ROLLO MAY &

EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Presented by:

| MSPSY231 - Advanced Theories of Personality | 2023 | | Centro Escolar University |

INTRODUCTIO
N
“If you do not express
BIOGRAPHY
your own original ideas,
if you do not listen
MAIN POINTS OF
THEORY to your own being,
you will have betrayed yourself.”
STRENGTHS &
WEAKNESSES - Rollo May

CLASS ACTIVITY
INTRODUCTION
The Life of Rollo
May 01
born April 21, 1909 in Ada,
Ohio

BIOGRAPHY older sister had a

02
psychotic breakdown

MAIN POINTS OF 03
The river became his best
THEORY friend.

earned Bachelor’s degree

04
in English
STRENGTHS &
spent 3 years roaming
WEAKNESSES
05 eastern and southern
Europe
CLASS ACTIVITY He enrolled at Union
• attended Alfred Adler’s
06 summer seminars in
Theological Seminary
1932
INTRODUCTION
The Life of Rollo
May 07
served as a pastor for 2
years

BIOGRAPHY May was impressed with

08
Sullivan’s concept of
therapy
MAIN POINTS OF he earned a PhD in
09
THEORY clinical psychology

he contracted tuberculosis
10
STRENGTHS & Published works:
WEAKNESSES • The Meaning of Anxiety
11 • Man’s Search for Himself
• Existence: A New Dimension
Received awards for
CLASS ACTIVITY in Psychiatry and Psychology
• Love and Will
12
• Power and Innocence
INTRODUCTION
What is Existentialism?

• Existentialism is the philosophical belief we are each responsible

BIOGRAPHY
for creating purpose or meaning in our own lives.
• It’s movement that emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries
MAIN POINTS OF particularly in Europe.
THEORY

• Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger,

STRENGTHS & Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus popularize existential
WEAKNESSES
philosophy.

CLASS ACTIVITY
INTRODUCTION
Assumptions of Existentialism

BIOGRAPHY  First, existence precedes essence.

 Second, existentialism opposes the split between subject and object.
 Third, people search for some meaning to their lives.
MAIN POINTS OF
 Fourth, existentialists hold that ultimately each of us is responsible for who we are and
THEORY
what we become.
 Fifth, existentialists are basically antitheoretical.
STRENGTHS &
WEAKNESSES

Essence Existence
CLASS ACTIVITY - a static immutable substance - being; becoming
- refers to a product - process
INTRODUCTION
essence precedes existence

Essence Existence
BIOGRAPHY
(needs and drives) (Behavior)

MAIN POINTS OF
THEORY

STRENGTHS &
WEAKNESSES Essence Existence
(static immutable property) (being; becoming)
CLASS ACTIVITY

Existentialism - existence precedes essence

INTRODUCTION
Assumptioms of Existentialism
 First, existence precedes essence.
BIOGRAPHY  Second, existentialism opposes the split between subject and object.
 Third, people search for some meaning to their lives.

MAIN POINTS OF  Fourth, existentialists hold that ultimately each of us is responsible for who we are and
THEORY what we become.

STRENGTHS &
WEAKNESSES

CLASS ACTIVITY
 Fifth, existentialists are basically antitheoretical.
INTRODUCTION
Basic concepts of Existentialism
1. Being-in-the-World (Dasein)
BIOGRAPHY
 a phenomenological approach to understanding humanity
 Dasein means to exist there. Hence, Dasein literally means to exist in the world

MAIN POINTS OF and is generally written as being-in-the-world.

THEORY  Many people suffer from anxiety and despair brought on by their alienation from
themselves or from their world

STRENGTHS &  Alienation is the illness of our time, and it manifests itself in three areas:
WEAKNESSES (1) separation from nature,
(2) lack of meaningful interpersonal relations, and
CLASS ACTIVITY (3) alienation from one’s authentic self.
INTRODUCTION
Basic concepts of Existentialism

1. Being-in-the-World (Dasein)
BIOGRAPHY
 people experience three simultaneous modes in their being-in-the-world: Umwelt,
or the environment around us; Mitwelt, or our relations with other people; and
MAIN POINTS OF Eigenwelt, or our relationship with our self
THEORY
Umwelt - is the world of Mitwelt - we also live in Eigenwelt - refer’s to one’s

