Existential Psychology

Rollo May
1909-1994
The School of Athens
Raphael Sanzio

 Less of a specific framework for
therapy than a Philosophical
orientation of the Therapist.
 Existentialism is inherently anti-theoretical
in it’s contention that
scientific theory clashes with the
subjective experiences of one’s
existence.
 It’s an appreciation for being in
the moment of existence that
empowers us to make use of our
freedom.
 Individuals are responsible for
making use of this freedom to
form the conditions of their
existence.

Biographical
Outline
 Born in Ada Ohio, April 21
1909 to Earl Tittle May and
Matie Boughton May.
 Early childhood spent in
Marine City, MI.
 Not close to either parent,
described mother as, “bitch-kitty
on wheels.” and sister
suffered from Psychosis.
 Found solace in St. Clair
River where he swam and
skated and learned more
from it’s tranquility than he
did in school.

Biographical
Outline
(cont.)
 Bachelor’s degree in 1930
from Oberlin College in Ohio.
 Toured Europe for three
years tutoring English and
Painting.
 Experienced a, “nervous
breakdown,” which left him
bed ridden for two weeks.
 Attended a seminar by Adler
in Vienna whom he greatly
admired and returned to the
U.S.

Biographical
Outline (cont.)
 Enrolled in Union Seminary
School and was mentored by
Theological Philosopher Paul
Tillich. Graduated with
Master in Divinity.
 Left to study Psychoanalysis
at the William Alanson
Institute while working as a
counselor at City College of
NY.
 Opened his own practice in
1946.
 In 1949 earned Ph.D. in
Clinical Psychology from
Columbia University.

Biographical
Outline (cont.)
 In his early 30’s he lived with
Tuberculosis for 3 years unsure
if he would live.
 Observed that those that
resigned themselves to a
passive narrative died, and that
asserted a will to survive
tended to do so.
 This later profoundly impacted
his approach to Therapy.
 Visiting professor at Harvard
and Princeton. Adjunct
Professor at NYU. Chaired and
Presided over a handful of
boards, foundations and
associations.

Biography
Outline (Cont.)
 Died on October 22nd 1994 in
Tiburon California where he
had settled with his 3rd Wife.
 Writings;
The meaning of Anxiety
Man’s Search for Himself
Existence: A New Dimension in
Psychiatry and Psychology
Love and Will
 Awards;
APA Distinguished Contribution to the
Science and Profession of Clinical Psychology
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award
APF Gold Medal Award for Lifetime
Contributions to Professional Psychology

Philosophies of
Phenomenology and
Existentialism
Phenomenology-
Early 20th Century
Merleau-Ponty,
Husserl,
Heidegger,
Existentialism-Mid
19th Century
Kierkirgaard,
Nietzsche
Otto Rank (1884-1939)
Part of Freud’s Vienna
Psychoanalytic Society.
Lectured later in U.S.
Literary Movement Early 20th
Century, Sartre, Camus
Swiss Psychiatrists Ludwig
Banswanger, Medard Boss
Introduced these concepts into
Pychotherapy
Paul Tillich (1886-1965)
Theological Contemporary of May
Rollo May
Wanted to find common ground
between Psychoanalysis and
Existential Philosophy
Victor Frankl (1909-1997) “Third
School of Viennese Psychotherapy
Imprisoned in Auschwitz &
Dachau Man’s Search for Meaning
Logotherapy- “Therapy through
meaning”

 Existentialism- Philosophical movement that
contends that subjective experience must be the
genesis of thought. Places emphasis on the
moment and the freedom to choose within that
moment to understand why people exist in the
ways that they do. Examines the implications
of freedom when weighed against the
encumbrance of responsibility. Seeks to
understand how and why people think and act
under this anxiety.

 Existence, the process of continual growth and
change supersedes Essence, the state of merely
being.
 Human are both objective and subjective,
therefore they cannot merely be but must
question their own existence.
 We ultimately are solely responsible for the state
of our own existence.
 Phenomena can only be fully authentic through
experience.

 Phenomenology- The Philosophical study of
subjective human experience and
consciousness. It examines the actions we take
and how those actions effect others, the world,
and ourselves as conscious phenomena causing
agents. Considers the structures with which
we perceive phenomena subjectively, how that
perception differs from anyone else’s, and how
those structures influence our corresponding
actions and reactions within the world.

“With the death of mystery comes the death of
Hope.”-May
Central Themes
 Rational explanations must not extinguish all
mystery from life
 Inspiration and creativity arise from strife, angst,
and pain
 Unique individual is above the “organizational
man”
 Joy and meaning are found in the aesthetic and the
ecstatic

 What is the meaning of life?
 Is there a god?
 Does anything I do even matter?
 Is this the only existence we’ll ever know?
 Why is there suffering in the world?
 What are the keys to happiness and fulfillment?
Edvard Munch
The Scream

Umwelt
Self in relation to world of
nature and natural Laws
(time and space)
Eigenwelt Mitwelt
Self in relation
to others (people)
Rodan
The Thinker
Dasein
Self in relation
to self (spirit)
Being in a disconnected state in any of these three areas can
result in purposelessness, alienation, and angst.

