As you read through this blog, you will read many stories which describe symptoms of mental illnesses.
Specifically, there are stories of people with Borderline Personality Disorder symptoms, Narcissism symptoms, Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms, Attention Deficit Disorder and Manic Depression symptoms, as well as those with alcohol and drug addictions.
Growing up as I did, where people spoke honestly and openly about their struggles, diagnosis and medications, I learned a great deal about each of these conditions. Not only did my family members struggle, but also I had a lot of access and exposure to other adults in our community who were family friends and acquaintances.
My mother specifically would bring me along to many of her volunteer commitments where I would meet people struggling with all of these issues. And as an adult, I would go on to continue volunteer work with similar communities.
At this point I have close to 50 years of education in these matters. I am not afraid of my own challenges or those of others. I offer the stories to bring dignity and hope and new ideas to people on all sides of the struggle.
I have heard the phrase that "Mental Illness is learning to communicate so that you do not become victimized." And, watching my family and those of my friends wrestle with these issues, I can say, there are definitely huge gaps in connection and communication between people at the level of Dabrowski's Primary Integration/Level 1 and those who are struggling with mental health challenges.
Usually there is one patient struggling with a mental health crisis--who's no longer at Level 1, along with many family and friends who are helping and supporting and communicating at Level 1. Because of the nature of one vs. many, one who can not communicate the same way as the many who understand one another just fine, there is an inherent imbalance.
Level 1--aka internal uncomplicatedness, gives those people the perception that they do things the right way and think about things the right way, and that they are the healthy ones by default. They have the power in the situation when someone they love is experiencing a mental health crisis. The person who is typically at greater risk of being actually victimized is the person in crisis. This is true even if the well-meaning family and friends are uncomfortable, scared, inconvenienced or otherwise by the symptoms of the mental illness.
Feeling like the victim of someone else's mental health crisis is not the same as the experience of being alone, unable to communicate effectively, and unable to advocate for one's self. That is why state and federal laws typically favor the patient. Obviously, this is not always the case, as people experiencing mental health crises can also present a risk of harm to themselves or others.
Most frequently, people's inability to connect, relate and work together---because they are at different levels of personality development---to resolve the immediate crisis, as well as all the others that follow, lead to people on all sides feeling victimized and disconnected and defeated by the situation. Knowledge of Dabrowski's theory could provide greater understanding of these gaps.
In Dabrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration, mental illnesses are seen as ordinary and necessary crises and steps toward the development of one's individual personality. The presence of Overexcitabilities, whether they are psychomotor, intellectual, sensual, imaginational or emotional gives evidence of a person's developmental potential toward such effort. And their presence inherently means a gifted person will have a deeper and broader experience than a neuro-typical person. In DSM-V parlance, descriptions of his overexcitabilities are nearly identical to descriptions of common mental illness diagnoses like Attention Deficit Disorder, Bi-Polar Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder among others.
Dabrowski is not alone in doubting the existence of true mental illness and coming up with alternate theories. There are movements underway to change the way we approach things like psychosis and mania and schizophrenia and to place those events into a primitive people’s context, where individuals undergoing such events are seen as undergoing sacred connections between the worlds of spirit and earth.
Many tribes leave someone in this fragile state to their own devices until such time as their symptoms subside, allowing them to return to everyday life. When they are ready, they are typically invited to share any insights they learned in the experience to assist tribal leadership with the spiritual lessons they learned during their event. These individuals are seen as healers of sorts.
I have read about current day psychiatrists and hospitals employing this type of approach, and several authors are writing books suggesting that a mental health crisis is a self-healing and self-limiting event to assist the psyche. I share this to give you hope about alternative treatment ideas, as well as new ways to view mental health challenges.
In the Gifted community, taking mental illness at face value, and treating it with current methods, primarily talk therapy and medication can sometimes be viewed as dangerous to a gifted person. People seem to fear that medicine specifically will subdue one's gifts and thinking of one's self as flawed and chronically ill will take away a person’s motivation and energy they need to apply toward growth and development.
