bache, "Sacred Medicine,"Network, No. 84, Spring 2004, p. 23).
The theme of "workshop spirituality" is a misnomer for commercial operations
involving fantasy and miseducation for gullible clients. Grof Transpersonal Training
(Inc.) is an epic of misinformation that is very much a part of the workshop vogue
associated with Esalen, whether or not Bache is an isolationist. Bache is certainly very
explicit in his partisan description of experiences in LSD therapy and HB, a narration
which is partner to the workshop sensations and delusions spread by Grof theories
such as the "perinatal matrices" and "spiritual emergency."
[The controversial Bache article remained on public view at the SMN website for six
years, despite complaints expressed elsewhere. The SMN are considered an
alternative grouping by conventional scientists and medics.]
4. Wikipedia Article on Holotropic Breathwork
The Wikipedia entry on Holotropic Breathwork (HB) has been revealing [accessed
January 2007]. The partisan version was supplemented by a critical extension, and this
met with the typical attempts to re-edit for which Wikipedia (the internet encyclopaedia)
is well known. The HB partisans have again demonstrated that they are not conversant
with critical sources. They can be accused of a basic illiteracy in this respect, a feat
attested by the anonymous writer of the partisan editing dated 20/10/06. The Wikipediare-editing here states that Kate Thomas was "reacting (to HB) in support of the
technique of kundalini yoga." In actual fact, Thomas is totally in opposition to the
technique of kundalini yoga, as her book on the subject attests to the more literate
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readerships (see Thomas, The Kundalini Phenomenon, Forres 2000).
Nor is Thomas one of the supposedly ubiquitous parties attempting to prop up the
status quo or the medical profession, which is a standard (and very tiresome) refrain of
HB exponents deriving from Esalen simplicities (alternative therapists are too often the
worst specimens of scholarship in the entire academic and quasi-academic scene).
The partisan HB editing of 20/10/06 does not mention the known fact that Thomas was
a close observer of the severe aftermath symptoms involved in many HB sessions thatoccurred in Findhorn and Forres during 198993. Unless or until HB exponents
become capably versed in the sources they misdescribe or dismiss, there is additional
reason to reject their inappropriate claims.
It is obvious that the anonymous writer abovementioned is unfamiliar with the critical
report on HB written by Regius Professor Busuttil (of Edinburgh University), and
which is described by the HB enthusiast as "reminiscent of the hysteria against the
medical use of LSD in the 70s." There was no hysteria in Busuttil, either in his original
report (of 1993) or in his later confirmations. HB partisans employ stock phrasesderiving from the MAPS repertoire. There has been hysteria in many HB workshops,
on the part of victims.
The anonymous editor (on the discussion page) also makes the accusation that
certain of my own comments made in an Appendix about HB invoke a "standard
medical claim," which is not in fact true. That Appendix in Minds and Sociocultures Vol.
One(pp. 945ff.) is an independent statement convergent with medical cautions but
possessing additional accents, e.g., "various ancient cults probably worked the same
kind of unbalancing magic" (ibid., p. 946) as HB in relation to hallucination. It is evidentthat HB partisans have not read the Appendix specified, and are merely cribbing from
the critical extension in the Wikipedia article.
There has never been any partisan HB acknowledgement of the critique of Grof in the
introduction to Minds and Sociocultures Vol. One. It is not sufficient to describe an
opposing argument that uses annotations in terms of "setting a moralistic tone about
cathartic techniques," which was the recourse of the anonymous HB partisan. That
soporific idiom again represents a standard emphasis of the drugs lobby, and is often
interpreted as an excuse not to read the books being rejected as unprogressive by thecontemporary exploiters in catharsis. Scruple is necessary where exploitation is
concerned.
Grof Transpersonal Training Inc. was contrived in the acutely permissive atmosphere
of the Esalen Institute in California, where affluent hedonists and drug users did more
or less what they wanted. In this psychedelic bastion, MAPS President Rick Doblin
was introduced to MDMA (Ecstasy) by Grof in the early 80s. MDMA soon after became
illegal, but HB is a means of continued income for therapists.
