Rollo May is an American existential psychologists, he is referred as the father of existential psychotherapy. May suffered from tuberculosis during his adult years, which at the time he turned his attention to books specifically those of Soren Kierkegaard. Soren Kierkegaard is considered the founder of the modern existential, he encouraged existential psychotherapy during the 18th and 19th century but nothing much happened. Kierkegaard inspired May to pursue the expansion of existential psychology. May introduced existential psychology to the US with his book Existence (1958) After May published Existence (1958) he went on and published The Origins and Significance of the Existential Movement in Psychology and Contributions of Existential
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It was based off of philosophical works of Soren Kierkegaard and other important philosophers of the time. Soren Kierkegaard wanted to focus on humans search for meaning and the purpose in life. Kierkegaard developed the concept of nothingness, which stated that people feared not being present (Pitchford, 2009) . During both World Wars we saw the emergence of existentialism. Existialism became popular after the wars ended, at this point it sought to re-establish human individuality and the meaning of freedom in society. This was the time when Existialism spread all through the US and …show more content…
The first resistance came from mainstream psychotherapy and psychology in which they argued that existentialism forced its philosophical views on psychiatry. The second resistance came into response to the new clinical techniques being used on patients, May argued that psychological theory simply skimmed the problem rather than approaching it in a therapeutic way. The third resistance, May discussed the American culture as implosive and not thinking of the consequences. During all three resistance, the world had experienced war and poverty and at the middle of all this the US played a big role. May’s arguments were based on social situations, so we can see that his arguments encompass individuality and human
It was based off of philosophical works of Soren Kierkegaard and other important philosophers of the time. Soren Kierkegaard wanted to focus on humans search for meaning and the purpose in life. Kierkegaard developed the concept of nothingness, which stated that people feared not being present (Pitchford, 2009) . During both World Wars we saw the emergence of existentialism. Existialism became popular after the wars ended, at this point it sought to re-establish human individuality and the meaning of freedom in society. This was the time when Existialism spread all through the US and …show more content…
The first resistance came from mainstream psychotherapy and psychology in which they argued that existentialism forced its philosophical views on psychiatry. The second resistance came into response to the new clinical techniques being used on patients, May argued that psychological theory simply skimmed the problem rather than approaching it in a therapeutic way. The third resistance, May discussed the American culture as implosive and not thinking of the consequences. During all three resistance, the world had experienced war and poverty and at the middle of all this the US played a big role. May’s arguments were based on social situations, so we can see that his arguments encompass individuality and human