fei75766_ch11_345-376.indd 354  02/06/20 12:38 PM
Part III    Humanistic/Existential Theories354
The Case of Philip
Existential psychology isconcerned withtheindividual’s struggle towork through 
life’sexperiences andtogrow toward becoming more fullyhuman. May(1981) 
described thisstruggle inareport ononeofhispatients—Philip, thearchitect wemet
inthechapter opening. Here, wecontinue withPhilip’s story; andlaterweusehis
experiences toillustrate May’s concepts ofanxiety, intentionality, destiny, psychopa -
thology, andpsychotherapy.
When Nicole toldPhilip that,ashewellknew, shecould never leave him,
Philip wassurprised andconfused because heknew nosuchthing. About ayearlater, 
Philip learned thatNicole hadhadanother affair; butbefore hecould confront her
andbreak offtheirrelationship, hehadtoleave fora5-day business trip.Bythetime
hereturned, Philip wasabletoreason thatperhaps hecould accept Nicole’s rightto
sleep withother men. Also, Nicole convinced himthattheother mandidn’t mean 
anything toherandthatsheloved onlyPhilip.
Alittlelater, Nicole hadathird affair, onethatshemade surePhilip would dis-
cover. Once again, Philip wasfilled withanger andjealousy. Butonce again, Nicole 
reassured himthatthemanmeant nothing toher.
Ononelevel, Philip wished toaccept Nicole’s behavior, butonanother, hefelt
betrayed byheraffairs. Yet,hedidnotseem tobeabletoleave herandtosearch for
another woman tolove.Hewasparalyzed—unable tochange hisrelationship with
Nicole butalsounable tobreak itoff.Atthispoint inPhilip’s life,hesought therapy 
from Rollo May.
Anxiety
Philip wassuffering from neurotic anxiety. Likeothers whoexperience neurotic anxi-
ety,hebehaved inanonproductive, self-defeating manner. Although hewasdeeply 
hurtbyNicole’s unpredictable and“crazy” behavior, hebecame paralyzed withinac-
tionandcould notbreak offtheirrelationship. Nicole’s actions seemed toengender 
inPhilip asense ofdutytoward her.Because sheobviously needed him,hefeltobli-
gated totakecareofher.
Before Maypublished The Meaning of Anxiety in1950, most theories ofanxiety 
heldthathighlevels ofanxiety wereindicative ofneuroses orother forms ofpsycho -
pathology. Justprior topublishing thisbook, Mayhadexperienced agreat dealof
anxiety while recovering from tuberculosis. Heandhisfirstwifeandtheiryoung son
werebasically penniless, andhewasunsure ofhisownrecovery. InThe Meaning of 
Anxiety, Mayclaimed thatmuch ofhuman behavior ismotivated byanunderlying 
sense ofdread andanxiety. Thefailure toconfront death serves asatemporary escape 
from theanxiety ordread ofnonbeing. Buttheescape cannot bepermanent. Death is
theoneabsolute oflifethatsooner orlatereveryone must face.
People experience anxiety when theybecome aware thattheirexistence or
some value identified withitmight bedestroyed. May(1958) defined anxiety as“the
subjective stateoftheindividual’s becoming aware thathis[orher]existence can
bedestroyed, thathecanbecome ‘nothing’” (p.50).Atanother time, May(1967) 
called anxiety athreat tosome important value. Anxiety, then, canspring either from 
anawareness ofone’s nonbeing orfrom athreat tosome value essential toone’s Final PDF to printer