The partisan HB argument that critics of HB are always trying to devalue mystical
experience is a convenient myth for Grof doctrine and slang idiom. The Esalen
pretensions to mysticism were rejuvenated at the Findhorn Foundation, which took
many cues from the commercial programme of Esalen. The HB critic Kate Thomas was
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an exponent of a very different form of mysticism, and she was segregated as a threat
by the Findhorn Foundation therapy corps led by Craig Gibsone, who was a convert to
Grof doctrine and a practitioner of HB who unleashed that intemperate exercise
(causing many casualties) upon the Foundation community. HB was the underlying
cause of the process which resulted in the attempt of the Findhorn Foundation staff to
place a legal interdict upon the (mystical) autobiography of Thomas in 1992, as is
recorded in Castros relevant book (Hypocrisy and Dissent, pp. 1516).
The suppression of Thomas has continued in other forms equally dogmatic and
evasive. This matter is accentuated by the fact of Grofs personal involvement in the
promotion of HB at the Findhorn Foundation. In 1990 Grof failed to reply to the letter of
Thomas which complained about problems evident in HB (Thomas, The Destiny
Challenge, pp. 9389). Real and drastic emergencies had occurred for victims of HB
that were glossed by HB practitioners like Gibsone, who used clone jargon acquired
from Grof. The failure of Grof to reply to Thomas (even while he was staying in the local
Findhorn area at Minton House) occurred during a phase in which Grof himself
conducted supposedly expert workshops in HB at the Findhorn Foundation. The
admiring Gibsone was another of the great disciples like Doblin and Bache. Yet close
analysts know what to expect in cases of "spiritual emergency," which is a flippant
theme of the irresponsible commercial therapist (Grof) and his indoctrinated
supporters.
The HB movement in therapy commerce, together with related trends, has still not
caught up with such basic facts as the above. The milieu of that movement is one of
fantasy, fees, sensation, and uncritically received Grof doctrine. There is at present no
reason to believe that HB exponents will improve upon their current standard of
assimilation by the year 2100.
Yet long before that time, certain vulnerable countries like Britain and America may well
be incapacitated by the MAPS strategy, which is rumoured even now to be engineering
a coup. Lax bureaucracies may slumber through crises, while greedy local Councils
might decide to be funded by MAPS at the public expense. First will come the
seemingly innocent elevation of HB and MDMA (the perfect marriage to reduce stress,
or to increase it), and then the underground LSD therapy will emerge from cover. As
the MAPS President is noted for being a long term advocate of the "recreational andspiritual use of both LSD and Ecstasy" (Pointed Observations, p. 18), one could expect
that the recreational use of psychedelics will be high on the social agenda in such a
new age. Anything could happen, because all crises will be deemed "spiritual
emergency," as in HB.
Very significantly, the partisan HB editor (Jablett) in Wikipedia (01/11/06 edit) invokes
the MAPS website for information on the MDMA protocol (launched by MAPS), and
states that HB is indeed included in the proposal denoted. The presumed "scientific"
status of MAPS, as credited by the drugs lobby, camouflages the underlying objectivesof the MAPS organisation and affiliated groupings. Critics have been observing for
years that MAPS is able to penetrate the defences of lax officialdom.
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MAPS are noted for their persistent attempt to award MDMA (Ecstasy) the status of a
research drug in relation to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Jablett triumphantly
states that the MAPS proposal "has been fully approved and is currently underway." In
America yes, but not in Britain, and nor the rest of Europe. Critics infer that the folly
could easily render the fate of HB victims that much worse, as HB aftermath
dysfunction could achieve further hazard through amphetamine stimulant if MDMA
ramifies from the existing category of PTSD stated by MAPS.
The Wikipedia partisan entry on HB did not at first provide sources until countered by
the critical extension. The sources then proffered were all in the Grofian domain.
Medical convention was stigmatised in the accusing response to the critical extension.
