Overexcitabilities

Overexcitabilities Michael M. Piechowski Northland College I. The Concept of Overexcitability and Its Origin be innate tendencies that appear in five forms: psycho- II. Expressions of Overexcitability in Creative People motor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, and emo- III. Conclusion tional. The difference in intensity, sensitivity, and acuity is not only greater than normal, it is also a difference in the very quality of experiencing. As enhanced forms of experiencing, overexcitabilities contribute in impor- Developmental Potential A concept describing innate endow- tant ways to the individual’s psychological development. ment composed of abilities and talents, intelligence, and over- Consequently, the strength of overexcitabilities is taken, excitabilities. in part, as a measure of developmental potential. Overexcitability An innate tendency to respond with heightened intensity and sensitivity to intellectual, emotional, and other stimuli. Also called psychic overexcitability. Theory of Positive Disintegration A theory of emotional devel- I. THE CONCEPT OF opment from lower to a higher level of psychological func- OVEREXCITABILITY tioning, proposed by K. Dabrowski. The core idea of the AND ITS ORIGIN theory is that structures of a lower level must be dismantled before structures of a higher level can be erected. The theory Gifted, talented, and creative people are known to be emphasizes the role of inner conØict, moral sensitivity, com- energetic, enthusiastic, intensely absorbed in their pur- passion, and self-judgment in the personal growth of creative suits, endowed with vivid imagination, and strongly people and spiritual seekers. sensual, but they are also known to be emotionally vul- nerable. Some are known to be aggressive, others to be morally sensitive. They tend to react strongly to aes- thetic, intellectual, emotional, sexual, and other stim- OVEREXCITABILITY (OE) is a translation of the Polish uli. Because of this intensity, creative people may not term nadpobudliwosć´ which means the capacity to be always be easy to be with. They are considered devi- superstimulated. The term overexcitability, rather than ant– too different to fit the norm. The characteristic of just excitability, was chosen to convey the idea that the enhanced experiencing is believed to be the property stimulation is well beyond the common and average in of the nervous systems of creative people. Therefore, intensity and duration. Overexcitabilities are assumed to overexcitabilities feed, enrich, empower, and amplify Encyclopedia of Creativity Copyright ᭧ 1999 by Academic Press VOLUME 2 325 All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 326 Overexcitabilities talent. In most cases they appear stronger with higher self-torture. The stronger the tension, the stronger the intelligence, and they are strongest in creative people. need to release it. Dabrowski saw that people prone to Overexcitabilities are found across all talent do- self-mutilation were more susceptible to being excited, mains. Writers, composers, dancers, actors, scientists, tense, thrown off balance by their overstimulation and inventors, as well as civic and spiritual leaders, all have inner turmoil. In other words, they were high strung them. In artists, they are often as strong in adulthood and subject to nervousness. He also noticed that they as in childhood. Do they aid or impede development? tended to have a rich inner life. He studied clinical In the first entry of her Journal of Solitude, May Sarton cases of gifted and talented youngsters, and biographies wrote, `Ì feel too much, sense too much, am exhausted of such creators as Michelangelo, Dostoevski, Tolstoy, by the reverberations after even the simplest conversa- and Nietzsche. In each case he pointed to clashes of tion. But the deep collision is and has been with my opposing tendencies that created enormous inner ten- unregenerate, tormenting, and tormented self.’’ Such sion resulting in various forms of self-torment. The great intensity of feeling as well as an inner struggle ability to sustain great inner conØicts was to Dabrowski and self-judgment used to be viewed as mental dis- a sign of inner strength because rather than injuring turbance. Now they are understood to be essential others the person injured himself. He observed that an to inner growth. The sculptor Malvina Hoffman said, emotional crisis and mental suffering, so great that it ``Language is a clumsy medium to express the pound- could bring on a psychotic episode, at times resulted ing surge of intense feeling. Music could drive my in personality integration at a higher level. Personality blood and suffuse my entire being.’’ development toward a higher level through suffering We can find similar examples among scientists. and inner conØict is the leading idea of his theory. Louis Pasteur was deeply emotional, though he did not Dabrowski emphasized the disequilibrating, disor- show it outwardly. He suffered such acute homesick- ganizing, and disintegrating action of overexcitability ness when he went to study in Paris that his father had on many areas of psychological functioning. When this to bring him back home. A somewhat different manner kind of disintegration fosters emotional growth, it is of enhanced experiencing was Norbert Wiener’s vivid positive, hence the name theory of positive disintegration. memory of smells and tastes from his childhood trip to Overexcitability was defined by the following charac- Vienna: ``The smell of the alcohol lamp over which my teristics: (a) the reaction exceeds the stimulus, (b) the parents prepared my sister’s warm evening meals, the reaction lasts much longer than average, (c) the reac- smell of rich European chocolate with whipped cream, tion is often not related to the stimulus, and (d) the the smell of the hotel and the restaurant and cafe´– all emotional experience is promptly relayed to the sym- these are still sharp in my nostrils.’’ These examples pathetic nervous system (accelerated heartbeat, blush- show a rich and amplified range of experiencing. Let ing, trembling, perspiring, headaches). us now look at how it came to be explored. As Dabrowski kept developing his theory, the five In 1937 the Polish psychologist and psychiatrist overexcitabilities became components of the concept Kazimierz Dabrowski published a study titled ``Psycho- of developmental potential. This concept includes over- logical Bases of Self-Mutilation.’’ Examining biogra- excitabilities, talents, and intelligence. It is the poten- phies of creators and clinical cases, Dabrowski iden- tial for emotional development to a higher level such tified factors that were predisposing toward physical as, for example, self-actualization. In fact, Maslow and self-mutilation and psychological self-torment. These Dabrowski began a friendship that was cut short by predisposing factors are different forms of what he Maslow’s premature death in 1970. The overexcitabili- called psychic overexcitability. This was the germ of his ties are ways of experiencing with great intensity, alive- theory of positive disintegration. ness, vividness, depth, and richness in the sensory, in- Dabrowski studied how a person responds to stimu- tellectual, imaginative, and emotional realms. They are lation and stress. Emotional tension requires an out- also the means of processing emotional tension. let. When it becomes unbearable it can lead to self- Each form of overexcitability can be looked on as a inØiction of pain, the pain then brings relief. The pain mode of being in the world or as a dimension of mental may be sought in physical self-injury or in emotional functioning. Thus, the psychomotor mode is one of move- Overexcitabilities 327 ment, restlessness, action, excess of energy seeking an Today we can say that individual differences, such as outlet; the sensual mode loves surface contact, sensory heightened versus average excitability, lie in the speed delight, comfort and hedonism; the intellectual mode of information processing, in the developmental ex- favors analysis, logic, questioning, the search for truth; periences that stimulate the brain to grow denser and the imaginational mode celebrates vivid dreams, fanta- more efficient neural connections, in the extensiveness sies, images and metaphors, personifications, strong of cognitive and other networks, and in the excitability visualization of experience; the emotional mode cen- and rate of emotional processing by the brain. With ters on attachments and affectional bonds with others, current advances in tapping the activity of the living empathy, the despair of loneliness, the joy of love, brain, the overexcitabilities could be tested directly by the enigma of existence and human responsibility. The comparing the responses of individuals who score high overexcitabilities are modes of personal experience and on a given overexcitability with those who score low. personal action. Each mode can be viewed as a channel through which information Øows in the form of sensa- tions, feelings, experiences, images, ideas, hopes, and II. EXPRESSIONS desires. The five dimensions are like color filters or OF OVEREXCITABILITY interactive channels through which the world is per- IN CREATIVE PEOPLE ceived and felt. The response is specific to the most dominant form, The following illustrative examples come from bi- or forms, of overexcitability in a person. For instance, ographies and from overexcitablity questionnaires ob- persons characterized by emotional overexcitability tained from writers, poets, musicians,

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