Intensity / sensitivity : page 3 : quotes sites articles books........

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.. .. In her memoir, Elizabeth Wurtzel spoke of the intensity of emotional memory : "... No one will understand the potency of my memories, which are so solid and vivid that I don't need a psychiatrist to tell me they are driving me crazy. My subconscious has not buried them, my superego has not restrained them.

"They are front and center, they are going on right now. And what I feel as I think of summer camp is completely ugly.  "I want to kill my parents for doing this to me! I want to hack them to death for this... they threw me away and tried to make me ordinary!  "They threw me away with a bunch of normal kids who thought I was strange and made me feel strange until I became strange!" This quotation illustrates the combination of high intelligence.. and high emotionality.. that are hallmarks of the personality of the creative writer. Jane Piirto - in her book My Teeming Brain:  Understanding Creative Writers image from Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America, by Elizabeth Wurtzel

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[Ellen Muth stars as George (for Georgia) Lass in the Showtime series Dead Like Me]  I also love George's curiosity about life and death and the fact that deep down inside she does care about people, but she puts on this front like she doesn't really care about anything and I kind of like that. George's sensitivity is very hidden, but when it slips out she very quickly makes it so nobody else sees it.  She's very interesting to play from that point of view. She's quirky. I like that. George tries to hide her emotions and I tend to do that. One of the great things about acting is that you are able to release all sorts of things through another character. Ellen Muth  - from Cult Times Oct 2003 - posted on ellen-muth.com

related page: nurturing mental health : acting

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"I get emotional all the time," says Jennifer Beals. "I get emotional every time I make a speech, or talk about other cast members," she says. "Every now and again, my heart just explodes and expands." Laurel Holloman, her castmate on  "The L Word", has seen this firsthand. "If Jennifer is passionate about something, it comes to the surface within seconds," she says. "My theory on that is all the best actors have a couple of layers of skin peeled away. There's a huge emotional life in Jennifer, and it's kind of beautiful." from article The Real Beals - by Jancee Dunn, Lifetime, August 2004

 

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.. .. Creative people more open  to stimuli from environment Decreased Latent Inhibition Is Associated With Increased Creative Achievement in High-Functioning Individuals  The study in the September [2003] issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology says the brains of creative people appear to be more open to incoming stimuli from the surrounding environment.  Other people's brains might shut out this same information through a process called "latent inhibition" - defined as an animal's unconscious capacity to ignore stimuli that experience has shown are irrelevant to its needs.  Through psychological testing, the researchers showed that creative individuals are much more likely to have low levels of latent inhibition. "This means that creative individuals remain in contact with the extra information constantly streaming in from the environment," says co-author and University of Toronto psychology professor Jordan Peterson.  "The normal person classifies an object, and then forgets about it, even though that object is much more complex and interesting than he or she thinks. The creative person, by contrast, is always open to new possibilities." Previously, scientists have associated failure to screen out stimuli with psychosis. However, Peterson and his co-researchers - lead author and psychology lecturer Shelley Carson of Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard PhD candidate Daniel Higgins - hypothesized that it might also contribute to original thinking, especially when combined with high IQ.

They administered tests of latent inhibition to Harvard undergraduates. Those classified as eminent creative achievers - participants under age 21 who reported unusually high scores in a single area of creative achievement - were seven times more likely to have low latent inhibition scores. The authors hypothesize that latent inhibition may be positive when combined with high intelligence and good working memory - the capacity to think about many things at once - but negative otherwise.  Peterson states: "If you are open to new information, new ideas, you better be able to intelligently and carefully edit and choose. If you have 50 ideas, only two or three are likely to be good. You have to be able to discriminate or you'll get swamped." "Scientists have wondered for a long time why madness and creativity seem linked," says Carson.  "It appears likely that low levels of latent inhibition and exceptional flexibility in thought might predispose to mental illness under some conditions and to creative accomplishment under others." For example, during the early stages of diseases such as schizophrenia, which are often accompanied by feelings of deep insight, mystical knowledge and religious experience, chemical changes take place in which latent inhibition disappears.  "We are very excited by the results of these studies," says Peterson. "It appears that we have not only identified one of the biological bases of creativity but have moved towards cracking an age-old mystery: the relationship between genius, madness and the doors of perception."   from Journal of Personality and Social Psychology article by Shelley H. Carson, Jordan B. Peterson, and Daniel M. Higgins, September 2003 - reported in Oct 1 2003 issue of Science Daily  image from an edition of book : The Doors of Perception  and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley

