Doctoral Dissertations

A number of individuals have made Holotropic Breathwork the subject of their academic Doctoral dissertations, including the following. Note that each of these full text documents (except Brouillette, 1997, Marquez, 1999, and Hanratty, 2002) is a scan of the dissertation document in pdf format, and so makes up a rather large file (size noted). Click on the dissertation name to download. Many thanks for the generosity of the authors who have allowed us to share these materials online!

More dissertations will be made available at this site as author permissions are obtained.

The psychological and spiritual effects of Stanislav Grof’s holotropic breathwork technique: An exploratory study, 1993, by Todd Evan Pressman, Ph.D., 201 pages, 10 MB.

This research, employing 25 female and 15 male volunteer subjects, was conducted with a pre- and post-test control group design. Subjects were randomly assigned to a treatment or control condition. The treatment condition consisted of six Holotropic Breathwork sessions; the control condition consisted of six sessions where subjects listened to Holotropic Breathwork music whilst lying down with eyes closed. The research asked: Does Holotropic Breathwork have demonstrable psychological and/or spiritual effects? The methodology included three questionnaires that yielded quantitative data and interviews that recorded the subjects' responses to five questions. The six sessions of both treatment and control conditions were held once every two weeks, and the questionnaires were administered before the first and after the last sessions. The interviews were conducted after each of the six sessions. The data obtained from the questionnaires provided only partial validation of the hypothesis, while the interview responses provided strong evidence that Holotropic Breathwork has beneficial psychological and spiritual effects. No deleterious effects were found.

Grof's Basic Perinatal Matrix Theory: Initial Empirical Verification, 1997, by Stephen Binns, PhD., 27 pages, 8.5 MB

Stanislav Grof’s theory of Basic Perinatal Matrices (BPMs) was tested via the development of subjective experience self-report scales, their inter-correlations, and correlations between them and the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). The sample consisted of 149 female and 39 male non-clinical participants with a mean age of 34 years. Items for the BPM questionnaire were constructed using concepts extracted from Grof’s writings, selected according to expert rater judgments and submitted to participants. BPM scales were formed using the maximal internal consistency method. Thirteen of the fourteen BPM and BPM/PBI inter-scale correlations predicted by Grof’s theory reached significance, thus supporting the BPM theory. A post-hoc analysis of the data of the hypothesis that was not supported indicated that BPM3 may be a multidimensional construct. Data gathered using the BPM questionnaire provided quantitative support for the qualitatively developed BPM theory. With more extensive validation the BPM questionnaire could be used in assessing BPM subjective experiences in individuals for clinical and research purposes.

Reported Effects of Holotropic Breathwork: An integrative Technique for Healing and Personal Change, 1997, by Gilles Brouillette, 368 pages, 1 MB.

This research studied the experience and effects of Holotropic Breathwork™ on personal transformation and healing as reported by participants in the Grof Transpersonal Training. Three specific questions have been explored using a qualitative approach in which data were gathered in four different ways: (a) the recording of people's sharing, (b) the recording of short interviews, (c) the recording of two long interviews, and (d) by consulting people's self-evaluations. Quantitative data were also gathered through Ring's Life Changes Questionnaire developed by Ring (1984). The three specific questions were: 1.) Will participants have any experiences at the physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual levels, and will these experiences be felt or experienced as transformative and/or healing? 2.) Have participants perceived any life changes as a result of their Holotropic Breathwork™ sessions and, if so, will these changes be consistent over a period of 6 months? 3.) How do they express the essence of their experience in images, symbols, words, or metaphors? All trainees participated in at least 23 Holotropic Breathwork™ sessions both as breathers and sitters.

Healing Through the Remembrance of the Pre- and Perinatal: A Phenomenological Investigation, 1999, by Anne Marquez, Ph.D., 256 pages, 1 MB.

This existential-phenomenological study focused on the experience of healing through pre- and perinatal recall. It asked and suggested answers to the question, "Since birth remembrance is so painful, why would anyone choose to do it?" Interviews were conducted with 7 adults who, by virtue of recalling their conception, gestation, and/or birth, attested to having healed conditions of: syncope, phobias, arthritis, asthma, migraines, depression, suicidality, obsessive-compulsion, severe side pain, and dysfunctional interpersonal patterns. From 11 themes, interview data revealed 2 general themes, (1) A Range of Intensely Felt, Mostly Negative, Emotional, Physical, or Feeling States, and (2) Transpersonal Experience. All co-researchers related pre- or perinatal trauma, and post-birth child abuse. While unprecedented in the literature, this continuity of negative circumstances and feeling states may reflect Grof’s (1985) “systems of condensed experience” (COEX). A 100% reporting of post-birth child abuse suggests that traumatic conception, gestation, and/or birth may contribute to abnormal childhood behavior. Further, none of the co-researchers felt wanted as children; and if they were truly unwanted/unplanned, it may suggest that parents of such children unknowingly contribute to traumatic birth conditions.

The Language of Holotropic Light: Unpacking the Experience, 2000, by Julie Lapham, PhD., 172 pages, 14.6 MB.

Beginning with a near-death experience in 1972 and continuing with many Holotropic Breathwork sessions, this research study explicates an experiential contemporary rite of passage including a ten-day wilderness quest incorporating four days of fasting with sleep deprivation in solitude with nature. The contextual essay outlines research grounded in the transpersonal paradigm that provides the conceptual framework for the study per Grof. An in-depth examination form using heuristic methodology offers a qualitative research model and the Constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy is proffered as a working indigenous exemplar of human potential. The manuscript includes observations from the six-month preparation, ten-day wilderness quest and full-year of process integration. This study researches the following questions: 1.) How feasible is completion of the proposed model and 2.) What are the ramifications, consequences and social relevance of eliciting bilocation experiences through a rite of passage. The author describes development in personal physiological benefits, an increased emotional well-being and a deepening sense of spirituality. A facilitator of Holotropic Breathwork since 1990, Dr. Lapham's research observations note a plethora of developmental difficulties with birth experience; one example is a relationship between migraine headaches and/or loss of direction with forceps delivery. Contact her at Themis Institute, P.O. Box 1536, Greensboro, N.C. 27402.

Predicting the Outcome of Holotropic Breathwork using the High Risk Model of Threat Perception, 2002, by Patrick M. Hanratty, 185 pages, 1 MB.

This study asked the research question: Is holotropic breathwork an efficacious form of psychotherapy, and, if so, what is the mechanism of efficacy? Selected risk factors from the High Risk Model of Threat Perception were used to evaluate the efficacy using outcome measures on the Brief Symptom Inventory, Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule, the Marlowe-Crowne Scale, and Templer's Death Anxiety Scale, as well as the Tellegen Absorption Scale, which correlates with hypnotic ability. The significant reductions found on psychometric clinical scales in this study suggest lasting beneficial effects as a result of holotropic breathwork for this highly select group of subjects; the mechanism of efficacy in this study was likely high trait absorption.

Somatic Memory in Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness, 2003, by Chris Lyons, PhD., 82 pages, 5.2 MB.

This study looked at the incidence and significance of experiences of somatic memory recall in a group of sixty-six people using non-ordinary states of consciousness for the purpose of personal growth or healing. It found that such experiences were common amongst this group, but it was unable to demonstrate their significance for the healing process. It concluded that somatic memory recall was just one of a number of significant experiences that could emerge during non-ordinary states of consciousness work, and that the methodology used was not adequate to measure its significance for healing or personal growth. It suggested, however, that there were theoretical grounds for supposing that non-ordinary states of consciousness work might be a useful tool in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.