Sensitivity to Stimulation: A temperamental connection has been observed between between high Sensitivity and creativity.
Individuals may manifest extreme sensitivity to stimulation, or psychic over-excitabilities, in any of five areas: intellectual, psychomotor, imaginational, emotional, or sensual.
Individuals who have an innate tendency to experience and express themselves in certain combinations of these areas have the potential for a higher level of development.
Out of the five, the following three: emotional, intellectual, and imaginational have been theorized to be most indicative of developmental potential and creative expression.
Sometimes over-excitability can cause difficulties...
Emotional over-excitability (Strong emotional reactions) in childhood may be viewed as the emotional liability of ADHD.
Psychomotor over-excitability (Movement and fidgeting) may be viewed as hyperactivity and seen as another liability.
Intensity! However, the over-excitabilities in combination may produce an intensity that has often been used to describe creative individuals.
Using similar language, Bachtold (1980) described the creative individual as a person with - a low sensory threshold (ie: stimulation cannot be stopped from entering) - strong reactions to sensory stimuli.
High sensitivity easily leads towards excitability and individuals often respond with strategies intended to manage and control their level of stimulation.
Some of these attempts to live life in response to a sensitive temperament may appear eccentric or cause problems for others... but sensitivity also opens up pathways towards the important and highly valued human ability to create and also to live creatively.
Reference: The Coincidence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Creativity by Bonnie Cramond, Ph.D., The University of Georgia, March 1995
Susan Meindl, MA, is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Montreal Canada. She has a special interest in Jungian ideas and practices a Jungian approach to psychodynamic psychotherapy
http://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/59983
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Susan_Meindl
~~~
For more on over-excitabilities, see the page Dabrowski / advanced development
Also see the pages Intensity / sensitivity, and ADD/ADHD, and the Highly Sensitive site