I can only say my personal experience has been that talk therapy and medications have enhanced my life and my family members lives. My approach is to consider all healing modalities, and explore anything that might be relevant in the effort of self-development. I also think my family and I have benefited from an approach that seeks to contain and minimize the symptoms of our mental health challenges. But, what works for us, may not be appropriate for anyone else. You have to search until you find the right solutions for your situation.
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Giftedness
What comes to mind when you hear the word Gifted? What does it mean that someone is Gifted?
Does it mean they are special? More talented? Is their future bright? Will they get all kinds of stuff they may or may not deserve? Extra help...? Extra opportunities...?
Is it like a special club others can’t belong to like the VIP lounge at the airport...? Or access to first class on a long flight? A ride to easy street?
Would you be surprised to learn that most gifted people really struggle with many facets of regular life? And many of them are envious of their ‘internally uncomplicated’ peers, and the smooth simplicity that is being ‘normal?’
Giftedness offers no guarantees of life satisfaction. No guarantees of finding one’s tribe. No guarantees of professional achievement or satisfaction. Statistics on how gifted people fare in life can actually be pretty abysmal.
Giftedness is a frustrating paradox of constantly being told how rare or exemplary you are, in some areas, only to experience considerable difficulty with using those assets to actually improve your life. Things most people take for granted like having close friends and a satisfying way to spend your time can elude you forever, despite working hard to achieve them.
Giftedness requires you to be on a growth path to find your place and fulfillment in life. It automatically separates you forever from most other people, and demands you actively participate in the mess and stress in between Primary Integration (internal uncomplicatedness) and the goal of a very distant future called Secondary Integration (internal and external uncomplicatedness and true autonomy) which very few people ever reach.
The only guarantee is you will never ‘fit in’ with normal people and you will never experience the ease and simplicity most people take for granted, known as ‘internal uncomplicatedness.’
In short, it is a hard and demanding road, and can be very mysterious, solitary, and even dangerous. Most people will think you are too fortunate and too lucky, or too weird to consider you a peer or a friend, or they will be closed-minded or hostile to your actual challenges. And there's just no straightforward, predetermined way forward.
Awesome!
Movie examples of Gifted characters:
Max Fischer in Rushmore
Elf
Ferris Bueller
Flint from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Good Will Hunting
Harry Potter
The Incredibles
Matilda
Searching for Bobby Fischer
Temple Grandin
Does it mean they are special? More talented? Is their future bright? Will they get all kinds of stuff they may or may not deserve? Extra help...? Extra opportunities...?
Is it like a special club others can’t belong to like the VIP lounge at the airport...? Or access to first class on a long flight? A ride to easy street?
Would you be surprised to learn that most gifted people really struggle with many facets of regular life? And many of them are envious of their ‘internally uncomplicated’ peers, and the smooth simplicity that is being ‘normal?’
Giftedness offers no guarantees of life satisfaction. No guarantees of finding one’s tribe. No guarantees of professional achievement or satisfaction. Statistics on how gifted people fare in life can actually be pretty abysmal.
Giftedness is a frustrating paradox of constantly being told how rare or exemplary you are, in some areas, only to experience considerable difficulty with using those assets to actually improve your life. Things most people take for granted like having close friends and a satisfying way to spend your time can elude you forever, despite working hard to achieve them.
Giftedness requires you to be on a growth path to find your place and fulfillment in life. It automatically separates you forever from most other people, and demands you actively participate in the mess and stress in between Primary Integration (internal uncomplicatedness) and the goal of a very distant future called Secondary Integration (internal and external uncomplicatedness and true autonomy) which very few people ever reach.
The only guarantee is you will never ‘fit in’ with normal people and you will never experience the ease and simplicity most people take for granted, known as ‘internal uncomplicatedness.’
