Existence: a New dimension in psychiatry and Psychology

This book changed my life, back in my college days. The introductory essay by Rollo May is a revelation, accessible and profound at the same time. The rest of the book is unimportant. Of all the books I read in college and since, this one - that essay - has stayed with me. I highly recommend it.

While American psychoanalysis during the 40s and 50s was under the influence of Freud, Europeans were beginnig to branch out in new directions, especially influenced by the existentialism of Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. "Existence," edited by Rollo May, was the first book to introduce Americans to the writings of those who worked under the mantle of existential psychology. Contained within are essays by Erwin Straus and Ludwig Binswanger, among others. The second half of the book contains three essays by Binswanger not previously available in America.Although the book is a good introduction to existential psychoanalysis, it contians a glaring omission by the absence of writings from Medard Boss, a Swiss Dasienanalysist who became the leading light of this type of therapy in Europe. Despite this omission, however, the book remains an eye-opener for anyone unfamiliar with existential psychoanalysis and is recommended for psychology student and philosophy student alike.

Existence was the earliest introduction to the US of existencialism and existential psychology and we owe much of the development and growth of humanistic and existential psychology to Rollo May. The book is well written,and is of great historical and philosoical importance. This book is often mentioned as influential upon the work of Carl Rogers, Irving Yalom and others.