The partisan HB editor Jablett subsequently resorted to copying the example of Gerald
Joe Moreno, a supporter of the Sathya Sai Baba Organisation, in voting that reference
to myself should be removed (discussion page, November 21st edit, 2006). The parallel
with the Sathya Sai Baba cult now becomes significant for the HB cult (especially as
the latter here referred with evident approval to the Moreno cordon against myself
which had recently appeared in Wikipedia). Cults feel the need to censor writers who
are in disagreement. See Wikipedia Issuesand Wikipedia, Moreno, Google.
This situation was so suspicious that the countering editor Jedermann stated:
"Serious concerns about safety, efficacy, competence to practice, and commercial
interests have been raised, and should remain till disproven. Interesting that (HB)
proponents offer no evidence to counter the concerns, but just remove caveats and
criticism. And now they are so desperate they are trying to personalise the issue,
instead of debating the evidence" (Nov. 23rd edit, 2006).
Jablett also enlisted the support of an entity who called himself Minehunter, and who
mistakenly believed that author Stephen Castro was the communicator in the critical
extension. Minehunter even publicly addressed "Steve Castro, aka The
Communicator," exhorting him in an accusing vein with such loaded phrases as:
"make sure your material is relevant" and "be cautious about excessive citation of
your own work" (Nov. 21st edit, 2006). Castro had nothing to do with the Wikipedia
entry, and was unaware for some weeks that he had been cited in the critical
extension. Unlike some of the internet presences, Castro has a full time job with the
Inland Revenue in Britain. He first heard of the minehunt ten days after he had beenaddressed as the communicator.
Meanwhile, the real communicator had to patiently inform Minehunter that a mistaken
identity had been assumed. The real communicator was a researcher in Australia who
possessed a masters degree in philosophy, and who furthermore had a valid link with
the HB issue due to his correspondence in 19945 with medical authorities (including
Regius Prof. Busuttil) and the Scottish Charities Office. The assumption of Minehunter
was disproven [The Communicator was Simon Kidd, as that academicsubsequently
revealed].
In the view of some assessors, the HB contingent have demonstrated their role as
internet yobs via their tactics on Wikipedia, and they are now identified as a backward
http://www.citizenphilosophy.net/Wikipedia_Anomalies.html#criticismhttp://www.kevinrdshepherd.net/html/22__wikipedia___moreno__google.htmlhttp://www.citizeninitiative.com/sathya_sai_and_wikipedia.htmhttp://kevinrdshepherd.info/internet_terrorist_gerald_joe_moreno.html7/22/2019 Stan Grof and Holotropic Breathwork and Rick Doblin and MAPS
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trend converging with the apologetics of the Sathya Sai Baba Organisation. The flaws
in some Wikipedia presentations are extensive to say the least, and quite sufficient to
confuse the unsuspecting who fail to develop a critical acumen.
5. The MAPS Website
Turning to the MAPS website [in 2007], this makes a short statement about the MDMA
proposal, informing that the proposal was initially approved by the FDA in Nov. 2001,that a revised protocol was approved in June 2002, and subsequently approved by an
IRB in September 2003. South Carolina DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) is said
to have recommended that Dr. Mithoefer (the key operator in the MDMA project) should
receive his Schedule 1 license, which was issued by DEA h/q in Feb 2004. "MAPS has
been working since it was founded in 1986 to initiate research into the therapeutic use
of MDMA."
MAPS was founded by Rick Doblin, and has a Californian postal address. The MAPS
website also mentions "a five year, five million dollar plan to develop MDMA into aprescription medicine for the treatment of PTSD." The website also states that MAPS
has obtained approval for a study in Israel into the use of MDMA-assisted
psychotherapy in subjects with war and terrorism-related PTSD (post-traumatic stress
disorder). MAPS is also attempting to mount a similar project in Switzerland which is
currently under review. A related MAPS project in Spain "was halted due to political
pressure from the Spanish Anti-Drug Authority." MAPS has also funded the MDMA
project in relation to cancer patients (which is evocative of Grofs early associations
with terminal cancer patients).
The statement on the MAPS website omits numerous features of the overall situation.
