How does creativity contribute to adolescents’ psychosocial growth? Here Krystyna Laycraft shares her doctoral research on the subject and shows why the theory of positive disintegration is particularly relevant to the highly creative.
“Starting your own business is a lot of work. It should come as no surprise that ‘entrepreneurship’ is such a long word.” So says Pierre Miller, founder of the Desiderata Pen Company. In this interview, he shares the winding path that led him from his STEM degree to becoming an artisan and a small business owner, and how it required continual work at reintegration.
Chaos around her and intensity within her led the teenage Lotte van Lith to an eating disorder. Now, having recovered and reintegrated, she helps gifted people express their intensity with self-compassion—and let loose their incredible creativity in the process.
Krystyna Laycraft tells the story of founding a school in Poland after the collapse of Communism, showcasing the role of individual choices within meaningful relationships.
The Central Intelligence Agency isn’t the sort of place that draws a lot of self-described “creative spirits.” But according to the 9/11 Commission, their presence is sorely needed. How can the CIA—and other highly convergent, formal bureaucracies—best make use of those employees who feel like square pegs in round holes?
Dopamine is about making the future better than the present. That makes contentment hard for dopaminergic people—which includes those people we call gifted and creative—to find contentment. Is there anything we can do about it? Jessie sat down with the authors of The Molecule of More to get their take.
Many pay lip service to nonconformity, but if you’re really unusual, you’ve probably struggled with the implications of deviating from the norm. How should we balance the costs and benefits of our divergence? In this issue’s introductory letter, Third Factor editor in chief Jessie Mannisto links our authors’ takes on this challenge to Eleanor Roosevelt’s writings on how to be an individual.
What does it mean to be a divergent thinker? Dr. Deirdre Lovecky of the Gifted Resource Center of New England discusses what drives these individuals to march to the beats of their own drummers—and the challenges they face while doing so.
If you want to make it as a metaphorical overexcitable astronaut, you’ve got to learn to read your instrument panel. That’s what autopsychotherapy is for.
