Mesa, Kyla V.

BSPSYC-3D
Case Study 3: Rollo May

1. What is May’s concept of the human dilemma? Find an example of it in the case study.
Rollo May’s concept of the human dilemma explains how a person engage to their
responsibilities and actions; it is how human view ourselves as a subject of life or object of the
world. Human dilemma arises out when a person’s capacity to experience both subject and
object at the same time. In this case study, Jillian was struggling to fit herself in her peers about
their attraction to male celebrities wherein she was attracted to female celebrities. Jillian was
confounded when she didn’t have any fascination with men at all. She was panicked by what it
implied about herself and how it affected how she would be able to put through to her peers.
This made her feel that something was wrong with her and for a long time pretend to be a
normal girl and hide it her sexual desire from her friends and family.

2. Assume that homosexuality has a physical cause.* Use May’s three modes of
existence and his concept of alienation to explain Jillian’s experience withher sexual
orientation.
In Rollo May’s three modes of existence: Umwelt, Mitwelt, and Eigenwelt. Umwelt is the
objects that surround us or the environment and this thing that would exist regardless of human
awareness; it is the world of nature and natural law and includes the drives of biological needs.
Mitwelt is about the relationship that a person form with other people, we relate to person not as
a thing but rather a person we can build a interpersonal relations. And Eigenwelt is the
relationship of a person to itself, it is the person’s own world and the world that is not usually
explored by personality theorist. However, alienation is being out of touch with one’s own body
and soul to the world, it is happen when a person are separate from the nature, lack of
meaningful interpersonal relations and alienation from one’s authentic self. Jillian’s experience
of umwelt is about her homosexuality, Jillian attraction to women because she has biological
urges that drive her to view them as sexually attractive. Jillian’s experience in mitwell is the
relationship she had with her best friend Erin and her girlfriend Anana, the time she spend
getting to know them, share interest with them and develop feelings to them. And Jillian’s
experience in eigewelt is her struggles to come out with her own sexuality. As a result of her
conflicting emotions, Jillian’s keep all the possibility with herself and tried to fit to the society
biological definition of sex. When Jillian is growing up she feared alienation due to her sexuality,
it is the time when she didn’t entirely understand what is happening to her, that’s why she acted
to appeared normal to fit in the society’s standards while intentionally alienating herself from her
true self.

3. Use May’s concepts of responsibility and authenticity to explain Jillian’s decisions to

In Rollo May’s theory, the concept of responsibility and authenticity is when we begin
taking obligation for our actions and begin attempting to live our lives by actually interfacing to
our true desires. For a long time, Jillian had to live in confusion as she battled to come to holds
with her differences. She knows how the society may not accept her gender identity and she is
afraid on how the people around her will react about that. When she confronted the truth, it
was troublesome to listen, but she came to acknowledge it, and with that came the desire to
completely grasp who she was and what she wants. Jillian did not need to cover up any longer;
she wanted to at last meet a young lady and to have a proper relationship. Jillian didn’t need to
be anxious about whom she was and needed to appear that regardless of sexuality, she is
happy that she already come out of her struggles that she keep for a long time. Jillian’s coming
out lead her to meet Anana, they grow feelings to each other and marrying her. In spite of
being a lesbian, Jillian could be still a lady, and being encompassed by couples getting
together and having children constrained her to keep in mind she won’t be youthful until the
end of time. She felt jealous of heterosexual couples due to the fact they might have children.
In spite of the legal dangers, she was willing to have a child with Anana employing a
benefactor and raise it. This concept shown us accepts our differences and be what we want.

4. Define May’s four types of love. Which type of love best illustrates Jillian’s relationship
with Erin? With her brother? With Anana? With her baby?

Rollo May’s for types of love are Sex, Eros, Philia and Agape. Sex refers to the
biological desire that's absolutely physical in nature and can be fulfilled through physiological
need for procreation. Jillian’s relationship with Erin can be also align to eros, but it was her
relationship with Erin that drives Jillian to discover that she was really attracted to girls. Jillian
coming out as a lesbian and Erin quickly finished their friendship despite of having gone through
a long time together as great friends. Eros is psychological desire to create a lasting union, one
of genuine long-lasting passion and shared feelings, or in layman’s terms making love and
mostly build with care and tenderness. This can be characterized by Anana, her girlfriend and
her life partner with whom she agrees to raise a child. Whereas there are follows of sex in their
relationship, one cannot disregard that typically Jillian was able to remain in a genuine romantic
and engage in sexual activities for shared desire. Philia represents a form of nonsexual affection
that is shared between two friends. Her love for her brother best fits here, she has no romantic
feelings towards him. When she told her brother about her gender identity she wanted to know if
he will accept her because she cares about him and his opinion about her. Her brother was
surprise but he obviously cares for her and accepts her wholeheartedly. And lastly, agape is the
unconditional love for other people, this is given without expecting anything in return. Jillian’s
love for her child is a best example of Agape; she has already taken great thought into what to
do to create a loving life for them and how she take care of her child.