ROLLO MAY--EXISTENTIAL PSYCHIATRIST

  

by

 

 

Joe Robinson

 

 

 

PSY330: THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

 

 

 

 

Instructor:  David Sainio 

 

 

 

18 April 14, 2011

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Rollo Reece May died on the 22nd of October, 1994, ending a brilliant and influential

career as an Existentialist/Humanist psychiatrist. He is considered influential because it was

May who introduced the United States to Existentialist/Humanist psychiatry and its heroes.

He was also one the first thinkers in the field of psychotherapy to formulate a view of human

nature that was not based on Freudian principles (Pace, E., 1994, October 24).” I choose Dr.

May for my research paper because his ideas about the Existentialism and Humanistic

psychology struck a powerful cord in me. May states, and I agree, that

Existentialism/Humanistic psychology is a system of thought, an attitude, a way of approaching

human beings instead of a “school or group of techniques- it may give birth to them-but a

concern with the under standing of the structure of the human being and his experience, which to

greater or lesser degree underlies all technique (May, R., Oct., 1961),” and I will attempt to

prove this. But first, we shall have a small history of Rollo Reece May.

Rollo was born on the 21st of April, 1909, in Ohio, but soon moved to Michigan. His

father was a secretary for the YMCA and the family moved around a lot (Rabinowitz, F., E;

Good, G.; Cozad, L., Apr 1989). His parent’s relationship was discordant, which played a roll

in his becoming a psychologist. After his rebellious years as teen-ager he went to college at

Michigan state College. May did not enjoy the agricultural bent of the school and ended up

going to Oberlin College in Ohio, where he studied liberal arts (the old style, Greek, Latin,

history, etc.) and received a degree in English (Wyatt, C. S., 21 Mar, 2011).

After graduation May went to Greece and was hired to teach in a boys gymnasium (ages

12-18). He did this because of the Greek language and history class from Oberlin (Rabinowitz,

F., E; Good, G.; Cozad, L., Apr 1989). During his summer vacation he went to Vienna and spent

time with Alfred Adler, who breaking from Freud. In 1933 May returned to the United States

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because he had become aware of the Nazi influences in Germany and Austria. Upon return he

decided to go to Columbia University in New York for a graduate degree in psychology. After

finding out the psychology department was primarily behaviorists and were not teaching

anything from Freud, Adler, Jung or any other European psychotherapies, he enter the Union

Theological Seminary. Here they taught about subjects that May was interested in: anxiety,

love, hate, war, and the great tragedies. He was taught by professors that had just recently fled

Europe and had first hand experience with such topics (Rabinowitz, F., E; Good, G.; Cozad, L.,

Apr 1989). Here May met the German philosopher Paul Tillich who had recently been expelled

from Nazi Germany for existentialist/Lutheran (he was an ordained Priest) speeches. Tillich

taught May about psychoanalysis, Marx, modern art, and religion while May taught Tillich

English and U. S. customs.

From here May eventually gained a flock, worked in counseling, wrote a book about

counseling (which sold 150,000 copies) and went to school for his masters in clinical psychology

doctorial program at Teachers College at Columbia University. This was stopped in 1942 when

he contracted “severe tuberculosis and voluntarily committed himself to a sanatorium. May was

told there was an even likelihood he would not survive the illness. May remained in the

sanatorium for eighteen months. These months gave him the opportunity to observe how people

deal with the fear of death, their grieving families, and other complex issues (Wyatt, C. S., 21

Mar, 2011).” He also wrote the manuscript for his next book, The Meaning of Anxiety, published

in 1950. From 1948 until 1974 May was a Professor of psychiatry at William Alanson White

Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Psychoanalysis, New York. With his publishing of the

books Mans Search for Himself (1953), Existential Psychology (1961), and Love and Will (1969)

May established himself as the leader of the Humanist potential movement which would

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challenge Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis in its view of the nature of human beings

(Rabinowitz, F., E; Good, G.; Cozad, L., Apr 1989). He stayed in New York City area teaching,

maintaining a private practice, a Lecturer at New School for Social Research, New York, a

Visiting Professor at Harvard and Princeton Universities, among many other things (Wyatt, C.