In short, it is a hard and demanding road, and can be very mysterious, solitary, and even dangerous. Most people will think you are too fortunate and too lucky, or too weird to consider you a peer or a friend, or they will be closed-minded or hostile to your actual challenges. And there's just no straightforward, predetermined way forward.
Awesome!
Movie examples of Gifted characters:
Max Fischer in Rushmore
Elf
Ferris Bueller
Flint from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Good Will Hunting
Harry Potter
The Incredibles
Matilda
Searching for Bobby Fischer
Temple Grandin
Disclaimers
As you read through this blog, you will read many stories of communication breakdowns. It will be tempting to take sides. Maybe you will consider me a victim, or an enabler, maybe even a perpetrator at times.
When I am writing these summaries, I am less interested in who did what to whom, than I am in what are the outcomes of a particular event or behavior, and what needs to change going forward as a result.
Since I am the only one who’s behavior I can change, I tend to view situations from the perspective of my culpability and my actions. This is not to absolve others from their actions or responsibility. Believe me many hours have been spent in tears and bewilderment and confusion about why others do as they do. I just find my own life quality improves faster if I focus on my contributions to situations and changes I want to make going forward.
This is not a suggestion that you should do the same, or that this technique will be effective for you.
When I am writing these summaries, I am less interested in who did what to whom, than I am in what are the outcomes of a particular event or behavior, and what needs to change going forward as a result.
Since I am the only one who’s behavior I can change, I tend to view situations from the perspective of my culpability and my actions. This is not to absolve others from their actions or responsibility. Believe me many hours have been spent in tears and bewilderment and confusion about why others do as they do. I just find my own life quality improves faster if I focus on my contributions to situations and changes I want to make going forward.
This is not a suggestion that you should do the same, or that this technique will be effective for you.
Growth
Everyone's favorite!
NOT!
Some people seem to go through life without having to think too much about growth. They are suited well enough to fit in at their schools, churches, neighborhoods and teams. They are satisfied enough with their grades, their jobs, their relationships. Their lives seem uncomplicated, except for the 'normally' hard events of life: losing loved ones, financial hardships, health challenges. Many people aspire to be 'normal' and uncomplicated, and for their lives to run smoothly and to feel a sense of belonging. Dabrowski would say these people are experiencing Primary Integration.
Then there are those with dream lives of all sorts: celebrities, authors, inventors, athletes, activists, world leaders. And we have the sense that they too have their lives all together and they're at the top of their game because they are so exceptional. These people seem to be high functioning and possess mysterious gifts and talents. These are the people that contribute their gifts and their work changes the world.
We can't always see the effort, struggle and hardship behind the scenes. Most people feel like this level of achievement is outside of their reach. Not all people in this league have achieved self-actualization and true self-determination, but these are where you might find those who've achieved Dabrowski's Secondary Integration. Some familiar names: Mathatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Buckminster Fuller, Stephen Hawking, Mother Theresa.
In between there is a lot of mess: stress, strife, crisis, mental health challenges, self-destruction and hardship. At every level. Each growth point represents the possibility of continued growth, permanent regression, or worse---self-destruction. Nothing is obvious and each person's path is unique. There are not always people to guide you.
Frequently, at times of stress or crisis, it's common to seek the familiar, and to ask loved ones for support. And frequently, instead of support you deserve from those you love, instead you get their anger, impatience, blame, misunderstanding, and cold shoulders. Those at the level of Primary Integration have no idea how much difficulty and stress you are carrying, or how isolated you are. They might even be--consciously or unconsciously-- trying to give you some form of tough love or pressure to get you back into the fold.
Whether you chose to grow beyond your family, or you chose a different life for yourself, or whether you were shunned and scapegoated and rejected by your family or community, and thus-- had this path foisted upon you--- once you start, you find you can never truly go home again.
This blog is my attempt to make sense of the mess and the life as the Party of One.
NOT!