Facing
Non-Being Realization of existence within the world carries
with it the dread of death or non-being.
We retreat from being, Dasein, into anxiety and
self-destructive coping mechanisms.
• Addiction
• Over-conformity
• Hostility
• Despair
• Compulsion

External Objectivity/Rationality
Internal Certitude/Meaning
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Life…
With objective knowledge and
Scientific theory we lose touch
with our subjective attachment
to ourselves and natural
phenomena. We become
increasingly uncertain as to the
purpose of existence and to the
meaning of life.
Objectivity Removes Experience

Ontological
Anxiety
 Neurotic Vs. Normal
Normal Anxiety comes with
acceptance of responsibility and
freedom. It is a by-product of
progress within one’s existence
and a necessary part of being.
Neurotic Anxiety is
incommensurate to the threat of
being and results from a refusal
to acknowledge the freedom
and responsibility inherent in
existence.

 Umwelt Guilt- With increased civilization and
industrial progress we become estranged from
nature and develop an innate sense of guilt.
 Mitwelt Guilt- According to Phenomenology
we can only know the world through our own
experience and accordingly we can only relate
to each other in a limited capacity.
 Eigenwelt Guilt- Results from our own limited
self-realization. We can always increasingly
approach our potential and thus always have a
sense of guilt propelling us to full actualization.

 To will is to organize one’s capacities towards a
goal.
 The wish enables and gives content to the will, but
the wish is immature.
 The lack of will can serve to protect the wish from
failure by depriving it of conscious action.
 Will cannot exist without wish but can become
trapped by it.

 Existential Freedom- Freedom to make choices
and act upon those choices.
 Essential Freedom- Freedom to realize one’s
self and one’s potential.
 Destiny- Exercising our will,
within our limitations,
towards the goals we set
before ourselves.
Physical
Limited Existential
Freedom
Imprisonment
Physical
Freedom
Wish
Toward
Destiny/
Goal
Full
Existential
Freedom
Essential Freedom

Communication
Through Myth
 Myths are a cultural way of
communicating transcendent
and spiritual truths.
 Western culture is lacking in
these modes of
communication which in turn
leaves people lacking
identity.
 This results in emptiness
which people fill in self-destructive
ways such as
addiction, compulsion, or
apathy toward their
Oedipus Rex potential.
By Sophocles

 First instances of childhood rebellion are met with
harsh criticism. Rebellion should be the first
affirmation of freedom but if it is instead a source
of anxiety then freedom takes on a negative and
fearful connotation.
 A disconnection from nature, others, and self.
(umwelt, mitwelt, eigenwelt) Leads to a dimming
of the consciousness, an inability to be known to
others and a directionless apathy.
 A refusal to pursue one’s destiny due to a
disproportionate fear of death, nothingness, or the
responsibility that accompanies freedom.

 Symptomology is a by-product of the patients
attempt to escape their own freedom.
 Therapy therefore is intended to engage people in
the use of their own freedom.
 The therapist, through developing a friendship of
guidance, must invite the patient to subjectively
live through their emotional experiences.
 The therapist must help them choose to venture
forth freely into their potential destiny by
reevaluating the situations from their past which
caused freedom to become associated with
negativity.

 Patients at odds with the norms of
society or the status quo.
 Patients complaining of emptiness or
a lack of identity (BPD or other
personality disorders).
 Patients at a life crossroads (empty-nest,
midlife, adolescence, aging
w/physical limitations) .
 Patients in situational crises (death of
spouse, chronically ill, suicidal).
 Patients experiencing the end of a
marriage or career.

Hypothetical
Case Study
 An elderly man presents with
extreme depression following
the death of his wife. He can
find little meaning in a
continued life without his wife
and no longer feels a sense of
recognizable identity as a
widower. He has expressed
suicidal ideation and an
inability to enjoy hobbies he
once found pleasure in. He
complains of a feeling of innate
unfairness at the thought of
having to continue without his
wife.
 Adapted from Victor Frankl’s
Man’s Search for Meaning

Andrew Baines
Existential Choice
 Through a one-to-one relationship with the
therapist acting as a guiding friend, a therapeutic
bond is established.
 The Existential therapist asks the client to imagine
the situation as reversed, with his death having
occurred before his wife’s.
 Through this thought experiment the client
realizes the immense suffering that his wife would
have experienced in this situation.
 From this he is able to reframe his surviving his
wife’s death as a means by which he saved her
from the suffering that he is now experiencing..

 With this change of perspective he is able to
find meaning even in his pain and loss.
 Now that he is able to find a concrete purpose
and consolation for his current situation he
recognizes his responsibility to reengage life.
 Despite his loss, by focusing on what his wife
would have wanted for him, he rediscovers his
essential freedom and the ability to transform
his pain into a meaningful new existence.

Make a tally for each statement you agree with.
 It is important to see my role in the “big picture” of things
 I enjoy discussing questions about life
 Religion is important to me
 I enjoy viewing art work
 Relaxation and meditation exercises are rewarding to me
 I like traveling to visit inspiring places
 I enjoy reading philosophers
 Learning new things is easier when I see their real world application
 I wonder if there are other forms of intelligent life in the universe
 It is important for me to feel connected to people, ideas and beliefs
____ Total/ This is your Existential Intelligence on a scale of 1-10
From Howard
Gardner’s
“Multiple
Intelligences:
New
Horizons”
Basic Books.
2006.

Feist & Feist. (2006).
Theories of Personality.
McGraw-Hill. Pgs. 338-368
Corey. (2009).
Theory and Practice of
Counseling & Psychotherapy.
Brooks/Cole. Pgs. 132-163
Frankl. (2006).
Man’s Search For Meaning.
Beacon Press.

Existential Psychology

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