Rollo May taught us to see personal challenges and adversity differently, as essential to the creative process of being human.
Rollo May was an innovator in psychology. He allowed us, among other things, to understand much better the adverse experiences of human beings. He and other figures such as Viktor Frankl endowed psychotherapy with that much-needed existential and humanistic approach from which to favor the person, their strengths, their internal resources and that ability to make better decisions.
May’s best-known works, such as The Meaning of Anxiety, Love and Will or The Courage to Create, are a valuable and revealing example of his revolutionary mentality. We cannot forget that this psychotherapist came to change and question many of the ideas inherited from Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis.
Rollo May helped thousands of people to find enough courage to face their fears and limitations, as well as opening the way to exercise freedom and fulfill the destiny that each one wanted to propose. He was able to teach how to appreciate beauty even in the most adverse situations, as well as the intrinsic power of all difficulties. May, with her works and his works offered a new way of seeing ourselves and the world.
Rollo May, a life in search https://www.solocasa.es/user/profile/328876 of meaning
Rollo May was born in Ada, Ohio, in 1909. His childhood was not easy. He was the oldest of six children in a broken family. His parents were separated and it was common to see those children spending much of the day alone and taking care of each other. Such a task, in turn, was not easy, since one of his sisters suffered from schizophrenia.
After graduating from high school, Rollo May decided to temporarily leave his surroundings behind. He went to Greece to work, taking advantage of this time to delve cungrao.net into philosophy and mythology, but he had to return to take care of his family once again. However, that knowledge acquired and the experiences that involved him sowed in him more doubts than answers, to the point that when he returned to the United States, he decided to study theology in New York.
In his mind there was a need, a very specific goal: to understand the reason for human suffering. And also, the reason for mental illness, suicide, fear, anxiety… It was then that he met a figure who marked his life and his work: the Protestant theologian and existentialist philosopher Paul Tillich.
Influences on Rollo May’s psychological approach
In 1939, while studying theology at the University, he wrote his first book The Art of Counseling . In this work, she first addressed issues such as empathy, religion, personality issues, and mental health. Thus, and after obtaining his degree, he began a new phase by enrolling at Columbia University to study clinical psychology.
During these years his work was interrupted by tuberculosis . It was a difficult time where once again, doubts and that constant need to understand the reason for suffering and daily adversity arrived. He understood that his mission as a researcher and as a therapist should be to help people give meaning to their lives and overcome difficulties by improving their human potential.
May’s theoretical approach is based on a wide range of currents that made it easier for him to build a new vision of psychology.
They are the following:
- The legacy of Otto Rank, a psychoanalyst and colleague of Sigmund Freud, was key to his work . He was that lesser known figure within psychoanalysis. However, he brought to psychology a more innovative existential and humanistic current.
- Humanist psychologists such as Abraham Maslow were also his great references. Although May is more interested in delving into mnogootvetov.ru the difficulties of human beings rather than his needs.
- Finally, another essential figure in his theoretical legacy was Erich Fromm and specifically, his works on self-expression and free will.
The legacy of Rollo May, an faq.name existentialist psychologist
After receiving his Ph.D. from Columbia University, Rollo May began working as a counselor, as a psychotherapist, and as a professor at the New School for Social Research in New York. He also taught at Harvard, Yale, Princeton…
Now, if he is known for something, it is for his books. For those works that had great importance both in the academic community and in the society of the time. Works such as Man’s Search for Himself , Love and Will, The Meaning of Anxiety, and The Courage to Create were acclaimed around the world.
The American Psychological Association (APA) honored him for his contribution to clinical psychology. He was a much appreciated figure, able to help us understand the existential dilemma of modern man. He spent his last years in Tiburon, in the San Francisco Bay, where he died in October 1994. He was 85 years old.
“Freedom is the capacity of man to take part in his own development. It is our ability to shape ourselves.” -Roll May-
Rollo May’s contributions to psychology
- He introduced existentialism into psychology. This type of perspective makes use of a positive approach that emphasizes the capacities and aspirations of the human being. At the same time, it recognizes its limitations.
- It helped us understand the underlying mechanisms of human suffering and crises . He did it by combining existentialism with humanism.
- Rollo May focused much of his work on the study of anxiety . He helped us see her in a different way, as a catalyst capable of making us make more courageous decisions.
In conclusion, Rollo May marked the opening of psychotherapy based on dialogue, where the purpose -more than leading the patient to well-being and happiness- is to provide strategies to face life in a safer, braver and more rational way.
