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Article Excerpt
During the early 1980s I worked as a physicist on some nonlinear phenomena in astrophysics. This was a time when chaos theory, nonlinear dynamics, fractals, and self-organization were widely discussed and applied to a variety of physical, chemical, and mathematical problems.
Now, almost a quarter of a century later, I am expanding my interest to psychology and concentrating on Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration, which is especially useful for understanding the tumultuous personality development of young gifted adolescents. I am looking at psychological theory through the prism of my knowledge as a physicist. Based on chaos theory, this article provides a contemporary reconceptualization of the theory of positive disintegration and further enhances our understanding of the development of young adolescents.
Frederick Abraham, one of the founders of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology, at the First Annual Conference, 1991, wrote:
We believe that chaos represents the true nature of most psychological phenomena. It provides the alphabet of thought, because it represents the complexity of mind, brain, and behavior. We believe that chaos is the archetype that drives the universe, is its deep structure. (F. D. Abraham, 1995a)
In this article, I will introduce the basic concepts of the theory of positive disintegration: the levels of development, the developmental potential, and the role of dynamisms. Then I will discuss the main principles of chaos theory and self-organization and show how they provide new insights into understanding the development of gifted individuals.
THEORY OF POSITIVE DISINTEGRATION
The theory of positive disintegration describes patterns and explains mechanisms of human development. Kazimierz Dabrowski (1902-1980), a Polish psychiatrist and psychologist, developed this theory over a lifetime of clinical and academic work (Dabrowski, 1937, 1964, 1967, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1996; Dabrowski, Kawczaki, & Piechowski, 1970).
The theory of positive disintegration introduces an essential change in adults' attitudes toward creative and gifted young people. It leads to a positive understanding of their inner psychological conflicts and eliminates the negative belief that they require medical treatment. Gifted people display symptoms of increased psychic excitability, nervousness, and psychoneuroses. On one hand, increased psychic excitability is one of the basic causes of inner tension and conflicts within oneself and with the environment. On the other hand, it creates a condition for a broader, deeper, and more complex pattern of experiences. Nervousness and psychoneurotic symptoms are necessary forms of human growth and are signs of the beginning of an advancing process of positive transformation (Dabrowski, 1972, 1996; Dabrowski et al., 1970).
Parents and educators need to know these signs and should create such conditions that gifted children and adolescents "suffer less from unnecessary tension operating on lower levels" (Dabrowski, 1972, p. 219) by activating the process of development to the more complex, richer and higher levels. This process of complex growth helps young people to take the development into their own hands. Tension and mental disorder on the higher level are much less, and better conditions are being formed tot the protection and prophylaxis against serious mental disorder or suicide (Dabrowski).
Dabrowski postulates that human existence is possible only through multidimensional and multilevel development. Multidimensional development includes all basic mental life, especially innate drives, emotions, intellect, imagination, and aesthetics. Multilevel development consists not only in quantitative growth and replacement of some elements with others but acquires new insights and new qualities, which lead individuals to self-organize and develop autonomous, creative, and authentic mental structures (Dabrowski, 1964, 1996; Dabrowski et al., 1970).
THE LEVELS OF DEVELOPMENT
According to Dabrowski, positive disintegration is the mental development described by the process of transition from lower to higher levels of mental life and is stimulated by tension, inner conflict, struggle, anxiety, and despair. It includes five clearly distinguishable levels: (a) primary integration, (b) unilevel disintegration, (c) spontaneous multilevel disintegration, (d) organized multilevel disintegration, and (e) secondary integration.
Primary integration is the least differentiated level of development. It is a rigid and narrow structure. It is automatic and impulsive, determined by primitive, innate drives. Intelligence neither controls nor transforms basic drives. Individuals on this level are not capable of having internal conflicts, although they often have conflicts with their external environment. They are not able to understand the meaning of time and cannot postpone immediate gratification. Individuals cannot follow long-range plans and are limited to the reality of immediate, passing feelings. Disintegration of this primitive structure is possible only if there are nuclei of psychoneurotic traits, or sensitivity, that are acted upon by the very strong positive influence of a highly complex environment (Dabrowski, 1996; Dabrowski et al., 1970).
Unilevel disintegration begins with loosening of the undifferentiated structure of primary integration. Rigidity is replaced by changeable feelings of like and dislike, approach and avoidance, fluctuations of moods, changeable and conflicting courses of action, indecision, and doubt. Patterns of thought are often circular. Internal conflicts appear but they are unilevel. External conflicts persist from primary integration but they are not so aggressive and can be unpredictable. Behavior is conforming to external standards (what people will think or say). In unilevel disintegration, tensions may in extreme cases lead to severe psychosis, phobias, alcoholism, or suicide (Dabrowski, 1996; Dabrowski et al., 1970).
The next developmental level, spontaneous multilevel disintegration, is characterized by differentiation of psychological structures and functions. At this time, developmental dynamisms such as astonishment with oneself, disquietude with oneself', dissatisfaction with oneself, feeling of inferiority toward oneself, feeling of shame and guilt, and positive maladjustment appear. Individuals recognize higher and lower levels of experiences and search for examples and models in their external and internal environment. This level is characterized by an increasing role of inner conflict and a gradual decrease in the frequency of external conflict. Internal conflicts reflect a hierarchical structure of cognitive and emotional life: "what is" versus "what ought to be." A previously unilevel attitude of like and dislike is transformed into an understanding of others and a growing desire to have more selective and deeper emotional relationships (Dabrowski, 1996; Dabrowski et al., 1970).
The fourth level of development is organized multilevel disintegration, characterized by conscious transformation of oneself and synthesis that lead to increasing stabilization of the hierarchy of values. The developmental dynamisms that distinctly appear at this level are "subject-object" in oneself, self-awareness and self-control, identification and empathy, education of oneself, and autopsychotherapy. There are existential, philosophical, and transcendental conflicts. Behavior changes toward self-perfection and...
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