| The foundation of our ICS
“Pyramid Road to Recovery” is based on the
work of psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908 –
1970) who, while I can’t claim him as a
close friend, I can claim him as a fellow
graduate from the University of Wisconsin.
My real respect for Abraham Maslow comes
from his life experiences and his focus on
friends, family and community. It is this
same focus on our communities and country
that unit us after a disaster like Katrina,
the terrorist attacks of 9-11, the Oklahoma
City bombing, the tsunami, tornados, wild
fires, etc. Abraham Harold Maslow
was born April 1, 1908 in Brooklyn, New
York. He was the first of seven children
born to his parents, who themselves were
uneducated Jewish immigrants from Russia.
His parents, hoping for the best for their
children in the new world, pushed him hard
for academic success. Not surprisingly, he
became very lonely as a boy, and found his
refuge in books.
To satisfy his parents, he first
studied law at the City College of New York
(CCNY). After three semesters, he
transferred to Cornell, and then back to
CCNY. He married Bertha Goodman, his first
cousin, against his parent’s wishes. Abe
and Bertha went on to have two daughters.
He and his wife
Bertha moved to Wisconsin so that he could
attend the University of Wisconsin.
Here, he became interested in psychology,
and his school work began to improve
dramatically. He spent time in Madison working with
Harry Harlow, who is famous for his
experiments with baby rhesus monkeys and
attachment behavior.
He received his
BA in 1930, his MA in 1931, and his PhD in
1934, all in psychology, all from the
University of Wisconsin. A year
after graduation, he returned to New York to
work with E. L. Thorndike at Columbia, where
he became interested in research on human
sexuality. This might be another reason why
I like Maslow. His
efforts to understand gender differences
during a crisis, while they’re not
emphasized in our work, have influenced our
trauma management protocols.
He began teaching full time at Brooklyn
College. During this period of his life, he
came into contact with the many European
intellectuals that were immigrating to the
US, and Brooklyn in particular, at that time
-- people like Adler, Fromm, Horney, as well
as several Gestalt and Freudian
psychologists.
Again, my respect for Maslow has much to do
with his European ties and his global view
of human nature.
Maslow served as the chair of the
psychology department at Brandeis from 1951
to 1969. While
there he met Kurt Goldstein, who had
originated the idea of self-actualization in
his famous book, The Organism
(1934). It was also here that he
began his crusade for a humanistic
psychology -- something ultimately much more
important to him than his own theorizing.
It is his focus on
“humanistic psychology” that leads me to
believe our “Pyramid Road to Recovery” will
work in all cultures, communities, and
countries regardless of political ideology
or social disparages.
He spent his final years in
semi-retirement in California, until, on
June 8 1970, he died of a heart attack after
years of ill health. |