The underground movement in LSD therapy/recreation regards the MDMA proposal as
the bridge to the awaited legal availability of LSD. Many of the partisans involved in
Grof trends lament the laws against psychoactive drugs as being "draconian." Their
attitude is pervasive in America and elsewhere. The MAPS website has featured details
of partisan concepts, including an influential description of four strategies which can
be adopted by psychedelic supporters (Pointed Observations, pp. 201). The four
strategies are:
1) the political legalisation debate.
2) the underground strategy which ignores the law.
3) the non-drug approach of HB.
4) the MAPS strategy of gaining FDA-approved research with the
aim of achieving prescription access to psychedelic drugs on the
part of psychiatrists. The psychiatrists would obviously include
Grof-related ministrants of the psychedelic cause.
6. Critical Research
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A non-Grofian source gave relevant details about both Grof and the MAPS project in
America. E. P. Curry, an American researcher, exposed the flaws in Grofs early
"research" with terminal cancer patients, whom Grof dosed with searingly painful
intakes of LSD. One conclusion is that Grof should have been dismissed from his post
(while there is also the stronger view that he should have been jailed). Curry states that
all Grofs cancer patients were deceased within months, and that no due study of the
long-term consequences of his "therapy" was undertaken. See Curry, "Carl Jung,
Stanislav Grof, and New Age Medical Mysticism," The Scientific Review of Alternative
Medicine(2002) 6(2): 8390, pp. 867.
Grof was able to boast that he could convert a Jewish rabbi into a Zen Buddhist using
his LSD dosages; he had no concept of how Zen monks live and think, and himself
was incapable of the traditional ideal. Grofs wife Joan Halifax had a "major nervous
breakdown due to LSD usage while still married to him" (ibid., p. 88). Yet Dr. Stanislav
Grof emerged as a countercultural hero with the reputation of being a great scientist. In
1978 he and the two Esalen founders (Michael Murphy and Richard Price) launched
the International Transpersonal Association. This gained the applause of many
uncritical subscribers who were fed with alternative therapy and neo-Jungian
mysticism.
Grofs contribution basically amounted to Grof Transpersonal Training Inc., from which
extended misleading books like Beyond the Brain(1985), which is based on LSD
therapy. His very controversial LSD Psychotherapy(1980) is a neo-Jungian extreme,
while hisSpiritual Emergency(1989) is viewed with due reserve by critics, who point
out that this theme is not transformative, despite the misleading sub-title of When
Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis.
One of the typical new age responses to commercial transpersonalism was that of
Andrew Weil, an enthusiast of psychedelic drugs and Jung. At a 1990s conference in
transpersonalism, Weil credited "the development of his own natural mind to LSD,"
and stated that he "still occasionally uses LSD" (Curry, art. cit., p. 89). There are many
others in that category who hold academic degrees, and whose strong incentive is to
impose their lazy tastes and extensive delusions upon the public. Weils psychedelic
orientation was approvingly broadcast on the MAPS website after being incorporated
in the Bulletin of MAPS(1998), like other testimonies.
7. MDMA Therapy
The non-drug expedient of HB sits easily alongside the other three favoured strategies
of the drugs lobby, and all four are strongly interlinked (section 5 above). HB is said to
create some similar symptoms to drug experiences, or is interpreted in that light by
Grof. HB was strongly implied in the MAPS programme to resuscitate MDMA therapy
during the years 20012. Two HB practitioners were prominent in this programme.
One of these practitioners was Dr. Michael Mithoefer, a Grof-trained HB facilitator who
was an assistant professor of psychiatry at a medical university in South Carolina. The
proposal was to employ MDMA as a treatment for PTSD. Yet Mithoefers university
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showed scruple and refused to give sponsorship (Curry,art. cit., p. 88). MAPS funded
this proposal and targeted lax bureaucracy, which succumbed. In Nov. 2001, the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the radical proposal for research. Very few
persons were aware of what was happening (outside MAPS). A group of American
scientists then opposed the bureaucratic blunder in Charleston, knowing what was
actually at stake in the struggle between Grofian and non-Grofian ideologies (Pointed
Observations, pp. 1718).
