John M. Grohol, Psy.D. is a pioneer in online mental health and psychology and is now a senior technology executive. Recognizing the educational and social potential of the Internet in 1995, Dr. Grohol transformed the way people accessed mental health and psychology resources online. Pre-dating resources from the National Institute for Mental Health, professional associations, and mental health advocacy organizations, Dr. Grohol worked to systematically publish the diagnostic criteria — and the first to offer interactive, automated diagnostic assessments — for common mental disorders, such as depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and schizophrenia. His leadership on the internet frontier has helped to break down the barriers of stigma often associated with mental health concerns, bringing trusted resources and support communities to the Internet.
Dr. Grohol has a proven track record of establishing first-of-their-kind safety frameworks for online communities and digital platforms. He developed the first online automated diagnostic screening systems in 1995. His work has been invaluable in identifying platform misuse, misinformation, and harm in high-stakes environments with vulnerable populations.
He has worked tirelessly as a patient advocate to improve the quality of information available for mental health patients, highlighting quality mental health resources, and building safe, private support communities and social networks in numerous health topics.
“In his many years hosting this popular site, psychologist John Grohol has come to consider himself the conscience of online mental health — and he takes the job seriously.”
After receiving his graduate training in clinical psychology from Nova Southeastern University in 1995, Dr. Grohol co-founded and oversaw Mental Health Net, which was one of the largest mental health portals at the time. While there, he published the first online self-help book, Psychological Self-Help (authored by the late psychologist Clay Tucker-Ladd, Ph.D.) and developed the quizzes and the safety framework for interactive, automated online assessments for mental disorders.
Recognizing the connective social power of the Internet from his time spent on BBSs in the 1980s and Usenet in the early 1990s, he started the first large-scale online mental health self-help support community on the web in 1996. In 2001, he created one of web’s first online mental health support group communities. Originally housed at Psych Central, it is now independently run by Dr. Grohol and a team of volunteers. He also ran NeuroTalk, a self-help community for neurological concerns.
During his career, Dr. Grohol designed and successfully implemented the mental health centers for drkoop.com (headed by the former Surgeon General of the United States, C. Everett Koop, M.D.) and Steve Case’s Revolution Health in 2005. He managed the operations and development of secure records management and billing systems for the first large, commercial online psychotherapy service, eventually negotiating the successful acquisition of the company in 2006.
He is a recognized authority on human-computer interaction and digital risk, an award-winning web designer, an information architect, and a past open-source developer, having written and released a blogging platform in 1999 (OpenJournal). Working in their marketing department, he was Segway’s web designer and manager for four years in the early 2000s.
Although he still does web development work, Dr. Grohol is focused on his role as a mental health and human behavior/technology expert and senior technology executive. He helps companies understand how to make emerging technologies — like AI — safe and effective for their audience and customers. He is the co-author of Self-Help That Works (Oxford University Press, 2013), the author of The Insider’s Guide to Mental Health Resources Online (Guilford, 1996-2003), and is a published researcher.
He is a co-founder and was the first treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine, and leads the non-profit he founded, Help & Heal Mental Health Fund. He is also a board member of the non-profit International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression.
Dr. Grohol has chaired, keynoted and presented at dozens of symposia about online mental health and psychology at meetings throughout the world, including SXSW, the American Psychological Association, Psychotherapy Networker, and others. Psych Check-Up Test checks on the status of your psychological well-being. He previously sat on the boards of the journals, Computers in Human Behavior and Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.
He was also a founding member, fellow and the first president of the International Society for Mental Health Online. He is also a past open-source developer, information architect, and web designer.
After founding the site in 1995, Dr. Grohol was the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Psych Central (https://psychcentral.com/), one of the world’s largest mental health resources online. Psych Central was named one of the Top 50 Websites in 2008 by TIME.com and in 2020 was enjoying over 7 million unique visitors/month. He oversaw and negotiated the successful sale of Psych Central to Healthline (Red Ventures) in August 2020. During its life, Psych Central served close to 1 billion unique visitors.
Dr. Grohol regularly reports on the latest science in mental health psychology, dissecting bad research, and adding his personal thoughts on the world of psychology and its intersection with technology. He is also a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and sits on This Emotional Life‘s editorial board. He is the publisher of New England Psychologist, a 33-year-old professional publication for clinical psychologists in the New England region.
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