Rollo May


Rollo Reece May was an American existential psychologist and author of the influential book Love and Will. He is often associated with humanistic psychology and existentialist philosophy, and alongside Viktor Frankl, was a major proponent of existential psychotherapy. The philosopher and theologian Paul Tillich was a close friend who had a significant influence on his work.
May's other works include The Meaning of Anxiety and The Courage to Create, named after Tillich's The Courage to Be.

Early life

Reese May, otherwise known as 'Rollo' May, was born in Ada, Ohio, on April 21, 1909 to Matie Boughton and Earl Tittle May, a Men's Christian Associations Field Secretary, as the first son and the second eldest of six.
His namesake 'Rollo', or, as his Mother called him, 'Little Rollo', was the title character from a series of children's' books. written by Jacob Abbott in the 19th century. Rollo was reported to have an intense dislike for this nickname; however, he made his peace with the moniker after learning about Rollo the Conqueror, a tenth century Norman.
Some may describe Rollo's childhood as difficult due to the divorce of his parents and to his oldest sister's struggle with mental health that resulted in frequent hospitalizations. His mother often left the children alone, and with his sister suffering from schizophrenia, he bore much of the burden. At Michigan State University he majored in English, but was expelled due to his involvement in a radical student magazine. After that, he attended Oberlin College and received a bachelor's degree in English. He spent three years teaching in Greece at Anatolia College. During this time, he studied with doctor and psychotherapist Alfred Adler, with whom his later work shares theoretical similarities. He was ordained as a minister shortly after coming back to the United States, but left the ministry after several years to pursue a degree in psychology. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1942 and spent 18 months in a sanatorium. He later attended Union Theological Seminary for a BD during 1938, and Teachers College, Columbia University for a PhD in clinical psychology in 1949. May was a founder and faculty member of Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center in San Francisco.
He spent the final years of his life in Tiburon on San Francisco Bay. May died of congestive heart failure at the age of 85, attended by his wife, Georgia, and friends.

Writings

Earlier years (1940s–1950s)

When beginning his first books, May's topics focused on more practical uses regarding patients and mental health. His first book, The Art of Counseling
talks about his experience of counseling. Some of the topics he looks at are empathy, religion, personality problems and mental health. May also gives his perspective on these and also discusses how to handle those particular types of issues should a counselor encounter them. He followed with a more theoretical book, The Springs of Creative Living: A Study of Human Nature and God presenting a personality theory influenced by critiquing the work of others, including Freud and Adler. He claims that personality is deeper than they presented. This is also where May introduces his own meaning for different terms such as libido from Freudian Psychology.
His writings were interrupted in the 1940s due to being diagnosed with tuberculosis and having to work on his PhD.
His later books in the 1950s all focus on mental health. The Meaning of Anxiety explores anxiety and how it can affect mental health. May also discusses how he thinks that experiencing anxiety can aid development and how dealing with it appropriately can lead to having a healthy personality. In Man’s Search for Himself, May talks about his experience with his patients and the recurring problems they had in common such as loneliness and emptiness. May looks deeper into this and discusses how humans have an innate need for a sense of value and also how life can often present an overwhelming sense of anxiety. May also gives signposts on how to act during these periods.. May's final writing in the 1950s Existence is not entirely by May, but he examines the roots of Existential Psychology and why Existential Psychology is important in understanding a gap in human understanding of the nature of existence. He also talks about the Existential Psychotherapy and the contributions it has made.

''Psychology and the Human Dilemma'' (1967)

May uses this book to reflect on a lot of both his ideas so far and those of other thinkers and also mentions some contemporary ideas despite the book's publication date. May also expands on some of his previous perspectives such as anxiety and people's feelings of insignificance.

''Love and Will'' (1969)

One of May's most influential books. He talks about his perspective on love and the Daimonic; how it is part of nature and not the superego. May also discusses how love and sex are in conflict with each other and how they are two different things. May also discusses depression and creativity towards the end. Some of the views in this book are the ones that May is best known for.

''Paulus: Reminiscence of a Friendship'' (1973)

May identified Paul Tillich as one of his biggest influences and in this book May episodically recalls Tillich's life trying to focus just on the key moments over the eight chapters, taking a psychoanalytic approach to the tale

''The Courage to Create'' (1975)

Listening to our ideas and helping form the structure of our world is what our creative courage can come from; this is the main direction of May in this book. May encourages that people break the pattern in their life and face their fears to reach their full potential.

''Freedom and Destiny'' (1981)

As the title suggests, May focuses on the area of Freedom and Destiny in this book. He examines what freedom might offer and also, comparatively, how destiny is imposing limitations on us, but also how the two have an interdependence. May draws on artists and poets and others to invoke what he is saying.

''The Discovery of Being: Writings in Existential Psychology'' (1983)

May draws on others' perspectives, including Freud's, to go into more detail on existential psychotherapy. Another topic May examines is how Psychoanalyses and Existentialism may have come from similar areas of thinking. There is attention paid to searching for stability with strong feelings of anxiety.

''My Quest for Beauty'' (1985)

Serving as a type of memoir, May discusses his own opinions on the power of beauty. He also asserts that beauty must be both understood and also valued in the world.

''The Cry for Myth'' (1991)

Argued in this book is May's idea that humans can use myths to help them make sense of their lives, based on case studies May uses from his patients. May discusses how this could be particularly useful to those who need direction in a confusing world.

''The Psychology of Existence'' (1995)

Two days before May's death, he edited an advanced copy of this book. It was co-authored by Kirk Schneider and was intended to bring some life back into existential psychology. Like some previous books, this talks of existential psychotherapy and targets scholars.

Accomplishments

  • In 1970, May's most popular work, Love and Will, won the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award for humane scholarship and became a best-seller.
  • In 1971, May won the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Contribution to Science and Profession of Clinical Psychology award.
  • In 1972, the New York Society of Clinical Psychologists presented him with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Award for his book Power and Innocence.
  • In 1987, he received the American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal Award for Lifetime Contributions to Professional Psychology.

    Influences and psychological background

May was influenced by North American humanism and interested in reconciling existential psychology with other philosophies, especially Freud's.
May considered Otto Rank to be the most important precursor of existential therapy. Shortly before his death, May wrote the foreword to Robert Kramer's edited collection of Rank's American lectures. "I have long considered Otto Rank to be the great unacknowledged genius in Freud's circle", wrote May.
May is often grouped with humanists, for example Abraham Maslow, who provided a good base for May's studies and theories as an existentialist. May delves further into the awareness of the serious dimensions of a human's life than Maslow did.
Erich Fromm had many ideas with which May agreed relating to May's existential ideals. Fromm studied the ways people avoid anxiety by conforming to societal norms rather than doing what they please. Fromm also focused on self-expression and free will, on all of which May based many of his studies.
May was Irvin D. Yalom's therapist.

Stages of development

Like Freud, May defined certain "stages" of development. These stages are not as strict as Freud's psychosexual stages, rather they signify a sequence of major issues in each individual's life:
  1. Innocence – the pre-egoic, pre-self-conscious stage of the infant: An innocent is only doing what he or she must do. However, an innocent does have a degree of will in the sense of a drive to fulfill needs.
  2. Rebellion – the rebellious person wants freedom, but does not yet have a good understanding of the responsibility that goes with it.
  3. Ordinary – the normal adult ego learned responsibility, but finds it too demanding, so seeks refuge in conformity and traditional values.
  4. Creative – the authentic adult, the existential stage, self-actualizing and transcending simple egocentrism
The stages of development that Rollo May set out are not stages in the conventional sense i.e. both children and adults can present qualities from these stages at different times.