As a consequence of MAPS ingenuity, an Institutional Review Board (IRB) succumbed
to persuasion in July 2002, approving the MDMA proposal. Yet through intervention
from non-Grofian academics, the IRB dramatically reversed their decision and refused
support for the research proposal which had such connotations of a hidden agenda to
informed parties. Professors Lilienfeld and Sampson were very disturbed by the
bureaucratic vulnerability, which did not exhibit much (or any) critical ability or
knowledge of medical processes.
The consumer health advocate E. P. Curry was also involved in the opposition, and hereported with alarm on the attitude of the American press, who were discovered to be
in support of MAPS due to propaganda tactics of the drugs lobby. The scientific
rejection of the MAPS strategy was ignored by the media, and the present writer
accordingly noted that "the drastic social consequences of this neglect should not
need underlining to serious thinkers" (Pointed Observations, p. 19). Yet serious
thinkers are increasingly scarce, and lax bureaucracy subsequently demonstrated the
worst fears of critical spectators when another IRB approved the MAPS proposal in
September 2003. The vote had been reversed by media-influenced officials and Grof
supporters in medical ranks.
MAPS state that a revised protocol for their proposal was approved by the FDA in June
2002. Yet they had to pass through an Institutional Review Board (IRB), and this was
initially the Western IRB. In September 2002, the Western IRB rescinded their approval
as stated above. This led to a vigorous attempt by MAPS for reinstatement. MAPS were
again rebuffed in November 2002 by that alerted IRB. MAPS then began a search for "a
more malleable IRB" according to the report by Curry dated December 2002. The
Western IRB took due heed of a critical press release from Lilienfeld and Sampson that
was actually ignored by the media. The critics emerged after the FDA approval hadbeen given, and so they concentrated upon the IRB. The press release from the two
distinguished scientific journal editors (Lilienfeld and Sampson) informed that:
" the president of MAPS, Rick Doblin, is a long-time proponent
of recreational and spiritual use of both LSD and Ecstasy. The
protocol was developed in the Charleston, S. C. area with the
assistance of MAPS. The proposed study subjects would be 20
victims of violent assault who have been given diagnoses of
PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. MDMA has recentlyreceived national attention because of research published in the
journal Science, implicating MDMA in damage to dopamine
receptors in mammalian brains.
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"The editors found the (MAPS) research to be potentially
dangerous and possibly in violation of human subjects research
ethical standard. They also note that evidence for effectiveness
that would justify such research was lacking. the (MAPS) study
itself is scientifically questionable at best and meaningless at
worst, because the treatment will not be compared with a
meaningful and properly blinded control group consisting of
either no therapy or a comparison treatment of known
effectiveness.
" MAPS President Doblin, whose organisation is funding the
PTSD research, was first introduced to MDMA personally by Grof
at Esalen in the early 1980s.
" Both therapists involved in the (MDMA proposal) research,
principal investigator Dr. Michael Mithoefer, and his wife Ann
Mithoefer a psychiatric nurse, are trained practitioners of GrofsHolotropic Breathwork. The investigators background, although
not bearing directly on the methodological quality of the study,
raises troubling questions concerning the capacity of the
investigators to conduct the research and to evaluate the data
impartially without strong a priori allegiances. Drs. Sampson and
Lilienfeld question how such an experiment was approved by the
FDA and an IRB."
(Prometheus Press release dated 08/11/02, edited by E. P. Curryin consultation with the two professors of Stanford University
and Emory University, Sampson being a Prof. of Medicine and
Lilienfeld being a Prof. of Psychology.)
Professor Wallace Sampson was a senior M.D. and was perturbed by the MAPS
"research," which he correctly identified as "the exclusive project of believers in
psychedelic mysticism." He and Lilienfeld despaired over what the press made of the
"research," journalists having mistakenly associated this with the medical research
into MDMA and assuming that it was a legitimate rival which might produce moreevidence. The verdict of Sampson and Lilienfeld was that the MAPS research proposal
was "scientifically flawed and potentially dangerous."