Some people seem to go through life without having to think too much about growth. They are suited well enough to fit in at their schools, churches, neighborhoods and teams. They are satisfied enough with their grades, their jobs, their relationships. Their lives seem uncomplicated, except for the 'normally' hard events of life: losing loved ones, financial hardships, health challenges. Many people aspire to be 'normal' and uncomplicated, and for their lives to run smoothly and to feel a sense of belonging. Dabrowski would say these people are experiencing Primary Integration.
Then there are those with dream lives of all sorts: celebrities, authors, inventors, athletes, activists, world leaders. And we have the sense that they too have their lives all together and they're at the top of their game because they are so exceptional. These people seem to be high functioning and possess mysterious gifts and talents. These are the people that contribute their gifts and their work changes the world.
We can't always see the effort, struggle and hardship behind the scenes. Most people feel like this level of achievement is outside of their reach. Not all people in this league have achieved self-actualization and true self-determination, but these are where you might find those who've achieved Dabrowski's Secondary Integration. Some familiar names: Mathatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Buckminster Fuller, Stephen Hawking, Mother Theresa.
In between there is a lot of mess: stress, strife, crisis, mental health challenges, self-destruction and hardship. At every level. Each growth point represents the possibility of continued growth, permanent regression, or worse---self-destruction. Nothing is obvious and each person's path is unique. There are not always people to guide you.
Frequently, at times of stress or crisis, it's common to seek the familiar, and to ask loved ones for support. And frequently, instead of support you deserve from those you love, instead you get their anger, impatience, blame, misunderstanding, and cold shoulders. Those at the level of Primary Integration have no idea how much difficulty and stress you are carrying, or how isolated you are. They might even be--consciously or unconsciously-- trying to give you some form of tough love or pressure to get you back into the fold.
Whether you chose to grow beyond your family, or you chose a different life for yourself, or whether you were shunned and scapegoated and rejected by your family or community, and thus-- had this path foisted upon you--- once you start, you find you can never truly go home again.
This blog is my attempt to make sense of the mess and the life as the Party of One.
Chapters
Does your life arrange itself in chapters?
It's easy to see the beginnings and endings when we are young. School starts, we have our set of friends, maybe your family moves to a new city, we like certain sports or after school activities. So the chapters seem to align with growing up and progressing through life. We can make sense of changes with externals: we changed grades, or stopped a sport, so we lost touch with our friend. Our family moved or our friend moved away. We don't necessarily blame ourselves, even if we are sad about a chapter ending or a friendship ending.
When we grow up, there are still chapters that start and end because of externals. We move to a new city and get a new job where we meet new friends. Or we break up with a partner, and it seems like half of our friends go at the same time. Or we take up a new hobby or change careers, and the people we meet reflect more of who we are becoming.
So, going through all of those changes can be emotional. Sometimes fun and exhilarating, other times devastating and bewildering. But, there are always external reasons we can point to about why things happened the way they did, and this idea can lessen the blow.
Have you ever had chapters of your life seemingly start or end for no reason you can understand? Like life just sends down a lightning bolt, and everything catches on fire and it's gone overnight, while you're still trying to figure out what the BEEP just happened? (People who have lived this in real life with hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires or mudslides, please excuse my analogy, and I can not even begin to understand the devastation when an entire community is hit that hard all at the same time, so everyone is impacted and NGOs & FEMA must intervene).
That is a strong metaphor to describe the feeling that nothing is recognizable or familiar, and the grasping desperation we feel to connect and to make sense of things. I've had a few of these. A friendship group shifts for reasons I can't understand and suddenly all my friendships are awkward. College ends and my part-time retail job that was great during school suddenly makes me feel like my life is going nowhere fast. Or key long-term relationships I thought were going really great, suddenly, quickly end in betrayal, leaving me heartbroken. Sometimes changes have been even more extreme where the place I worked closed and no longer existed so there is no job to go back to even if I wanted to.Going thorough each of these experiences has involved me losing skills I needed to keep up at school or in my career, spending hours ruminating over relationships when I couldn't necessarily identify what I had done or said, or the moment when things got off track.
