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Dabrowski believed that authentic personality was something which came from self-reflection and examination, and involved building your own set of unique values and aligning your behaviours to those values. Once you were acting in alignment with behaviours you decided for yourself, you were being authentic.
Getting rid of values which aren’t yours is a critical step in being able to build up your own set. But in order to identify values which don’t “fit” you, you have to be prepared to see what is not so great in yourself, and the world. In other words, it’s better for your mental health not accept the status quo, and draw your own lines in the sand. It’s also critical to be able to find fault with yourself.
But this approach challenges the traditional view of mental health, because in most psychological practices, the process of fostering good mental health involves working towards a state of peace and happiness with your life.
“Fit in. Get along. Don’t be so hard on yourself.” According to the theory of positive disintegration this totally the wrong way to go. What you should be doing is questioning everything.
Why ‘disintegration’?
According to Dabrowski, the process of leaving behind your old ways of thinking was called “disintegration”, because it requires you to destroy your previously held beliefs and values, which have been handed down to you by society. This questioning comes from a place of discomfort and bad feelings about your current self.
However, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. After “disintegrating”, you were free to “positively” create your own. Hence the term “POSITIVE DISINTEGRATION”.
You disintegrate, but because you are becoming your authentic self, it’s a good thing.
“The term disintegration is used to refer to a broad range of processes, from emotional disharmony to the complete fragmentation of the personality structure, all of which are usually regarded as negative”
(Dąbrowski, 1964, p. 5).
If you’re thinking “Wait a minute. Disintegration sounds kind of negative…” then you’re unfortunately right. It involves feelings of alienation, angst, or dissatisfaction among other things. Things which are seen as negatives which must be treated or fixed.
What’s worse is the disintegrative process can often be a result of trauma, or another life changing event. For Dabrowski, his traumas were many and frequent through his life, so I guess he knew a thing or two about the suffering aspect.
But the good news is twofold… Firstly, it’s a short-term pain for a longer-term gain. Yeah, you’ll suffer, but the result will be your authenticity coming out.
Secondly, Dąbrowski said that these psychological symptoms, which he called “psychoneuroses”, were not only positive, but necessary for growth. In other words, there’s nothing actually wrong with you. You’re not crazy. These feelings are perfectly normal. It’s normal to question society. It’s normal to experience pain in the face of tragedy. It’s normal to have ups and downs.
More to the point, how are you ever going to improve yourself, if you don’t think there’s anything to improve? If you don’t ever feel bad about how things are, what’s going to motivate you to make changes?
The different types of disintegration and integration
Dabrowski’s framework didn’t just talk about disintegration. It spoke about integration too. While disintegration refers to breaking down your personality in order to rebuild it, “integration” refers to a wholeness of personality.
There are several types of disintegration and integration. So let’s take a look at each one.
Unilevel disintegration occurs during the initial phases of disintegration.
“Experiences of shock, stress and trauma, may accelerate development in individuals with innate potential for positive development”
(Dąbrowski, 1970, p. 20)
During unilevel disintegration you are confused about how you feel about things. You started to see different options, but are unable to tell the difference between them. This is why it’s called unilevel – because all choices sit at the same level. It’s the epitome of being lost. Turn left? Turn right? Who knows? It all looks the damned same.
In multilevel disintegration there is a hierarchy between paths. In other words, choices start to appear as ‘better’ or ‘worse’. Not according some social moral standard, but better or worse for you – things that are “more like the real you” and “less like the real you”.
But just because you can see the choice, doesn’t mean it’s an easy one to act on. Transitioning to what you see as the ‘right path’ may require rebelling, acting in a way which you might fear will draw judgement, or acting in a way which you have not done before.
This in itself can be painful, whether its because new behaviours take time to develop into habits, or simply because you feel guilt and regret for your past. We’ve all been there (well, I know I have anyway) when we talk about ‘youthful stupidity’ and things we did ‘back in the day’ we’ve grown to regret later in life.
Integration occurs both before the disintegration process starts (primary integration), and after it is finished (secondary disintegration) when you have managed to fully rebuild your personality and are whole again.
Primary integration is your starting point – the state you’re in before your head starts to feel like it’s falling apart with conflicts, confusion, and disintegration.
Secondary integration is rare, because it can only occur if developmental forces are really strong, and you are not impeded by external circumstances (such as pressure to conform, or you know, life happening around you and throwing new challenges in your face). Let’s face it, a lot of us have so much stuff to shed, and learn new things every day, so the disintegrative process can seem never-ending.
What’s important is that you don’t slip backwards…
“One also has to keep in mind that a developmental solution to a crisis means not a reintegration but an integration at a higher level of functioning”
(Dąbrowski, 1972, p. 245).
The five levels
There are five personality levels based on Dabrowski’s concept of disintegration.
- Primary integration. You are integrated. You accept what you have been taught about life from external sources, and your values are largely ‘learnt’. You’re feeling OK here, as disintegration hasn’t started yet.
- Unilevel disintegration. You start to feel the conflict within. Choices about how you should behave and what your values should be are confusing. You are lost.
- Spontaneous multilevel disintegration. How you ‘should be’ starts to emerge, and better or worse starts to become clear. But it is happening spontaneously, and without conscious control.
- Organised multilevel disintegration. Deciding you can no longer go back to the way things were, you now start to take conscious control of your development towards your authentic self. You still experience disintegration, but it is organised because you actively direct it.
- Secondary integration. You leave your conflict behind, and truly step into your authentic personality.
Positive and negative movement
It is important to note that not all movement is positive. When you are experiencing disintegration, particularly unilevel disintegration, there is a risk that external pressure, negative emotions and feelings of confusion, which can result in a personality ‘retreat’. That is, you revert to your original state, because the disintegration process becomes too painful, or there is too much pressure from the outside world to conform.
Because traditional psychological practices see this disintegration as a pain which must be ‘fixed’, the external pressure can be very well meaning. Loved ones, and those caring for our mental health, will often encourage us to abandon our conflict, and try to focus on day-to-day activities. When you start to question the way the world works, and feel separation from society, the natural response is from those around you is to encourage you to try and ‘fit in’.
But if you push through, move positively, and show epic levels of bravery, you may just find your authentic self…
For Dabrowski, when your behaviour, thoughts and emotions are based primarily upon your socialisation, you are largely undeveloped. He would say you are an “inauthentic individual” lacking any unique personality, because you did not shape it yourself.
Personality is a creation, based on values you have figured out for yourself. It’s hard won. Authenticity is when your behaviours are in alignment with your self-created values. It’s when you’re being “who you ought to be”. And let’s face it, being “who you ought to be” sounds pretty damned positive!