Sampson and Lilienfeld were both editors of reputable journals which specialised in
scientific investigation of controversial and largely untested practices in alternative
medicine. The critical article of E. Patrick Curry appeared in one of these journals
(edited by Sampson), and that contribution was amplified in correspondence with a
British contact known to the present writer.
Currys appended revisions to his journal article state that the MDMA proposal did not
specify the use of HB, "though there is nothing in a Grofian protocol that would
necessarily preclude the use of HB." Curry added that the MDMA proposal was based
upon Grofs LSD therapy. The identity of the two MAPS-funded researchers as HB
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practitioners has served to strengthen the association of the MDMA project with HB.
These important considerations were ignored by the media and forgotten by
bureaucrats. MAPS now poses as an educational body (deemed scientific by the drugs
lobby) with a pressingly valid research proposal. The consequences have already
confused many onlookers. The way was open for Grofs former research colleague
Richard Yensen to seek FDA approval to resume the LSD research of the 60s. This
was the tip of the iceberg. The Grofian drugs lobby are said to be saturated in therecreational use of illegal drugs, which goes somewhat further than the underground
LSD therapy attested in some sources.
Curry drew attention to a web text entitled The Secret Chiefwhich relates to this
underground movement. That text contains a prologue by Grof, and is available on the
MAPS website. Curry specified "hundreds of illegal practitioners" (art. cit., p. 89) in the
underground, an estimate which may be conservative by now. The Secret Chiefwas
authored by Myron Stolaroff and published by MAPS in 1997; this text glorifies the
psychedelic "therapy" of an illegal practitioner. Informed commentators have nodifficulty in decoding the underlying objectives of MAPS, which have long been
reflected in the ideology of Rick Doblin as described above, and whose circles favour
"recreational and spiritual use" of illegal drugs. See further Pointed Observations, pp.
624, 1256.
8. Rick Doblin
Rick Doblinfounded MAPS in 1986, soon after becoming a practitioner of Holotropic
Breathwork as a consequence of studying at Esalen with Stanislav Grof, who (with hiswife Christina) conducted what were known as certification training programmes in
HB. During the 1970s, Doblin's LSD experiences caused him to drop out of college. In
2001, Doblin gained his Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of
Government at Harvard University, and his dissertation is entitledRegulation of the
Medical Use of Psychedelics and Marijuana. His commitment is to alteration of drug
law, meaning the laws criminalising the use of drugs he advocates.
Details of Rick Doblin on the web have included the statement that "his professional
goal is to become a legally licensed psychedelic therapist," which strongly implies theLSD therapy of Grof. He has pursued the aim of gaining FDA approval for the use of
MDMA as a prescription medicine. Psychedelic drugs and marijuana are also included
in this MAPS objective. A web sourceinforms:
"His [Doblin's] professional goal is to help develop legal contexts
for the beneficial uses of psychedelics and marijuana, primarily
as prescription medicines but also for personal growth for
otherwise 'healthy' people, and to also become a legally licensed
psychedelic therapist."
9. Influence of Grof at Esalen and Findhorn Foundation
Stanislav Grof taught hundreds of students at Esalen his pseudomystical ideology,
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which promoted LSD therapy and MDMA therapy, and also Holotropic Breathwork
(HB) on a commercial scale. Grof spent fourteen years at Esalen (197387), becoming a
Trustee; his influence upon the new age in California and elsewhere was acute and
disastrous. Critics are not persuaded by a recent book in which an article by Grof
argues that "hyperventilation can result in healing of emotional and psychosomatic
problems." See K. Taylor, ed.,Exploring Holotropic Breathwork: Selected Articles from a
Decade of The Inner Door(2003). There are too many drawbacks when the "inner
door" (or external safety mechanism) comes off the hinges. (The Inner Dooris a
partisan journal associated with HB and the Assn of HB International.)
During his Esalen phase, Grof is known to have invoked astral travel as an ingredient
of an MDMA trip (Pointed Observations, p. 126). E. P. Curry deduced that Grofs method
was "drug-aided mind manipulation in order to create paranormal beliefs" (ibid.). Many
people were dosed with drugs at that period, believing totally in the proclaimed safety
of Grof therapy. Curry concluded "it is quite probable that hundreds of persons were
injured physically and/or psychologically during Grofs long tenure at Esalen"
(ibid.). Grof could interpret an MDMA trip as an "out-of-body experience," and so the
sober analyst is not obliged to concede the exotic transpersonal idioms which abet so
many delusions in HB.