I think of those chapters as responses to internal changes. Sometimes we are unaware we are changing. Sometimes we'd prefer to not change, and stay with the familiarity and comfort of our old life--our jobs, our friends, our marriages. And yet, the world, and the people in our lives become a constant reflection that we have changed and they have stayed the same, or at least are not changing in the same direction as we are.
In these cases, so many parts of life change so suddenly, with no chance of going back to how things were, that we are forced to rebuild.
I've had a few of these very, very difficult chapters. As a teen, when I wanted a much bigger life than my friends were going for, but I was really scared and had no faith in myself. As a young person, when I wanted more emotional health and fulfillment, but that seemed to ruin all my friendships at the same time, for reasons I still don't fully understand. When I wanted a more fulfilling relationship with my spouse, and rather than therapy, we split up. And recently, when I wanted a lot more financial security for myself and my kids, and those around me were not as supportive or enthusiastic about my successful efforts in that direction, which resulted in overwhelming health challenges for me and major changes in all of my relationships.
All of those times, even if I desperately would've given anything to not have to go forward into the unknown, very much alone, and instead, I had to completely rebuild.
Has your life ever forced you into complete overhaul? How do you support yourself emotionally when you are going through tough chapters? Do you blame yourself and look for what you did wrong to cause the upheaval? How do you make sense of things and move on when it's not obvious what you did or didn't do to cause this?
Answering these questions has been my preoccupation for the last few years as I have sought to rebuild. I have learned a great deal about relationships in this search, and it will take a huge number of blog posts to explain. Some ideas we will explore:
~ Asynchronous growth in ourselves and others
~ Healthy and unhealthy responses to change
~ The life goals and 'debts' we inherit from our childhood family
~ Ways to understand life events when there is no information
It's easy to see the beginnings and endings when we are young. School starts, we have our set of friends, maybe your family moves to a new city, we like certain sports or after school activities. So the chapters seem to align with growing up and progressing through life. We can make sense of changes with externals: we changed grades, or stopped a sport, so we lost touch with our friend. Our family moved or our friend moved away. We don't necessarily blame ourselves, even if we are sad about a chapter ending or a friendship ending.
When we grow up, there are still chapters that start and end because of externals. We move to a new city and get a new job where we meet new friends. Or we break up with a partner, and it seems like half of our friends go at the same time. Or we take up a new hobby or change careers, and the people we meet reflect more of who we are becoming.
So, going through all of those changes can be emotional. Sometimes fun and exhilarating, other times devastating and bewildering. But, there are always external reasons we can point to about why things happened the way they did, and this idea can lessen the blow.
Have you ever had chapters of your life seemingly start or end for no reason you can understand? Like life just sends down a lightning bolt, and everything catches on fire and it's gone overnight, while you're still trying to figure out what the BEEP just happened? (People who have lived this in real life with hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires or mudslides, please excuse my analogy, and I can not even begin to understand the devastation when an entire community is hit that hard all at the same time, so everyone is impacted and NGOs & FEMA must intervene).
That is a strong metaphor to describe the feeling that nothing is recognizable or familiar, and the grasping desperation we feel to connect and to make sense of things. I've had a few of these. A friendship group shifts for reasons I can't understand and suddenly all my friendships are awkward. College ends and my part-time retail job that was great during school suddenly makes me feel like my life is going nowhere fast. Or key long-term relationships I thought were going really great, suddenly, quickly end in betrayal, leaving me heartbroken. Sometimes changes have been even more extreme where the place I worked closed and no longer existed so there is no job to go back to even if I wanted to.Going thorough each of these experiences has involved me losing skills I needed to keep up at school or in my career, spending hours ruminating over relationships when I couldn't necessarily identify what I had done or said, or the moment when things got off track.
I think of those chapters as responses to internal changes. Sometimes we are unaware we are changing. Sometimes we'd prefer to not change, and stay with the familiarity and comfort of our old life--our jobs, our friends, our marriages. And yet, the world, and the people in our lives become a constant reflection that we have changed and they have stayed the same, or at least are not changing in the same direction as we are.
