Dr. Dabrowski was a Polish psychiatrist who was fortunate to survive the Holocaust.  From his experiences, he formulated a theory of advanced personality development, which is hierachial in nature.  As part of his theory, he postulated that individuals having strong "overexciteabilities" (OEs) were good candidates for higher level development.  This OEs, which are psychomotor, intellectual, imaginative, emotional and sensual, have now formed a basis for indentifying gifted individuals.  The OE "method" works especially well with young children. A simple layperson's explanation was put together by well-known author and gifted advocate, Stephanie Tolan.  Her one page piece can be found at http://www.stephanietolan.com/dabrowskis.htm.

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Quick Quote:

"Personality development, especially accelerated development, cannot be realized without manifest nervousness and psychoneurosis. It is in this way that such experiences as inner conflict, sadness, anxiety, obsession, depression, and psychic tension all cooperate in the promotion of humanistic development."
Dabrowski, 1967, vi.

This quote came from an e-mail received from Bill Tillier, my friend and one of only seven remaining students of Dr. Dabrowski.  Bill is the informal "keeper of the records"  and maintains the most comprehensive website on the topic.  Take time to peruse: http://members.shaw.ca/positivedisintegration/

Each month a different member of SENG's Board of Directors describes a personal passion in the realm of social and emotional needs of the gifted.

Cheryl Ackerman

It seems that certain phrases repeatedly arise in conversations among people when they talk about the gifted people they know. It is common to hear:  "He is soooo sensitive and feels other people’s pain as his own."  "Why can’t she just do what everyone else does?"  "She is incredibly analytic and identifies the inconsistencies so easily."  "Their values are out of step with society’s." ... Whether we want better self understanding, new ideas on interacting with our work associates or the professionals who have contact with our children...new information can often help.

On Bill's website, as well as at www.hoagiesgifted.org, Elizabeth Mika, a psychologist specializing in giftedness and Dabrowski, is often-referenced.  Her and I shared the following exchange, which she has consented to having made public.  It discusses OEs and young children:

Cindi wrote:
> With young children, using Dabrowski's over-exciteabilities as a tool to
> identify gifted children, especially young gifted children, is
> comparatively new. 

Dear Cindi,
I would like to stress that using only OE as an identificator of gifted
children is not justified both in light of TPD and clinical practice. (At
the recent NAGC, one presenter, for example, listed "Dabrowski's
overexcitabilities" as an alternative way of identifying giftedness.
However, if we were to do so, we would dilute the concept of giftedness
beyond reasonable bounds and stretch TPD too far.)

*The instances where we can safely assume that OEs are associated with
giftedness have to do with intellectual OE, which is pretty much always
associated with intellectual giftedness (= superior intelligence); and
high level emotional OE (characterized by empathy, compassion and
self-educational efforts), which clearly signals emotional (and/or
spiritual) giftedness. With imaginational, sensual, psychomotor and
certain forms of emotional OE, such assumptions (that those OE =
giftedness) may be misleading, if not supported by more data about the
individual.
                                                           ...

This is because each child manifesting over-exciteabilities is a distinct individual existing in a distinct  environment...In fact, many parents seek professional help for their children
(gifted or not) because of symptoms of OE, which puzzle and frustrate
them, even though they have never heard about the concept.
                                                         ...

 Bearing all of that in mind, the closest I have found in traditional  pyschology (and those of you who know more may correct me) is sensory  integration.  Sensory integration difficulties (and other syndromes, such as ADHD) to a large extent overlap in symptoms (as well as in origins) with certain types and forms of OE.

For more on Dabrowski's views on types of OE, their origins and treatment suggestions, please see notes to my Austega on-line presentation at http://www.austega.com/gifted/articles/Mika_positivedisintegration.htm

Best regards,
Elizabeth.