The American "alternative" scene is now strongly impregnated with Grofian ideas, and
these have overspilled into British new age sectors. A major focus here is the Scientific
and Medical Network (SMN), which has been observed to incubate ideas from
American counterculture amongst a large subscriber base of alternative therapists and
related categories. The key SMN figure, David Lorimer, is not known as an HB or LSD
exponent, but his partiality for promoting Bache on the SMN website is indication
enough of SMN tastes and proclivities.
Critics say that the Grof therapy problem and MAPS ideology could easily infiltrate
certain sectors of Britain such as the Findhorn Foundation in Moray, whose recent
duplicit attitude to HB workshops occurring under their aegis (in defiance of medical
warning) is another indication of what to expect from alternativism (see my First Letter
to OSCR). The Findhorn Foundation have been condoned by the myopic UN branch
known as UNITAR (based in Geneva, and who do not acknowledge complaints), just
as MAPS was approved by the American FDA. Grof Transpersonal Training Inc.basically means that the public suffer from misinformation and obsessive practices
while the entrepreneurs grow rich.
The HB entry in Wikipedia has grown much bigger due to the critical extension. Even
one of the HB supporters, calling himself MAJ, has described the original partisan
entry as an HB advert, though justifying his substitution of a rewritten entry, criticisms
included. This suspect tactic met with due reaction from the critical communicator,
who disputed the neutrality of both the MAJ version and the original partisan entry
(discussion page, Jan. 1st edit, 2007).
MAJ describes himself as an HB practitioner who has had personal contact with Grof.
Amongst other matters, MAJ states that he was present during the visit of Grof to the
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Findhorn Foundation in the early 1990s, and gives a very incomplete version of why
the Findhorn Foundation withdrew further invitations to Grof. No mention is made of
the SCO or Edinburgh University, which are still off the map in HB lore. One could not
expect that such Grof partisanship would get to grips with realistic details of
dissidents, eyewitnesses, victims, and official correspondence relating to HB. No,
instead we are told by MAJ that the reason for Grofs disappearance was "the
continuing precarious relationship [of the Findhorn Foundation] with the local
Findhorn population." The major disputants of HB actually lived in Forres and
Edinburgh.
The real reason for Grofs disappearance was the converging unison of the SCO
(Scottish Charities Office), Edinburgh University, dissident reports, complaints of
victims, and complaints of a local medic (living in Forres), plus the Findhorn
Foundation fear of possible legalities ensuing in a fraught situation over which Grof
had no control whatsoever in his unconvincing doctrines about the "safety" of HB.
Grof failed to reply to a pressing letter that was sent to him by Kate Thomas in the early
stages of this memorable episode, and HB lore has failed miserably to catch up with
the facts [the partisan HB entry on Wikipedia has continued to contract the scope of
criticism].
10. Dosages of MDMA
Meanwhile, another hazard is evident enough to sober medics and other analysts.
MAPS have been insisting that low dosages of MDMA are harmless in their
programme. Yet Dr. Maartje M. de Win, a member of the Academic Medical Centre at the
University of Amsterdam, has recently (2006) warned of the danger to new MDMA
users.
The warning was based upon a relevant study which specifically investigated the
neurotoxic effects of low dosages of the recreational drug. There were discoveries of
"decreased blood flow in some brain regions, suggesting prolonged effects from the
drug, including some cell damage" [item formerly showing atRSNA]. A decrease in
verbal memory performance was emphasised. The conclusion is pressing that the
public should be warned of the risk involved even in small doses of Ecstasy. These
details have been reported on the MAPS website, and contested by MAPS, along withan invitation to consult the MAPS Psychedelic Bibliography.
MDMA is an illegal drug which has been defined as both a stimulant and psychedelic.