In these cases, so many parts of life change so suddenly, with no chance of going back to how things were, that we are forced to rebuild.
I've had a few of these very, very difficult chapters. As a teen, when I wanted a much bigger life than my friends were going for, but I was really scared and had no faith in myself. As a young person, when I wanted more emotional health and fulfillment, but that seemed to ruin all my friendships at the same time, for reasons I still don't fully understand. When I wanted a more fulfilling relationship with my spouse, and rather than therapy, we split up. And recently, when I wanted a lot more financial security for myself and my kids, and those around me were not as supportive or enthusiastic about my successful efforts in that direction, which resulted in overwhelming health challenges for me and major changes in all of my relationships.
All of those times, even if I desperately would've given anything to not have to go forward into the unknown, very much alone, and instead, I had to completely rebuild.
Has your life ever forced you into complete overhaul? How do you support yourself emotionally when you are going through tough chapters? Do you blame yourself and look for what you did wrong to cause the upheaval? How do you make sense of things and move on when it's not obvious what you did or didn't do to cause this?
Answering these questions has been my preoccupation for the last few years as I have sought to rebuild. I have learned a great deal about relationships in this search, and it will take a huge number of blog posts to explain. Some ideas we will explore:
~ Asynchronous growth in ourselves and others
~ Healthy and unhealthy responses to change
~ The life goals and 'debts' we inherit from our childhood family
~ Ways to understand life events when there is no information
WARNING!!
A WARNING!
I have searched high and low to understand my experiences to be able to move forward. My blog is full of stories of hard situations, which, I hope may give you comfort and connection if you're going through something hard that's similar. I hope you find ideas and a connection you can hang onto, especially if you feel alone right now, or like no one understands you.
I get scared that people reading my stories will feel pressure to get over their anger, their sadness or devastation and pain when they also read the information I used to help myself get through the difficulties.
Some of these things have taken me years of therapy, or talks with those close to me to achieve any kind of detachment or acceptance or ability to cope. There are times when stuff I thought I was "finished" being emotional about still comes up to bite me in new ways, when things happening in my life now touch the pain. And it is debilitating. For a long time.
So--to be clear---you can not skip steps. You can not just will yourself to 'get over it' successfully. I have read through many authors in the self-help section of the bookstore, and it's been my experience also, that dealing with emotion in real time, as it's happening, even as disruptive as it can be, is ultimately the quickest way through it with the least amount of collateral damage.
In no way should you feel pressure from yourself or others to pretend things are other than how they actually are. In no way does someone else's progress or acceptance mean anything about how well you are doing with your challenges. This type of work is uniquely solitary and there is always more to learn. Patience and curiosity will get you far. Pressuring yourself and trying to skip ahead will always bring pain and punishment. You don't need that!!
Also, so much of this exploration is so very solitary. Sometimes friends and family are well-meaning and they may love you the best they can, and it's just not enough and you feel estranged even when everyone's doing their best. Sometimes therapists have a modality or a DSM-V code they want to stuff you into, and you may not fit. Sometimes finances limit access to help. And, most terrifying, sometimes, you can't find an on-line community or connection that makes sense for you, and that may be the most isolating feeling of all.
That's when you know, you've come to your own Party of One. It doesn't have to mean you did anything wrong or there's anything wrong with you. At some point, we all reach this lonely and solitary challenge. It means you've come far and you're closer to your life goals. Restore your energy and keep going :)
I have searched high and low to understand my experiences to be able to move forward. My blog is full of stories of hard situations, which, I hope may give you comfort and connection if you're going through something hard that's similar. I hope you find ideas and a connection you can hang onto, especially if you feel alone right now, or like no one understands you.
I get scared that people reading my stories will feel pressure to get over their anger, their sadness or devastation and pain when they also read the information I used to help myself get through the difficulties.