STRENGTHS & objects and things would the world with people relationship with oneself
WEAKNESSES exist even if people had no
awareness
CLASS ACTIVITY
INTRODUCTION
Basic concepts of Existentialism

BIOGRAPHY

 Healthy people live in

MAIN POINTS OF Umwelt, Mitwelt, and
THEORY
Eigenwelt simultaneously

STRENGTHS &
WEAKNESSES

CLASS ACTIVITY
INTRODUCTION
Basic concepts of Existentialism
2. Nonbeing
BIOGRAPHY  Being-in-the-world necessitates an awareness of self as a living, emerging being.
This awareness, in turn, leads to the dread of not being: that is, nonbeing or

MAIN POINTS OF nothingness

THEORY  Death is not the only avenue of nonbeing, but it is the most obvious one.
 When we do not courageously confront our nonbeing by contemplating death, we

STRENGTHS & nevertheless will experience nonbeing in other forms

WEAKNESSES  The fear of death or nonbeing often provokes us to live defensively and to receive
less from life than if we would confront the issue of our nonexistence.

CLASS ACTIVITY
INTRODUCTION ANXIETY
 People experience anxiety when they become aware that their existence or some
BIOGRAPHY value identified with it might be destroyed.
 May defined anxiety as “the subjective state of the individual’s becoming aware that
his [or her] existence can be destroyed, that he can become ‘nothing’”
MAIN POINTS OF
 Anxiety, then, can spring either from an awareness of one’s nonbeing or from a
THEORY
threat to some value essential to one’s existence. It exists when one confronts the
issue of fulfilling one’s potentialities. This confrontation can lead to stagnation and
STRENGTHS &
decay, but it can also result in growth and change.
WEAKNESSES
 The acquisition of freedom inevitably leads to anxiety.

CLASS ACTIVITY
INTRODUCTION FORMS OF ANXIETY

Normal Anxiety Neurotic Anxiety

BIOGRAPHY
 May (1967) defined normal  May (1967) defined neurotic

anxiety as that “which is anxiety as “a reaction which is

MAIN POINTS OF disproportionate to the threat,
proportionate to the threat,
THEORY involves repression and other
does not involve repression,
and can be confronted forms of intrapsychic conflict,
STRENGTHS & and is managed by various
constructively on the
WEAKNESSES kinds of blocking-off of activity
conscious level.”
and awareness.”
CLASS ACTIVITY
INTRODUCTION GUILT
 It arises when people deny their potentialities, fail to accurately perceive the needs of
BIOGRAPHY fellow humans, or remain oblivious to their dependence on the natural world (May,
1958a).
 ontological guilt can have either a positive or a negative effect on personality
MAIN POINTS OF
 three forms of ontological guilt:
THEORY
1. Umwelt Guilt - As civilization advances technologically, people become more
and more removed from nature
STRENGTHS &
2. Mitwelt Guilt - stems from our inability to perceive accurately the world of
WEAKNESSES
others
3. Eigenwelt Guilt - associated with our denial of our own potentialities or with
CLASS ACTIVITY
our failure to fulfill them
INTRODUCTION CARE, LOVE & WILL

BIOGRAPHY
CARE LOVE WILL
• an active process of • delight in the presence • the capacity to organize
MAIN POINTS OF
THEORY recognizing a person as of the other person and one's self so that
a human being and to affirming of their value movement in a certain
identify with the and development as direction or toward a
STRENGTHS &
WEAKNESSES person's pain, joy, guilt, much as one's own certain goal may take
or pity. It is the source place
CLASS ACTIVITY of love and will
INTRODUCTION UNION OF LOVE AND

WILL
May claimed that modern society is suffering from an unhealthy division of love
BIOGRAPHY
and will. Love has become associated with sensual love or sex, whereas will has
come to mean a dogged determination or will power.
MAIN POINTS OF  The union of love and will is a path to authenticity
THEORY
 Our task is to unite love and will.
 For the mature person, both love and will mean a reaching out toward
STRENGTHS &
another person. Both involve care, both necessitate choice, both imply
WEAKNESSES
action, and both require responsibility.

