Experiencing the world in this unique way carries with it great joys and sometimes great frustrations. “One who manifests several forms of overexcitability, sees reality in a different, stronger and more multisided manner” (Dabrowski, 1972, p. A person may possess one or more of these. Dabrowski identified five areas of intensity-Psychomotor, Sensual, Intellectual, Imaginational, and Emotional. Found to a greater degree in creative and gifted individuals, overexcitabilities are expressed in increased sensitivity, awareness, and intensity, and represent a real difference in the fabric of life and quality of experience. Overexcitabilities are inborn intensities indicating a heightened ability to respond to stimuli. However we do find more people with OEs in the gifted population than in the average population. It is important to emphasize that not all gifted or highly gifted individuals have overexcitabilities. He believed that conflict and inner suffering were necessary for advanced development – for movement towards a hierarchy of values based on altruism – for movement from “what is” to “what ought to be.” Dabrowski also observed that not all people move towards an advanced level of development but that innate ability/intelligence combined with overexcitability (OE) were predictive of potential for higher-level development. Dabrowski, a Polish psychiatrist and psychologist, developed the Theory of Positive Disintegration as a response to the prevalent psychological theories of his time. The work of Kazimierz Dabrowski, (1902-1980), provides an excellent framework with which to understand these characteristics. These observations are supported by parents and teachers who notice distinct behavioral and constitutional differences between highly gifted children and their peers. A small amount of definitive research and a great deal of naturalistic observation have led to the belief that intensity, sensitivity and overexcitability are primary characteristics of the highly gifted.

Highly gifted meaning