Some of these things have taken me years of therapy, or talks with those close to me to achieve any kind of detachment or acceptance or ability to cope. There are times when stuff I thought I was "finished" being emotional about still comes up to bite me in new ways, when things happening in my life now touch the pain. And it is debilitating. For a long time.
So--to be clear---you can not skip steps. You can not just will yourself to 'get over it' successfully. I have read through many authors in the self-help section of the bookstore, and it's been my experience also, that dealing with emotion in real time, as it's happening, even as disruptive as it can be, is ultimately the quickest way through it with the least amount of collateral damage.
In no way should you feel pressure from yourself or others to pretend things are other than how they actually are. In no way does someone else's progress or acceptance mean anything about how well you are doing with your challenges. This type of work is uniquely solitary and there is always more to learn. Patience and curiosity will get you far. Pressuring yourself and trying to skip ahead will always bring pain and punishment. You don't need that!!
Also, so much of this exploration is so very solitary. Sometimes friends and family are well-meaning and they may love you the best they can, and it's just not enough and you feel estranged even when everyone's doing their best. Sometimes therapists have a modality or a DSM-V code they want to stuff you into, and you may not fit. Sometimes finances limit access to help. And, most terrifying, sometimes, you can't find an on-line community or connection that makes sense for you, and that may be the most isolating feeling of all.
That's when you know, you've come to your own Party of One. It doesn't have to mean you did anything wrong or there's anything wrong with you. At some point, we all reach this lonely and solitary challenge. It means you've come far and you're closer to your life goals. Restore your energy and keep going :)
Dabrowski's Theory
Not many people are familiar with the work of Kazimierz Dabrowski. He is someone who experienced intense deprivation and suffering throughout his life, and responded by gifting the world his observations through his writings.
Communities of people who work with gifted children and adults have really responded to Dabrowski's theories. Specifically, his concept of Overexcitabilities, that some people observe and process a larger depth and breadth of experience of life---because this idea accurately describes many people's experiences of being gifted.
He is also well known for his theories of social, emotional, personality and ethical development in individuals. His Theory of Positive Disintegration outlines 5 stages of development, describing milestones and points of difficulty.
Positive Disintegration is a lens that I will use to give a context to relationship struggles, mental and physical health challenges, communication difficulties with friends and family, and even political fights that have waged for generations.
In offering my experiences and perspective, I wish for you to find new ways of thinking about and resolving your challenges. Like Dabrowski, I am very experienced with suffering and hardship. I have a strong desire to overcome it and create a better experience for everyone in my life. This blog is full of the ideas I have used to understand my experiences, and ultimately let them go, so they no longer hamstring me.
My goal is to compassionately contain the emotional remnants of my experiences, to create a stable, rewarding and fulfilling experience for myself and everyone around me. I know it's possible, and I dedicated singularly to this outcome. Enjoy!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_disintegration
Communities of people who work with gifted children and adults have really responded to Dabrowski's theories. Specifically, his concept of Overexcitabilities, that some people observe and process a larger depth and breadth of experience of life---because this idea accurately describes many people's experiences of being gifted.
He is also well known for his theories of social, emotional, personality and ethical development in individuals. His Theory of Positive Disintegration outlines 5 stages of development, describing milestones and points of difficulty.
Positive Disintegration is a lens that I will use to give a context to relationship struggles, mental and physical health challenges, communication difficulties with friends and family, and even political fights that have waged for generations.
In offering my experiences and perspective, I wish for you to find new ways of thinking about and resolving your challenges. Like Dabrowski, I am very experienced with suffering and hardship. I have a strong desire to overcome it and create a better experience for everyone in my life. This blog is full of the ideas I have used to understand my experiences, and ultimately let them go, so they no longer hamstring me.
My goal is to compassionately contain the emotional remnants of my experiences, to create a stable, rewarding and fulfilling experience for myself and everyone around me. I know it's possible, and I dedicated singularly to this outcome. Enjoy!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_disintegration
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