CLASS ACTIVITY
INTRODUCTION FOUR KINDS OF LOVE
Rollo May identified four kinds of love in Western tradition:
BIOGRAPHY

Sex Eros Philia Agape

MAIN POINTS OF Sex is a biological Eros is a is an intimate “esteem for the

function that can psychological nonsexual other, the concern
THEORY be satisfied desire friendship between for the other’s
through sexual that seeks two people welfare beyond
intercourse or procreation or any gain that one
STRENGTHS & some creation through an can get out of it;
WEAKNESSES other release of enduring union disinterested love,
sexual tension with a loved one. typically, the love
of God for man”
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INTRODUCTION FREEDOM & DESTINY
 Destiny is “the design of the universe speaking through the design of each one
BIOGRAPHY
of us”
 Our ultimate destiny is death, but on a lesser scale our destiny includes other
MAIN POINTS OF biological properties.
THEORY
 Destiny does not mean preordained or foredoomed. It is our destination, our
terminus, our goal.
STRENGTHS &
 Freedom is the individual’s capacity to know that he is the determined one
WEAKNESSES
 Freedom comes from an understanding of our destiny

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INTRODUCTION STAGES OF

DEVELOPMENT
stages signify a sequence of major issues in each individual’s life
BIOGRAPHY

1. Innocence
MAIN POINTS OF – the pre-egoic, pre-self-conscious stage of the infant
THEORY
– only doing what he or she must do but have a degree of will to fulfill
needs
STRENGTHS &
WEAKNESSES
2. Rebellion

CLASS ACTIVITY – the rebellious person wants freedom, but does not yet have a good
understanding of the responsibility that goes with it
INTRODUCTION STAGES OF
DEVELOPMENT
3. Ordinary
BIOGRAPHY
– the normal adult ego learned responsibility, but finds it too demanding,
so seeks refuge in conformity and traditional values.
MAIN POINTS OF
THEORY
4. Creative
– the authentic adult, the existential stage, self-actualizing and transcending
STRENGTHS &
WEAKNESSES simple egocentrism

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INTRODUCTION PSYCHOTHERAPY

 May rejected the idea that psychotherapy should reduce anxiety and ease feelings of
BIOGRAPHY
guilt. Instead, he suggested that psychotherapy should make people more human: that
is, help them expand their consciousness so that they will be in a better position to
MAIN POINTS OF
make choices.
THEORY
 May believed that the purpose of psychotherapy is to set people free. He argued that
therapists who concentrate on a patient’s symptoms are missing the more important
STRENGTHS &
picture.
WEAKNESSES
 May (1991) also described therapy as partly religion, partly science, and partly
friendship.
CLASS ACTIVITY
“Our task is to be guide, friend, and interpreter to persons on their journeys
through their private hells and purgatories.”
  Freedom and Responsibility
 Anxiety and Existential Dilemmas
 Search for Meaning
SUMMARY  Authenticity
 Role of Anxiety in Growth
 Existential Psychotherapy
 Interdisciplinary Influence
 Humanistic Perspective
INTRODUCTION STRENGTHS

BIOGRAPHY
1. Existential psychology takes a holistic approach to understanding
individuals.
MAIN POINTS OF 2. Focuses on human beings as a whole, including inner feelings and
THEORY mental processes.
3. Encourages individuality and emphasis on Personal responsibility.

STRENGTHS & 4. Existential principles have been incorporated into therapeutic

WEAKNESSES approaches.
5. Existential psychology is not prescriptive and allows for flexibility
in its application.
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INTRODUCTION WEAKNESSES

BIOGRAPHY
1. Abstract and Philosophical Nature
2. Limited Empirical Support
MAIN POINTS OF
THEORY 3. Moderate on organizing knowledge and parsimony
4. Low on internal consistency
STRENGTHS & 5. Very low on generating research, falsifiability and guiding action
WEAKNESSES
6. Cultural Variability
7. Lack of Prescriptive Techniques
CLASS ACTIVITY
 REFERENCES

| MSPSY231 - Advanced Theories of Personality | 2023 | | Centro Escolar University |

 THANK YOU!

| MSPSY231 - Advanced Theories of Personality | 2023 | | Centro Escolar University |