S+ Stimulant: Kazimierz Dąbrowski

 

*Kazimierz Dąbrowski ( 1902- 1980) was a Polish psychologist, psychiatrist, and physician.

Dąbrowski developed the theory of Positive Disintegration, which describes how a person’s development grows as a result of accumulated experiences. “Disintegration” refers to the maturing of thoughts, and it is positive when the process moves one’s personality to a more developed level.

Dąbrowski had a lifelong dedication to the field of psychology. He established a rehabilitation center in Zagorze (near Warsaw) for patients who suffered mental disorders after experiencing difficult life situations. Lifelong research at this facility supplied him with information that helped shape his concepts.

His Theory of Positive Disintegration (TPD) describes a theory of personality development.

Unlike mainstream psychology, Dąbrowski’s theoretical framework views psychological tension and anxiety as necessary for growth. These “disintegrative” processes are therefore seen as “positive,” whereas people who fail to go through positive disintegration may remain for their entire lives in a state of “primary integration.” Advancing into disintegration and into the higher levels of development is predicated on having developmental potential, including over-excitabilities and above-average reactions to stimuli.

Unlike some other theories of development such as Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, it is not assumed that even a majority of people progress through all levels. TPD is not a theory of stages, and levels do not correlate with age.

Like Abraham Maslow and other researchers of this period, his work on personal development has been likened to Alchemy in the sense that they call for a transmutation of base aspects into higher ones.

Many students of esoterica have come to believe that the transformation of base metals into the noble metals (gold or silver) called for in Alchemy, resulting in the development of an elixir of life….are in fact a simply metaphor for human transformation, in which we journey from the basic subjective self to the higher, objective, and ultimately divine, universal self.

To discover Dąbrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration theory in full, please click: here.

 

[* Source: WIKIPEDIA]