 
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"When he talks, he has so much energy it's almost like he's dancing. So I used that to choreograph his action scenes." director John Woo - about Tom Cruise... [imdb.com .bio]

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.. ..   [ Is acting a means for you to explore emotional paths? ] Yes, and ideas. And hopefully to put some moments of truth -- even if they're fleeting -- in the world that will exist a bit longer than the here and now.  That's what fascinates and enthralls me about acting. It's why I put my physical self under a lot of duress.

It's something I've had to grapple with because I tend not to care for myself physically at all when I'm making a movie. I throw myself around a lot and hurt and injure myself.  You live with a lot of complicated emotions as an actor, and they whirl around you and create havoc at times. And yet, as an actor you're consciously and unconsciously allowing that to happen. .... It's  my choice, and I would rather do it this way than live to be 100. .. Or rather than choosing not to exist within life's extremities. I'm willing to fly close to the flame.  Nicole Kidman    ... [Interview, Oct 2003]  photo: as Faunia Farley in The Human Stain

 

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.. .. Making Work Work for the Highly Sensitive Person -  by Barrie S. Jaeger  This book enlarges upon The Highly Sensitive Person (1996), by Elaine Aron, who describes the HSP as someone whose nervous system is particularly susceptible to stimuli.  HSPs are more sensitive not only to their physical environments but also to emotional trauma.  Jaeger believes that about 20 percent of the population can be described as HSPs and that the personality type may be inherited.

In discussing the work environment, Jaeger recommends that HSPs avoid drudgery, which is particularly devastating because HSPs are generally creative types who thrive on new challenges.  Jaeger also advises that craftwork can quickly deteriorate into drudgery for HSPs, who often remain in a job they hate for too long because of commitments or fear.  Instead, HSPs need to find more fulfilling work, which the author refers to as a calling. Jaeger says the particular needs of HSPs include stress management, rest and healing, learning the importance of saying no, and dealing with abusive co-workers.  Jaeger includes case studies and quotes from numerous HSPs to illustrate the advantages of finding satisfying work.  from review by David Siegfried / Booklist photo of Barrie Jaeger from her site

 

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A little bit of the characters always trickle into who you are. [My character in 'Cherry Falls'] is 16, so I noticed a certain vulnerability that was there -- and I'm a very oversensitive, vulnerable person. You have to be to do this for a living.     [Premiere, November 2000]   Brittany Murphy .... [one of her films: Girl, Interrupted]

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"Giftedness is a greater awareness, a greater sensitivity,
and a greater ability to understand and transform perceptions
into intellectual and emotional experiences."  Annemarie Roeper

 

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   Excitabilities and advanced development

The Theory of Positive Disintegration developed by psychologist/psychiatrist
Kazimierz Dabrowski describes the potential value of inner conflict -
and five independent areas of psychic/emotional excitability or functioning.