S., 21 Mar, 2011). In 1974 he moved to California were he stayed until his death on the 22nd of

October, 1994.

In 1961 May wrote his manifesto in the Journal of Religion and Health. He wrote it the

same year that he edited Existential Psychology (which included the writings of Maslow, Feifel,

Rogers, Allport, and Lyons). In it he laid out what he thought was wrong with some of the

trends in Existentialist psychology (as perceived by those outside and inside) and how it

excelled. May states that Existentialist psychology is not a special school or group, but an

attitude.

Existentialism/Humanistic psychology, my judgment, is a system of

thought, an approach to human beings , rather than a special school or

group. It is doughtful whether it makes sense to in this stage in the

development to speak of an “

“existentialist psychotherapist” in contradistinction to represenitives of

other schools; it is not a system of therapy-though it makes radical and

important contributions to therapy. It is not a set of techniques-though it

may give birth to them-but a concern with the understanding of the

structure of the human and his experience, which to a greater and lesser

degree underlies all technique (May, R., Oct., 1961).

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This new attitude has with three points: the new approach to the science of man, the

central role of decision, and the Existential treatment of ego. The new approach differs from

others avenues of psychology were the science of psychotherapy is being based on drives and

forces. “What we have, rather, is always a man to whom the drive or force or stimulus is

happening, and who, expect in pathological situations, experiences this action upon him (May,

R., Oct., 1961).” May believes this because of our self-consciousness. When we, as humans,

developed self-consciousness in the distant past our entire system of functions changed, our total

gestalt changed. With this change, “the simple can be understood in terms of the more complex

(May, R., Oct., 1961).” The old functions still exist and will not be denied that they do. We still

share sexuality with lesser organisms, but with the new gestalt, “they are now conditioned by the

person of the partner; what we think of the other male or female, in reality or fantasy, or

repressed fantasy, can never be ruled out (May, R., Oct., 1961).” It is the task of the therapist to

not only make the patient aware of the problem, “but to help them transmute this awareness to

consciousness (May, R., Oct., 1961).” This will hopefully allow the patient realize that it is the

problem that is threatening them, not reality. This can give them insight, an actual view into

themselves and allow them to fix the problem.

Fixing the problem is the second part, which involves the patient’s decision to fix the

problem. “The existentialist holds…that in the revealing and exploring of these deterministic

forces1 in the patients life, the patient is orientating him/herself some particular way to the data

and this is engaged in some choice, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is experiencing some

freedom, no matter how subtle (May, R., Oct., 1961).”2 Integral to making decisions are values

1 The things that nature gave you, your nature.

2 The central proclamation of the European Existentialist is: no matter how great the forces victimizing the human being, man has the capacity to know that he is being victimized, and thus to influence in some way how he will relate to his fate.

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and anxiety. Having anxiety about something shows that you have placed some type of value on

the object/event/person. Being a self-conscious means that “you must choose and decide, that is,

act as a centered self. This means that values are inescapable in the act of choosing (May, R.,

Oct., 1961).” With values comes the question, can a value be worth your own life? That was a

central theme in Nietzsche’s story, Case of Ellen West. “Does the human being have values that

transcend its own survival, and are there situations were a person, in order to fulfill their

existence, needs to destroy themselves (May, R., Oct., 1961).” We are not talking about suicide,

but in situations were a person’s values require them to do something that will cause their

demise. Sacrificing yourself so that your children can live or altruism is a part of this. There is

story/parable in Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein (1973), where a man sees a husband

and wife struggling on the rail road tracks, trying to get the wife’s foot unstuck from the tracks

before a train strikes them dead. The man rushes to their aid, only to die with the couple. Who

was the more altruistic, asks Lazarus Long? The stranger, he replies. It was the husband’s duty

to die at his wife’s side. The stranger did so out of love of his fellow man. To aid another, even

if it means your destruction, is an example of a value that will get you killed. It can also be seen

in the statement many in the military make. “I have signed a blank check made payable to The

