Rollo May argued that culture was in an "age of anxiety" and, furthermore, that channeling his own high anxiety was a major factor in overcoming his tuberculosis. (This would be the first we’ve heard of the mind/body connection to illness in the field of psychology I believe.) May was one of the most influential American psychologists of the twentieth century. He helped to introduce European existential psychoanalysis to an American audience. He was a founder of huma

Client centered therapy is based on Carl Rogers premise that the therapist can trust the client’s ability to move forward in a constructive manner if the appropriate conditions fostering growth are present is an offshoot of the Humanistic Theory (Corey, p.172). Because this is a rational and logical way of thinking it’s hard to dispute the truth of the premise. He also believed that his therapy should be considered a set of principles of therapeutic development, rather than a dogma. This has significant appeal to me personally, since I believe that there are many ways to solve a problem and no one way is the only possible solution.

I also think that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs describes well the reality of humanity’s ability to find spiritual growth. It is without a doubt necessary to move through the first four stages in order to have the wherewithal to reach the all-important fifth stage. This hierarchy of needs concept shows his ability to be an original thinker par excellence. How better to demonstrate what we need to do as a society to become the best expression of who we are? Is there any doubt that without assuring that everyone has the means to reach that fifth stage we are doomed to more of the same? Poverty, war, crime, destruction of precious species, environmental destruction of our own world, all of these could be significantly reduced and eventually eliminated if we only chose to do so. Yet, we don’t connect the empty, mindless, capitalistic consumerism that we’re so caught up in with that empty feeling we have in the pit of our stomachs, and that we keep trying to fill with things instead of spirituality. It is the duty of the therapist, as a member of the human race, to help those who come to us feeling that emptiness, searching for that meaning of life to help them find thatconnection to spirituality which will lead them to the fifth stage of self-actualization.

Maslow felt that unfulfilled needs lower on the ladder would inhibit the person from climbing to the next step. Someone dying of thirst quickly forgets their thirst when they have no oxygen, as he pointed out. People who dealt in manag

Some topics in this essay:
Theory Corey, Maslow Mays, Crompton Rollo, Donald Walsch, THERAPY Humanistic, Fadiman Maslow, Wertheimer Maslow's, Carl Rogers, York City, Frager Fadiman, fifth stage, frager fadiman, humanistic psychology, breakdown upheaval, carl rogers, self-actualizing people, authentic self, human potential, humanistic therapy,