1968_Dabrowski_Le Milieu Psychique Interne

The Inner Psychic Milieu. This is Chapter IV from Mental Growth through Positive Disintegration. Michael M. Piechowski assisted and created the diagram but is not listed as co-author.

1974_Two Developmental Concepts: Multilevelness and Developmental Potential

The theory of positive disintegration appears to be deceptively simple. It tells us that the development of individuality occurs in successive stages, wherein each succeeding stage is higher than the previous one. “Higher” means more awareness, more mental control, more Rogerian openness to experience, more empathy, more individual responsibility. To get from one level to […]

1978_Self-actualization as a developmental structure: A profile of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The characteristics of self-actualization are fully reflected in excerpts from Saint-Exupéry’s autobiographical writings. The correspondence between the characteristics of self-actualization and Saint-Exupéry’s developmental profile gains special significance because there exists, independently, a theoretical structure corresponding both to self-actualization and to Saint-Exupéry’s material. This structure—level IV in the theory of positive disintegration—has previously been shown to […]

1981_The Logical and the Empirical Form of Feeling

Susanne K. Langer’s theory of art seems to have suffered some neglect in recent years. The plausibility, usefulness, and demonstrability of her principal idea, that works of art present the logical form of feeling, have been questioned. The purpose of this paper is to invite attention to the work of Manfred Clynes on experimentally obtained […]

1984_Developmental Potential of the Gifted

Describes a model of developmental potential that defines 5 parallel dimensions or modes of mental functioning assumed to be genetically independent of one another. The 5 modes encompassed by the model are represented by 5 forms of “psychic overexcitability.” The prefix over in overexcitability is meant to convey that this is a special kind of […]

1985_Patterns of Overexcitability in a Group of Artists

Interviewed 13 Ss (aged 19–43 yrs) who had a serious involvement with artistic or creative work at a vocational, professional, or avocational level to assess the manner of functioning and interaction patterns of the 5 categories of overexcitability (i.e., psychomotor, emotional, sensual, intellectual, imaginational) that are considered to be basic in gifted and creative individuals. […]