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Daniels, S., & Piechowski, M. M. (Eds). (2008). Living With Intensity: Understanding the Sensitivity, Excitability, and Emotional Development of Gifted Children, Adolescents, and Adults. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press (260 pp., $26.95, pb, ISBN: 0-910707-89-8).
Susan Daniels and Michael Piechowski have coedited a volume geared toward understanding the theory and practical application of Dabrowski' s theory of positive disintegration (TPD). Readers interested in Dabrowski will be pleased to find their understanding of TPD enhanced, especially if they seek to better understand intense children and adults at different stages of the life span.
The first two chapters explain TPD, discussing developmental potential, overexcitabilities, and developmental levels. These chapters are clear and succinct, with biographical sketches of Peace Pilgrim and others that illustrate the theory. Of particular note is the application of TPD in education and counseling settings. In the closing paragraph of the first chapter, Daniels and Piechowski sum up nicely the relevance of TPD and the shift in thinking about children and adults with intensity that must occur to view them with a Dabrowskian lens. They write:
[I]t becomes clear that our children must be reared and educated in an environment of mutual compassion, understanding, and positive adjustment - not simply adjustment to the changing material conditions of life. We must also recognize that our potential for growth does not end with childhood. The evolution of one's personality is an individual, autonomous process of perceiving, feeling, intuiting, and striving for that which is higher and...