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Rollo May (April 21, 1909 – October 22, 1994) was an American existential psychologist. He was the author of the influential book Love and Will, which was published in 1969. He is often associated with both humanistic psychology and existentialist philosophy. Humanism in particular significantly impacted his theories. May was a close friend of the philosopher and theologian Paul Tillich, who also had a significant influence on his work. His works include Love and Will and The Courage to Create, the latter title honoring Tillich's The Courage to Be.

Biography
May was born in Ada, Ohio in 1909. He experienced a difficult childhood, with his parents divorcing and his sister developing schizophrenia. He was the first son of a family with six children. His mother often left the children to care for themselves, and with his sister being schizophrenic, he bore a great deal of responsibility. His educational career took him to Michigan State University majoring in English but was expelled due to his involvement in a radical student magazine. After he was asked to leave he attended Oberlin College and received a bachelor's degree. He later spent 3 years teaching in Greece at Anatolia College. During this time he studied with doctor and psychotherapist, Alfred Adler, whom Rollo May also shares some theoretical similarities. He then attended Union Theological Seminary for a BD during 1938, and finally to 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, where he died in October 1994.

Accomplishments

 * His first book, The Meaning of Anxiety, was based on his doctoral dissertation, which in turn was based on his reading of the 19th century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.
 * In 1956, he edited the book Existence with Ernst Angel and Henri Ellenberger. Existence helped introduce existential psychology to the US.
 * “Love and Will” is another of May’s famous texts. This book investigates the shifting viewpoints of love and sex in human behavior.

Influences and Psychological Background
May was influenced by American humanism, and interested in reconciling existential psychology with other philosophies, especially Freud's.

May considered Otto Rank (1884-1939) 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 (Rank, 1996, p. xi).

Abraham Maslow:

Erich Fromm:

(May used some traditional existential terms in a slightly different fashion than others, and he invented new words for traditional existentialist concepts. Destiny, for example, could be "thrownness" combined with "fallenness"— the part of our lives that is determined for us, for the purpose of creating our lives. He also used the word "courage" to signify resisting anxiety.)

Stages of Development
Like Freud, May defined certain "stages" of development. These stages are not as strict as Freud's psychosexual stage, rather they signify a sequence of major issues in each individual's life:


 * 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.
 * Rebellion – the rebellious person wants freedom, but does not yet have a good understanding of the responsibility that goes with it.
 * Decision – The person is in a transition stage in their life such that they need to be more independent from their parents and settle into the "ordinary stage". In this stage they must decide what to do with their life, and fulfilling rebellious needs from the rebellious stage.
 * Ordinary – the normal adult ego learned responsibility, but finds it too demanding, and so seeks refuge in conformity and traditional values.
 * Creative – the authentic adult, the existential stage, self-actualizing and transcending simple egocentrism.

These are not "stages" in the traditional sense. A child may certainly be innocent, ordinary or creative at times; an adult may be rebellious. However, the only association with of the stages with certain ages is in terms of importance and salience. For example, rebelliousness is more important for the development of a teenager than for a two year old.

Perspective on Anxiety
(His first book, The Meaning of Anxiety, was based on his doctoral dissertation, which in turn was based on his reading of the 19th century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.) His 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" (1967, p. 72). He also quotes Kierkegaard: "Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom". In 1956, he edited the book Existence with Ernst Angel and Henri Ellenberger. Existence helped introduce existential psychology to the US.

Perspective on Love
(“Love and Will” is another of May’s famous texts. This book investigates the shifting viewpoints of love and sex in human behavior.) During the “Sexual Revolution” in the 1960s, many individuals were exploring their sexuality. “Free sex” was replacing the ideology of free love. May explains that love is intentionally willed by an individual, whereas sexual desire is the complete opposite. Real human instinct reflected upon deliberation and consideration. May then shows that to give in to these impulses does not actually make one free, but to resist these impulses is the meaning of being free.

5 types of love:
 * Sex: Lust, tension release
 * Eros: Procreative love, savoring, experiential
 * Philia: Brotherly love, liking
 * Agape: Unselfish live, devotion to the welfare of others
 * Authentic love: Incorporates all other types of love

May perceived the Hippie subculture and sexual mores of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as commercialization of sex and pornography, as having influenced society such that people believed that love and sex are no longer associated directly. According to May, emotion has become separated from reason, making it acceptable socially to seek sexual relationships and avoid the natural drive to relate to another person and create new life. May believed that sexual freedom can cause modern society to neglect more important psychological developments. May suggests that the only way to remedy the cynical ideas that characterize our times is to rediscover the importance of caring for another, which May describes as the opposite of apathy.

Criticism of modern psychotherapy
May believed that psychotherapists in the late 1900's had fractured away from the Jungian, Freudian and other influencing psychoanalyst thought and started creating their own 'gimmicks' causing a crisis within the world of psychotherapy. These gimmicks were said to put too much stock into the self where the real focus needed to be looking at 'man in the world'. To accomplish this, May pushed for the use of existential therapy over individually created techniques for psychotherapy.