Rollo May
Rollo May was an influential American existential psychologist and author, born in Michigan, who focused on the profound dimensions of human existence. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1930, he spent several years teaching in Greece and later became a counselor at Michigan State University. His academic journey led him to study theology and eventually earn a doctorate in counseling psychology from Columbia University in 1944. May’s early works, including "The Meaning of Anxiety" and "Man's Search for Himself," explored the themes of anxiety, alienation, and the quest for self-understanding in a fragmented cultural landscape.
As a pioneer of existential psychology in the United States, May integrated insights from European existential thinkers like Ludwig Binswanger and Medard Boss, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness and personal integration. He believed that psychological suffering often stems from a disconnection from one's true self, leading to widespread anxiety. Through his writings, such as "Love and Will" and "The Courage to Create," May examined complex themes like freedom, responsibility, and the role of myth in human life. His work continues to resonate in the fields of psychology and psychotherapy, offering valuable perspectives on the human experience.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Rollo May
Psychoanalyst
- Born: April 21, 1909
- Birthplace: Ada, Ohio
- Died: October 22, 1994
- Place of death: Tiburon, California
Identity: American psychologist
Type of psychology: Psychotherapy
Fields of study: Humanistic-phenomenological models; humanistic therapies
May, a psychotherapist and author, introduced and popularized existential psychology in the United States.
Life
Rollo May was raised in Michigan and graduated from Oberlin College in 1930 with a degree in English. He taught for three years at the American College in Greece. While in Europe, May attended seminars by psychoanalyst Alfred Adler. After returning to the United States, May became a counselor at Michigan State University (then college). He found his interest in the profound aspects of human existence growing and therefore pursued the study of theology at the Union Theological School, from which he graduated in 1938. Subsequently, May attended Columbia University, earning a doctorate in counseling psychology in 1944. His dissertation was completed under the mentorship of Paul Tillich and was published as The Meaning of Anxiety (1950). With it, and his next book, Man’s Search for Himself (1953), May charted a lifelong course to understand the human dilemma of living in an age of anxiety, alienation, and self-estrangement.
These inquiries led May to examine the work of existential therapists and scholars in Europe such as Ludwig Binswanger and Medard Boss, whose incorporation of the insights of existential-phenomenological philosophy was creating a new approach to psychology and psychiatry. In bringing these insights to an American audience with his coedited collection Existence: A New Dimension in Psychiatry and Psychology (1958; edited with Ernest Angel and Henri F. Ellenberger), May became the father of existential psychology in the United States. By “existential,” May meant a psychology concerned with the profound dimensions of human existence.
A key innovation for May was to revise psychology’s understanding of psychopathology. For May, psychological suffering was rooted in the alienation of the person from his or her own self, stemming from the failure to become the self. This loss of selfhood or centeredness yields anxiety, an anxiety May noted had become epidemic, beginning in the 1950’s. For him, this epidemic revealed the cost of living in a cultural age that is so disintegrated that it makes it hard to attain personal integration of the self. May proposed that it is this predicament that propels each person to search for the self, which can be found by attuning oneself authentically (within not without) via courage and creativity.
May’s own work analyzed such themes as paradox, anxiety, tragedy, alienation, freedom, responsibility, love, will, innocence, power, creativity, and the roles of myth and beauty in life. He published these studies in widely popular books: Psychology and the Human Dilemma (1967), Love and Will (1969), The Courage to Create (1975), Freedom and Destiny (1981), and The Cry for Myth (1991).
Bibliography
Reeves, Clement. The Psychology of Rollo May. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1977. A philosophical analysis of May’s books up to 1977, with commentary by May.
Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiatry 24 (1999). This issue, devoted to Rollo May, includes both biographical studies and six lectures by May.
Schneider, Kirk J., and Rollo May. The Psychology of Existence. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995. Some of May’s papers, along with those of many other foremost existential psychologists, on an integrative clinical perspective.