United States of America, for an amount of up to, and including my life.” Some times this

comes as shock to soldiers when they finally realize this. One of my soldiers is the Chaplin’s

assistant. He always wanted to shoot the 9mm pistol he carried along with his rifle. I told him

that was the Chaplin’s pistol. No, he replied, the Chaplin can’t have a weapon. No, I replied, he

can’t carry one. You are to hold it for him, so if he needs it he can defend himself as you jump

in front of the bullets. Huh, was the reply. Yes, I said, you are the Chaplin’s meat shield. He

now has reconciled himself to the reality of his job. It has become part of his values.

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The third part of the attitude deals with the ego. May divides it up into three parts: the

self, person, and ego.3 The self is the subjective center, the knowledge that I am the one who

does thus and thus ways (May, R., Oct., 1961). The self can have problems when it does not like

what he or she does or the decisions that she or he does. The persona is the aspect we take in

which I am accepted by others, the “persona” of Jung and social roles of William James (May,

R., Oct., 1961). An individual can have more than one person depending on where or who they

are with. Their job, friend groups, etc. will have an impact on how they present themselves. I

act differently when I was the First Sergeant of my Battery in the National Guard than I do at my

job at the prison. In the Guard I am the crusty ol’ man, who is lightly nuts. This is expected of

me, partly because I fit that description but I also step into that role willingly, as it makes the

troops happy for some reason. I also brook little slack in work ethic. If I catch someone

slacking off I will make their life a living hell. My other job there is to pass on as much

knowledge as I can. At the prison I am a nothing more than a baby sitter to large grumpy men. I

still tell them what to do, and will make their life a living hell if not obeyed (with in reason, they

are large grumpy men), but my job is also to provide an example for rehabilitation. I am to try to

guide them to being constructive citizens. The Ego is the third part of trifecta is the ego. This is

as Freud originally intended it (May, R., Oct., 1961). It is the specific organ of perception by

which the self sees and relates to the outside world. To be centered, have being, or to be of the

right mind, all parts need to be to be working together. May does not through out the

unconscious experience, or its dark nasty turns, but moves a lot of it into the self.

Tied into these three parts are normal guilt and anxiety. Existentialists believe that

anxiety and guilt are a normal part of life. It is what gives the will the power to do things, unless

it turns neurotic and keeps you from making a decision. May has gone a long way into making

3 What you say Willis? Didn’t Freud already do this? Well yes, but here it goes.

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modern psychology accept anxiety as normal part of life, but not guilt. He believes that much of

man’s current levels of listlessness are due to unresolved levels of guilt (May, R., Oct., 1961).

This comes from the base anxiety that all humans share, the knowledge that we will die at some

point. This causes a person to worry at some level about what have they done with their life? To

quote the old private Ryan desperately asking his wife in Saving Private Ryan, “Have I lived a

good life?” He is asking the age old question, have I done anything worthy of my time here on

earth? Have I had any impact on anyone? May says that to fix this is to use the techniques for

anxiety. I suggest another. It is a bit egocentric, but then resolving guilt can be. You should

always take a moment and count up the people who love you. Granted, for some this may be a

short list, or they may be unable to see the people due to some type of condition, but for those of

us not hit by that type of destiny, it will bring about a nice glow. Also, look for the simple

victories. You do not have to have invented a longer lasting light bulb. One of my little joys is

the fact that I got both of my girls through High school with out getting pregnant. I realize that I

only had a small role to play in this, but I claim that small part!

Now that we have gotten through the manifesto in one piece, let us look at what May and

others have to say about Existentialist/Humanist psychology. May’s first topic has already been

stated, that Existentialist/Humanist psychology is not special school or group. He tries to make

that especially clear. It is a new, or at least to the United States, way of looking a man. His next

negative trend is the identification of Existentialist/Humanist psychology with over simplified

Zen Buddhism (May, R., Oct., 1961). Over simplification of both leads to a zoned out individual

who does nothing but sit and meditate about his bellybutton. This is an injustice to both.

