Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration

Register for Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration here!

Return to the list of classes for Spring 2020.

Instructor: Josh Shaine
5-10 students
Suggested Age Ranges: 13+ years old, including parents!
Meets: TBD

This course is open to both teens and parents.

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

Dr. Kazimierz Dabrowski, a Polish psychiatrist, developed a theory that explains why you can't hold still, why things that are unfair bother you more than anybody else, why it seems to you that everybody else seems to have shallow emotions and reactions, and why your mere existence (or the world's) is enough to make you depressed! Curious? Come learn about Overexcitibilities, Dynamisms, and how disintegration can be positive!

When Kazimierz Dabrowski was young, he observed that different people suffered more and less in response to the same stimuli and wanted to figure out why. The first result is the OverExcitabilities (OEs), which many parents of gifted children have recognized in them (and in themselves, tbh), but this is just the tip of this intricate personality development theory.

In this course, we will study Dabrowski's Theory, its strengths and weaknesses, and how it may apply in our lives and in those of the people we love. We'll consider the Levels of Development and the Dynamisms that facilitate our growth through those levels. And we will look more deeply at the OEs, both how they interact and their role in the rest of the Theory.

Syllabus

Week	Topic
1 – Jan 28	Introduction and Overview: Why does anybody care?!
2 - Feb  4	Overexcitabilities
3 - Feb 11	Dynamisms
4 - Feb 18	Levels 1 & 2: Primary Integration and Unilevel Disintegration
5 - Feb 25	Level 3: Spontaneous Multilevel Disintegration
6 - Mar  4	Level 3 (continued)
7 - Mar 11	Level 4: Organized Multilevel Disintegration
8 - Mar 18	Level 5: Secondary Integration – is it possible?
9 - Mar 25	Review
10 - Apr 1	Multilevelness of Emotions & Instinctive Function, Part 1: Emotions
11 - Apr 8	Multilevelness (etc.), Part 2: Case Studies
12 - Apr 15	Multilevelness (etc.), Part 3: Instinctive Functions
13 - Apr 22	Autopsychotherapy and Developmental Psychotherapy
14 - Apr 29	Developmental Psychotherapy (continued)
15 - May 6	Review and Next Steps
- May 13 -	Potential Makeup Day

All topics subject to change, based on class feedback.

MATERIALS

We will rely heavily on "hand-outs" and website materials, but students are encouraged to purchase Personality Shaping by Kazimierz Dabrowski (ISBN: 069242749X). It's $10 in the Kindle edition and is currently free to Kindle Unlimited members. 

COST

$185 for Members, $200 for non-Members

$90 per additional family registrants, regardless of membership

Register for Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration here!