How Overexcitabilites Foster Gifted Knowing

11/24/23 • 33 min

This episode will offer you an entirely new perspective on the value and purpose of our overexcitabilities.

While many are familiar with Dabrowski's Positive Disintegration Theory and its associated overexcitabilities, the way it is commonly presented lacks practical relevance for individuals living with high overexcitabilities.

I have found the research on overexcitabilities to be deficient, describing them from an external standpoint and treating them as almost optional. This mischaracterization overlooks their true nature and the significant role they play in contributing to our giftedness. Understanding our overexcitabilities is key to unlocking and maximizing our gifted potential. It allows us to comprehend how heightened sensitivity generates more inputs, and our overexcitabilities process these inputs to cultivate knowledge.

I have yet to encounter any representation that captures the experience of being a gifted neurodivergent individual as I have lived it. It is evident to me that there is a distinct purpose behind how my sensitivity and overexcitabilities function and how they drive my gifted knowing, and I can't fathom why this insight is not more widely available.

I strongly believe that suppressing our overexcitabilities is a root cause of many mental illnesses and chronic conditions prevalent in our society, as well as a reason why genius seems to be missing. I think we have built a myth around giftedness and how it works. I did not choose to positively disintegrate but was rather compelled towards positive disintegration as a matter of survival.

I delve into how heightened sensitivity-driven giftedness provides us with unique perspectives that will fuel the development of humanity with the latest versions of CHAT GPT 4/5. I also express concerns about the potential misuse of this technology by individuals without good intentions.

Questions? email me at [email protected] or check out our website at www.giftednd.com

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Send us a text

This episode will offer you an entirely new perspective on the value and purpose of our overexcitabilities.

Questions? email me at [email protected] or check out our website at www.giftednd.com

Leadership Lessons From The Great Books
Reading great literature is better than trying to read and understand...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Support the show

www.GiftedND.com
copyright 2025

Previous Episode

Interview with a Creative Writer - Joanna Acevado

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Until AI became mainstream this year, I had to rely heavily on writing coaches. Why? Because my brain operates differently, making it challenging to pinpoint the best perspective form the multitude my brain offers simultaneously each time I attempt to communicate through writing.

My spatially gifted savant brains has one gift. The gift of perspective taking, so much so it is nearly always overwhelming me. I can see things from the viewpoints of everyone I've met—understand their thoughts, navigate their worlds through various lenses like professions, historical periods, talents, neurodiversity, and sexual identity. When emotions merge with these perspectives, it exponentially expands the ways I perceive how different brains influence thoughts and actions.

I'm certain I'm not the only creative or neurodivergent thinker capable of this. My also children possess this skill. It drives their exceptional self-learning ability. I recommend that fellow neurodivergents struggling with this seek guidance from coaches to navigate their learning journey. Even neurotypicals probably should consider this too.

Frankly, the one-size-fits-all approach to learning is terrible. It's not genuine learning; it's conditioning. My struggle with schooling wasn't about learning—it was having so many perspectives when we are only allowed to have one, their chosen one. This forced me into to self-teach everything I desired or needed to know. The issue lies in systems built upon the assumption that there are only two answers to every question. It's astonishing how people claim autistics have they are simply reacting to the very clear black-and-white thinking enforced by our systems and hierarchies. Which offer only a 1 right and all others wrong option for understanding. Especially if you are someone with heightened senses who is very aware there's so more complexity.

Among the coaches I worked with, Joanna stood out. She didn't dictate how I should write; instead, she allowed me to explore how she approached it. I learned from her that a creative's highs, lows, or overexcitabilities serve as intrinsic guides, providing the energy and perspective necessary to convey the intended message.

This podcast is the first of two focusing on overexcitabilities and their link to the development of our outside genius. This episode is an interview, while the second delves into how overexcitabilities can serve as a direct measure of intelligence, nurturing the various perspectives forming the bedrock of our creative intellect.
Contact Joanna at www.JoannaAcevado.net

Got Questions? I got answers, thanks to so many perspectives, reach out to me at [email protected].

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Next Episode

Proof That Learning Disorders Are A System Construct

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This episode is the third and final podcast of the "Overexcitabilities" series.

In the last podcast, I shared how my overexcitabilities played a crucial role in fostering my learning. They emerged when I was either exhausted or excited to aid me in subconscious or immersive learning. In this podcast, I delve into the challenges posed by overexcitabilities in the classroom. I illustrate how teachers and educational systems suppress highly sensitive learners, actively hindering their potential growth. I highlight the disregard of current scientific data around the needs of profoundly gifted students, subjecting them to standards they simply cannot sustain and a learning environment that prevents them from learning.

In a straightforward manner, I demonstrate how our educational systems can break the brightest and most sensitive children. Even those, like myself, who were mild-mannered and exhibited limited psychomotor overexcitabilities.

Using 20 classroom rules of conduct that are found in a typical elementary classroom (in the USA) I illustrate how 19 of these rules appear almost perfectly designed to stifle the learning experiences of those with high sensing intelligence. I discuss the different focus of creatives (the highest sensing) and how this distinction is used against them in traditional classroom settings. The combination of the classroom environment and teaching methods often forces twice-exceptional (2e) and gifted sensing intelligent children to exert much more effort than their peers. This creates a situation where these children are pushed into a state of overexcitabilities every day, only to be repeatedly punished and demeaned for their inability to control their behavior.

I propose redefining "2e" (twice exceptional) from its current meaning—learning differently and cognitively gifted—to giftedness in both sensing and cognition. I argue that the reason our systems struggle to accurately test 2e intelligence in their most gifted areas is that the IQ of these individuals falls above the testing range of our quantitative tests, which typically tops out at a 145 IQ. The hard is simple and simple is hard rule for autism indicates complex spatial giftedness that is going uncultivated by our current system. I believe the key distinction between 2e giftedness and "normal" giftedness lies in the sensing intelligence.

I posit that our current system definition of giftedness is confined to cognitive intelligence and introduce a giftedness found in sensing intelligence (higher sensing) that can manifest without high cognitive giftedness. I specifically identify this giftedness in individuals with high empathy but I believe it occurs in various other ways as well. Ways I have discussed in previous episodes of this podcast and ways that I plan to explore in future podcasts. I advocate for recogni

Leadership Lessons From The Great Books
Reading great literature is better than trying to read and understand...

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Recharge with David Ko
Chats with Kevin Bacon, Chelsea Handler, Jordan Chiles, Common and Sheryl Lee Ralph

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