Former research has shown that long-term or heavy usage of MDMA can damage
serotonin neurons and cause depression, anxiety, confusion, difficulty in sleeping,
and decrease in memory. The recent low dosage probe used 188 volunteers, and the
results were announced at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North
America in November 2006. Dr. de Win stated that "recreational use and prescription of
Ecstasy as adjuvant in psychotherapy should be discouraged." A protest wasexpressed (11/12/2006) in the letter of Rick Doblin to Dr. de Win.
A survey undertaken in America in 2004 by the NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse)
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discovered that 450,000 Americans (aged 12 and over) had used Ecstasy in the past
thirty days. Such large numbers are alarming, and very significant for the carefree
approach to drug dangers. That indulgent and uninformed attitude is surely
encouraged by such influential writings as those of Stanislav Grof, whose widely
read The Adventure of Self-Discovery(1988) mixes drug experiences and HB theory.
Grof has explicitly favoured MDMA (and MDA), and his account of "visions"
experienced during amphetamine indulgences has contributed to public susceptibility.Cf. Shepherd, Minds and Sociocultures Vol. One(1995), p. 99, which criticises Grofs
intake of 200 milligrams of MDMA with hallucinatory effects. If more people knew of the
(potential and actual) cost of such indulgences, then SUNY Press (one of Grofs
publishers) might have received a comeback in terms of legalities, but the American
alternative scene is too often one in which "psychotherapy" is elevated at the expense
of consumer health.
Kevin R. D. Shepherd
January 2007 (with section 8 added in November 2011).
LINKS
www.maps.org
Wikipedia Holotropic Breathwork
Wikipedia Stanislav Grof
Grof Transpersonalism(2008)
Findhorn Foundation Commercial Mysticism(2008)
Kate Thomas and the Findhorn Foundation(2009)
The Findhorn Foundation: Problems(2009)
David Lorimer, SMN, Findhorn Foundation(2013)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bache, Christopher M., Dark Night, Early Dawn: Steps to a Deep Ecology of
Mind(Albany: SUNY Press, 2000).
--- "Is the Sacred Medicine Path a Legitimate Spiritual Path?" Network: The Scientificand Medical Network ReviewNo. 81 (April 2003), pp. 19-22.
Castro, Stephen J., New Age Therapy higher consciousness or delusion? The
http://www.citizenthought.net/David_Lorimer_Findhorn_Foundation_SMN.htmlhttp://www.kevinrdshepherd.info/findhorn_foundation_problems.htmlhttp://kevinrdshepherd.info/kate_thomas_&_findhorn_foundation.htmlhttp://www.kevinrdshepherd.net/html/13__findhorn_foundation_ecobiz.htmlhttp://www.kevinrdshepherd.net/html/12___grof_transpersonalism.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Grofhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holotropic_Breathworkhttp://www.maps.org/7/22/2019 Stan Grof and Holotropic Breathwork and Rick Doblin and MAPS
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Therapist, 1995, 2(4), pp. 1416, and featured on this website.
Hypocrisy and Dissent within the Findhorn Foundation(Forres: New Media Books,
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Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine and Aberrant Medical Practices(Amherst:
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Grof, Stanislav, Realms of the Human Unconscious: Observations from LSD
Research(New York: Viking Press, 1975).
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ed., Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis(Los
Angeles: J. P. Tarcher, 1989).
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The Cosmic Game: Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness(Albany:
SUNY Press, 1998).
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Shepherd, Kevin R. D., Meaning in Anthropos(Cambridge: Anthropographia, 1991),
introduction.
Minds and Sociocultures Vol. One(Cambridge: Philosophical Press, 1995),
introduction 1.7, pp. 61ff., and Appendix 5 On Holotropic Breathwork, pp. 945ff.
Pointed Observations(Dorchester, Dorset: Citizen Initiative, 2005).
Taylor, K., ed., Exploring Holotropic Breathwork: Selected Articles from a Decade of The
Inner Door(Santa Cruz, California: Hanford Mead Publishers, 2003).
Thomas, Kate, The Destiny Challenge(Forres: New Frequency Press, 1992), chapter
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