Existentialism/Humanism and Zen are similar in that they both want you to act from a self-

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centered view. If you are in your right mind, then you can make decisions that are free from

petty emotions. To quote a review of May’s life by one of his students:

My friends and I felt like we were creating a new society, based in part on

the existentialists' mandate to act. Claiming that the prevailing Freudian

and behavioral psychologies were all based on an essentially passive

model of the human being, in which childhood events or conditioning

shaped behavior, the existential psychologists instead posited an active

model. Although acknowledging that much of human life is indeed

determined, the existentialists stressed the possibility of freedom and

responsibility. Each individual, in the face of determinism, despair,

meaninglessness, or death, has the responsibility to create a meaningful

life (Serlin, Ilene A., 1995, January).

The criticisms of Existentialism/Humanism agree with May in the next several areas:

anti-scientific, wild eclecticism in therapy, and anti-intellectualism. The anti-scientific can be

seen in many reviews. Edward Hall 1954, Fritz Schmidl 1959, Schubert Ogden 1964, and

Russell Eisenman 1976, all reviewed Mays and felt that Existentialism/Humanism lacked

scientific grounds, was not written scientifically, or was just anti-modern psychology. May

himself saw these things and tried to change them. For this some said he was back leaving the

fold (May, R., Oct., 1961). The ideas of Existentialism/Humanism came about in part due to the

over scientific views of the behaviorists. However, you still need the scientific methods to track

what you are doing, what your patients/experiments are doing, so forth and so on. In today’s

world of psychology May’s message is more welcomed, but incorporated with the science.

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May believed that Existentialist/Humanist psychology was an attitude to be used on top

every day psychology. It is necessary to view the person not as a very smart ape but as a living

thinking being, whose base instincts are wrapped up with his very conscious decisions. Just

because the rat reacts to something, it will not give complete understanding to how a man will

decide to handle something. We all have to make choices in our life and many of them will

cause us guilt because they were not very good ones. Even Jesus had to choose, whether to stay

on the cross and submit to God’s plan or reject it and take what ever Lucifer had to offer. Since

he was in a man’s body, he a man’s free will to make a choice based on his own beliefs and

current mindset. Christ used his anxiety; the pain of his suffering, the pain of his choice

(choosing his own death), and the pain he caused his followers, to give him the ability to make a

decision. He did not let it consume him and become neurotic or complexal, not be able to make

the decision. May would have said that Christ followed one of Nietzsche’s ideas, that you can

have a value that you are willing to die for. Even love is a conscious choice. One made to

support someone more than yourself. Love is an exercise of will, the expenditure of time and

effort.

REFERENCES

Pace, E., (1994, October 24). Dr. Rollo May Is Dead at 85; Was Innovator in

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Psychology :[Obituary (Obit); Biography]. New York Times  (Late Edition (east Coast)),  p. B.12.  Retrieved April 9, 2011, from Banking Information Source. (Document ID: 968462721).

Wyatt, C. S., (21 Mar, 2011). Rollo May: anxiety and psychotherapy. http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist/may.shtmlSerlin, Ilene A.  Retrieved April 9, 2011, from ProQuest Religion. (Document ID: 8664310).

Rabinowitz, Fredric E, Good, Glenn, & Cozad, Liza. (1989). Rollo May: A Man of Meaning and Myth. Journal of Counseling and Development : JCD, 67(8), 436.  Retrieved April 17, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1583205).

Reps, P., and Senzaki, N. (Ed.) (1994). Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Boston and London, Shambhala Press.

May, R., (Oct., 1961). Existential Psychiatry an Evaluation. Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 31-40Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27504465. Accessed: 12/04/2011 20:16

Boeree, G., (1998, 2006). Rollo May. Personality Theories. Retrieved from: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/may.html

Heinlein, R., (June, 1973). Time Enough For Love. New York, G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Serlin, Ilene A., (1995, January). Rollo May. Tikkun, 10(1), 65.  Retrieved April 9, 2011, from ProQuest Religion. (Document ID: 8664310).

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