Rollo May was a phenomenal humanistic psychologist who made most of his influence during the 1950s – 1970s. Since May was a humanistic psychologist, most of his works focused mainly on the potential for growth and achievement in all human beings. He believed that human beings fear death so much because we are not able to comprehend our own existence. Rollo May’s leading intention was to understand the underlying methods and reality behind human suffering and crises. He ultimately achieved this by putting together parts of the humanistic theory along with existentialism in his approach. Existentialism focuses on a person’s search for meaning and purpose in life. He was brought to the peak of his success as he started writing books in 1939. His most well-received and influential book, Man’s Search for Himself, was what got his opinions, theories, and beliefs into the world. May also discussed his unique views on anxiety and the best ways to treat it in his writings. May argued that anxiety and stress act as a significant catalyst in a human’s life that enables a person to make courageous and essential decisions. He had a long-lasting influence on the world because of his fascinating new ideas and theories.
Rollo May was born in Ada, Ohio, and he grew up with a humble upbringing. Rollo May was born on April 21st, 1909. Unfortunately, May’s childhood was not easy, to say the least. His parents didn’t get along and eventually divorced, and his sister had suffered a psychotic breakdown. May was the second of six children in his family. His parents, Earl May and Matie Boughton raised him. His family moved to Michigan when May was still a child. Rollo May attended Michigan State University until he got expelled for his involvement with a radical school magazine. He then attended Oberlin College in Ohio, where he received his bachelor’s degree, majored in English, and minored in Greek literature and History. After his graduation, he went to Greece to teach English at Anatolia College for three years. After returning to the U.S in 1942, May was stricken with tuberculosis. He had to spend three years in a sanatorium in New York to get cured. This was the major turning point of his life. While he faced the high possibility of death, he also kept himself occupied during the long, empty days by reading. Finally, after getting cured, May entered the graduate psychology program at Columbia University in New York City. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1949 with the highest honors. He endured a lot of trauma, but he has succeeded because of his dedication and hard work.
Rollo May was a very hardworking and determined man who endured a difficult upbringing and a disease that almost brought death upon him. Despite his troublesome upbringing and sickness, he managed to write 23 successful books about his theories and views. May wrote his first book in 1939 called The Art of Counseling. The Art of Counseling was about his experience with counseling and how he thought it was the solution to various problems. Some of the topics he discusses in this informational book are empathy, religion, personality problems, and mental health. His third book, The Meaning of Anxiety, explored anxiety and how it can eventually affect your psychological health. May also mentions how he believes that experiencing anxiety eventually can help aid development and how managing anxiety appropriately can help lead to having a healthy personality. May’s most famous and significant book, Man’s Search for Himself, earned the attention of many psychologists. Man’s Search for Himself is about the problems he encountered with his patients, such as loneliness, boredom, and emptiness. The book is essentially his take on the solutions to each of these problems.
Rollo May had many new theories, beliefs, and perspectives that have had an everlasting influence on the world of psychology and the world as a whole. He was a very firm believer in living in the moment. His time in the hospital with tuberculosis contributed to this because he would go insane if he were attempting to count down every day for 18 months. Tuberculosis is a deadly bacterial lung infection. He had to learn to look at the positives in where he was currently in his life and to accept what he was going through. May also believed that drugs, alcohol, and meditation don’t lead to a creative activity that soothes anxiety. Although meditation is a good practice, it doesn’t lead to creativity and new ideas. Another fundamental concept for May is will. May defined will, as the ability to train yourself to achieve all of your goals. Rollo May also had numerous ideas regarding anxiety. May’s growing interest in anxiety developed actively after his time spent in the sanatorium when he was sick with tuberculosis. For example, he thought of anxiety as a new world knocking at your door that acts as a stimulus to start doing things. He said that anxiety forces and pressures us to make the most of our experiences and surroundings. May’s definition of anxiety is “the apprehension cued off by a threat to some value which the individual holds essential to his existence as a self.” May distinguished the difference between anxiety and fear. He also defined the difference between normal anxiety and neurotic anxiety. Also, May believed that a man’s biggest fear is having to come to terms with his own demise. This struggle allows humans the opportunity to live life to the fullest. He believed that knowledge of our death gives us normal and healthy anxiety that continuously hounds us to make the most out of the life we have left. His own feelings of isolation, as well as watching others deal with fear and anxiety, gave him a useful insight into the subject. May later concluded that anxiety and tension are essential to an individual’s growth. May also found that anxiety and stress contribute to what it means to be a human. According to May, guilt occurs when people deny their potential and fail to perceive the needs of others or aren’t aware of their dependency on the world. Anxiety and guilt root from issues dealing with someone’s existence in the world. May also believed that psychotherapists, towards the end of the 20th century, had broken away from the overused psychoanalytic theories and started creating their own. This resulted in a crisis within the world of psychotherapy. May proved that not sticking to the outdated methods eventually resulted in improved therapeutic techniques.
Rollo May’s theories, perspectives, views, and ideas have resulted in momentous changes in therapy and have changed millions of lives for the better. Currently, people are utilizing his books for further research on topics such as anxiety, counseling, and guilt. May’s book, The Art of Counseling, has influenced skeptical individuals who didn’t believe in counseling to try it. Because of this, many people were cured of depression and anxiety through therapy and counseling sessions. May also managed to change the direction of therapy by introducing the existential approach to treatment. He gave therapists a five-step method to help patients get through crises and challenges and eventually help them grow. He was also a very inspiring individual who proved that anybody can accomplish anything by working hard and overcoming obstacles. May stated, “Courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair.” This quote defines a life well lived and shows his personal growth. By changing the direction of psychotherapy over the past fifty-plus years, Rollo May has also changed the lives of countless individuals whose therapists integrated his theories.
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