Overexcitability
Dabrowski also encouraged people to see their reactions (overexcitabilities) and their phenomenological view of the world in the context of their developmental potential. The experience of and reaction to, crises are a very important aspect of this approach and people are encouraged to experience personal crises with a positive and developmental view.
Dabrowski's views are somewhat reminiscent of Elaine Aron's approach to development for highly sensitive persons.[1] It’s not immediately clear how Aron’s conceptualization of high sensitivity compares with, or differs from, Dabrowski’s conceptualization of overexcitability.
However, Dabrowski's approach in terms of what role sensitivity plays and what we should do about it stands in stark contrast with Aron’s. Aron considers high levels of sensitivity to be an upsetting nuisance that must be avoided or managed to minimize its impact. For example, if an individual is bothered by crowd noise he or she should wear noise canceling headphones as protection.
Or, if an individual is bothered by fluorescent lighting, he or she should avoid places where such lights are found. There is no sense of growth associated with higher sensitivity in Aron’s approach, in fact, they are considered more like an allergy that needs to be recognized and then avoided to prevent irritation.
Dabrowski reminds clients that without internal disease there is little stimulus for change or growth. Rather than trying to rapidly ameliorate symptoms, this approach encourages individuals to fully experience their feelings and to try to maintain a positive and developmental orientation to what they may perceive as strong depression or anxiety. Of course, this is a unique approach in today's world of seeking immediate and total relief of any unpleasant psychological experience (although it can be compared to Aron's to some extent).
[edit] Education
Another primary focus is on education, in particular, over the past 25 years, on the experience of creative and gifted students. Dabrowski hypothesized that these students will disproportionately show strong overexcitability and therefore will be prone to the disintegrative process.
[edit] Dabrowski and the gifted individual
In an appendix to Dabrowski (1967), results of investigations done in 1962 with Polish youth are reported. Specifically, "a group of gifted children and young people, aged 8 to 23" were examined (p. 251).
Of the 80 youth studied, 30 were "intellectually gifted" and 50 were from "drama, ballet, and plastic art schools" (p. 251). Dabrowski found that every one of the children displayed overexcitability, "which constituted the foundation for the emergence of neurotic and psychoneurotic sets.
Moreover it turned out that these children also showed sets of nervousness, neurosis, and psychoneurosis of various kinds and intensities, from light vegetative symptoms, or anxiety symptoms, to distinctly and highly intensive psychasthenic or hysterical sets" (p. 253). Dabrowski asked why these children should display such "states of nervousness or psychoneurosis" and suggested that it was due to the presence of OE (p. 255).
"Probably the cause is more than average sensitivity which not only permits one to achieve outstanding results in learning and work, but at the same time increases the number of points sensitive to all experiences that may accelerate anomalous reactions revealing themselves in psychoneurotic sets" (p. 255).
The association between OE and giftedness appears to be borne out in the research (Lysy and Piechowski 1983; Piechowski 1986; Piechowski and Miller 1995). It appears that at the least OE is a marker of potential for giftedness/creativity. Dabrowski's basic message is that the gifted will disproportionately display this process of positive disintegration and personality growth.
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