What Does Developmental Potential Look Like in Highly Gifted Adults?

Part 4 Dabrowski Level III

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References and discussion for this series are in Part 5.

Dabrowski Level III

There are four subjects who fit the description of Dabrowski’s Level III, and three are highlighted here.

Personality Transformation: Inner conflict, hierarchy of values, positive maladjustments, inferiority toward one’s ideals, feelings of guilt and shame, independent thinker, moral framework believed but inconsistently applied.

A categorization of Level III

Personality Transformation, required subjects to give evidence that they could open themselves up to the possibility that not only could their lives be different, but they could be different. Life is not about someone else giving us the answers, even if those answers are good. Values and goals must come from inside the person for emotional self-actualization to occur. The first steps involve the realization that no one else can give anyone else their purpose or their life’s course. When that realization occurs to the adult, it can be unsettling, even terrifying. People at Level II development may have these thoughts, but suppress or ignore them. When someone experiences a positive disintegration, it is life-changing. The subjects in this section of the paper reveal the processes people in Level III experience.

#36M has two DIT scores; the first one, 48.5, and his childhood information come from his first participation in the study. He then quit the Study but returned after two years. He did not appear to become a Searcher until after he completed his first survey and DIT (Defining Issues Test). He began receiving counseling between the Childhood and Adulthood Inventories. His clear change from probable Nonsearcher to Searcher indicates the possibility that self-actualizers do not necessarily begin life as natural Searchers.

Author Note

If they did not begin life, or even their adulthoods, as Searchers, that means something can happen to turn a person into a Searcher and increase the likelihood of self-actualization.

#36M is profoundly gifted. Lack of understanding on the part of school personnel and his parents contributed to his feelings of being different. He was nearly 50 years old before he took matters into his own hands, after a near nervous breakdown, and started to try to figure out who he really is. In response to the question concerning emotional support and guidance, he responded,

“It is painful to think about this. The environment in my home was one in which one did not talk about feelings, except anger. This has carried over into my adult life; I confide in no one. I have no friendships outside my family, except one friend with whom I correspond who lives a ‘safe’ distance away from me. I have never discussed most of the topics in this survey with anyone.”

#36M wrote, before re-entering the Study,

I feel that my career dissatisfaction has a start or a cause in growing up in an environment where I had no mentor to encourage me to make decisions and be accountable for them. Parents and schools seem to encourage dependency and letting others decide for you, encourage an authoritarian world view.

The following paragraph, written after #36M returned to the Study, excellently revealed the thought processes of someone who had entered Level III:

I would like to share with you some things that have happened since I dropped out of your study some years ago. I spent a year or so crying almost every day, then met with a psychologist for another year, but got frustrated with the psychologist because I felt he wasn’t doing anything, just listening. I started reading psychology books. I have now read about 30 books on psychology, ethics, and relationships. I do not feel depressed now. I am slowly changing my beliefs about personal responsibility, authenticity and tolerance, and integrating those changes into my life. I feel that forms of authoritarianism and intolerance have been a major problem for me. I would like to accelerate this change process, but I resist and take time to integrate one change before I take another step.

Love, intimacy and friendship were still a problem for #36M at this point. Before he began Level III personality transformation, he kept himself socially isolated. His values changed to the extent that he realized relationships provide the principal joys and meaning in life.

I am lonely. I learned from my home situation and from the community where I grew up that intimacy was bad. Especially for men. If I can change myself, I can make friendships. I am the only one responsible for fixing the problem … I married my spouse when I was 20 years old, and we have been married for 29 years. This has been a very good thing for me. My spouse is my best friend. I have not been a very communicative, open disclosing partner and I am trying to improve that. For most of our years together, I have had a very authoritarian viewpoint of our relationship, and I have changed that recently.

#36M speculated about why he wasn’t able to change earlier.

“I think that my irrational feelings, prejudices and sexual stereotypes distorted my view of the world. The taboo about discussing sex and my aversion to people meant that there were very few avenues open to changing my viewpoints and beliefs … I feel that there has always been a great variety of choices available to me, but that I have rarely had the courage to make the choices. I have let events or other people decide for me. I chose not to choose. I am changing that now and I am going to keep changing it.”

Although #36M attended a church regularly, he was integrating religious beliefs and his faith into a picture of spirituality that was compatible with his changing views, particularly his views on authoritarianism and personal responsibility. A changing view of religion was part of his overall changing world view.

#36M said that he never considered suicide. This was what he wrote about helping a troubled young person:

I would listen, I would ask them to talk, I would be present and be silent if that felt right. When it was appropriate, I would share parts of my own story of coming to understand personal responsibility and realizing that life is about caring for others. That each of us is a spiritual part of the universe. That the difficulties that we are experiencing are a gift which will develop up. That it is important to have courage. I would ask them to read a book on counseling and try to understand their problem from a counselor’s perspective.

It was in light of subject #36M’s changes that he was moved into Level III, Personality Transformation, for the study. By his own account, participation in the present study and seeing his own thoughts on paper propelled him toward radical intrapersonal change and set him on his journey toward self-actualization. He was using his intelligence and training in his career, so would appear to be self-actualized there. But, one year after completing his Adult Inventory, he left his job. As the current study ended he was viewing his entire career, his position, and his priorities differently. Such a changed perspective seemed common among those who had started to change inside. These are positive steps.