Advanced Development Journal

Theory and research provide new insights into the life of Kazimierz Dabrowski and his Theory of Positive Disintegration and highlight his contribution to understanding psychological development, particularly in the gifted. Marjorie Battaglia’s life history of Dabrowski, based on her journey in his footsteps through Poland, deepens our awareness of influences on the theory. Michael Piechowski’s treatise investigates the roots of Dabrowski’s concepts of heightened experiencing (overexcitabilities) and “own forces” of autonomous self-determination.

Amazing insights into the lives of gifted adults are provided in Volume 13. You will learn how to use the power of your mind and imagination to create lasting change in Stephanie S. Tolan’s “Change Your Story, Change Your Life.” You will learn how the complex issues of giftedness manifest themselves at various stages of life in “You Don’t Outgrow It! Giftedness Across the Lifespan” by Ellen Fiedler, and you will discover how mystical experiences function in the process of positive disintegration in “The Function of Mystical Experiences in Personality Development” by Laurence Nixon.

Compelling life transitions are described in this must-read issue of the journal. Discoveries about the self are often based on new knowledge, explanations, and challenging life experiences. Learning about twice-exceptionality can lead to new insights and re-evaluation of the self, as Joel Lefever describes in “Digging In and Finding Giftedness.” Likewise, William Green and Kathleen Noble show how college students became more self-aware and more committed to meditation and self-reflection following an Honors course about consciousness.

There was a remarkably international response to the theme for this volume. Never before has the journal had so many authors based outside the United States or writing about situations in other countries. It is clear that “social issues of the gifted” know no boundaries: difficulties with fitting in, developing positive self-esteem, and finding social support are cross-cultural. It’s not easy being gifted!

This issue highlights links between giftedness and intuition from Jung’s personality types echoed in Jan Nation’s “The Way of Intuition” and Chris Carr’s “Bud to Blossom: How Intuition Unfolds from Self to Service” to the connection between high IQ and intuitive ability in Linda Silverman’s “Honoring Both Sides of the Gifted Self.” What are the levels of intuition, what do we gain by integrating intellect and intuition, how are imagination and creativity connected to our intuition, and what does the Argentine tango have to do with intuition?

Research into the relationship between spirituality and giftedness is a complex, embryonic, and multidisciplinary undertaking. This issue explores the phenomenon of spiritual awareness and its role in psychological, cognitive, affective, and moral development. In “Spiritual Intelligence: A New Frame of Mind,” Guest Editor Kathleen Noble equates spiritual intelligence with a quality of self-awareness that can improve one’s psychological health.

When gifted adults seek counseling, it can be difficult to find professionals with knowledge of the special issues that giftedness itself incurs. Misinterpretation of the sensitivity, intensity, perfectionism, concern for justice, paradoxical thinking, and feeling out-of-sync that are the ground of the experience of being gifted can lead to misdiagnosis and ineffective or traumatizing treatment.