These are channels of information flow and modes of experiencing that affect how gifted
and creative individuals often reach higher regions of advanced development:

Psychomotor- high degrees of energy, activity and movement; rapid speech,
marked enthusiasm, fast games and sports; pursuit of intense physical activity

Sensual - intensity and craving for pleasure; keen sensual aliveness to sights,
smells, tastes, textures and sounds; seeking sensual outlets for inner tensions
(e.g. overeating; sexual activity; shopping)

Intellectual - questioning, questing, analysis, problem solving, theoretical
thinking, curiosity, extensive reading, introspection, thinking about personal
and social moral values; conceptual and intuitive integration

Imaginational- vivid imagery, invention, creative imagination,
rich association of images and impressions, animated visualization, use of
image and metaphor in verbal expression, rich fantasy life, ability to recall
dreams in vivid detail; animistic and magical thinking; fears of the unknown;
poetic and dramatic perception; imagery as an expression of emotional tension;

Emotional - tense stomach, sinking heart, flushing; intensity of feeling,
inhibition, timidity, shyness; strong emotional memory, concern with death,
anxieties, fears, guilt, depression, suicidal moods, richly differentiated relationship
and interpersonal feelings; strong empathy: identification with others' feelings;
need for protection; attachment to animals; difficulty adjusting to new environments;
loneliness; conflict with others; feelings of inferiority and inadequacy
 
    more on related page:  Dabrowski on advanced development

 
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Overexcitability  - The tragic gift OE is a higher than average capacity for experiencing internal and external stimuli, based on a higher than average responsiveness of the nervous system. The prefix over attached to 'excitability' serves to indicate that the reactions of excitation are over and above average in intensity, duration and frequency. ... Psychomotor OE - an excess of energy manifesting in rapid talk, restlessness, preference for violent games, sports, pressure for action, or delinquent behavior. It may either be a "pure" manifestation of the excess of energy, or it may result from the transfer of emotional tension to psychomotor forms of expression such as those mentioned above (tics and self-mutilation). excerpts from article: Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration - by Elizabeth Mika related pages:........Dabrowski........cutting / self-injury

 

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Emotional intensity is positively correlated with intelligence and so the higher the intellectual level, the more emotionally intense a gifted child will be.  Emotional intensity is expressed by the gifted through a wide range of feelings, attachments. compassion, heightened sense of responsibility and scrupulous self-examination. While these are normal for the gifted and appear very early in gifted children, they are often mistaken for  emotional immaturity rather than as evidence of a rich inner life. from article : Parenting Emotionally Intense Gifted Children - by Lesley Sword

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[Tell me about the genesis of "White Oleander."] I had the character of Ingrid first. She was actually the protagonist of a short story. It was black comedy.  There's a writer, Sei Shonagon. She was a lady-in-waiting to the Heian empress in Japan in the 11th century. [She wrote "The Pillow Book."] Yes. It was about a society based on aesthetics. Soldiers were promoted by how well they wrote poetry.  Of course the Heian empire didn't last very long. They were pretty easy to wipe out.  It was a time of tremendous refinement where the aristocrats would have a party in which they would go and look at moonlight on a pond.  But they had no conventional morality. Sei Shonagon could see somebody beheaded right in front of her and it's like, pfft, there's no connection between her and that person.  But if somebody wore the wrong color combinations in their robes, then for days she just couldn't get over it, how disgusting it was.

.. .. I thought, wouldn't it be interesting to take someone like that, an aesthete, which is an aristocratic position, and put them at the end of the 20th century in America, with a crummy job and a crummy apartment, having to make a living, and see what happened.  And so Ingrid emerged.  from interview: Making a monster - "White Oleander" author  Janet Fitch talks about creating a wicked woman, the debacle of  film school and becoming an overnight success after 20 years. White Oleander - by Janet Fitch The Pillow Book - by Sei Shonagon

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All your life you thought something was wrong with you. You were uncomfortable around noise. No one understood your need to be alone. You seem to know things without being told. The good news is that you are not dysfunctional. You are a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). You are not the only one; you share this trait with a small minority of the population who are referred to as shy or timid. Overwhelming Stimuli HSPs respond strongly to external stimuli, and become exhausted from taking in and processing these stimuli. They are born with a nervous system that may see, hear, smell or feel more than others. As adults, they may also think, reflect or notice more than others.  The processing is largely unconscious or body-conscious. HSPs grow up feeling flawed, especially when loud music, crowds of people, or simply a busy day stresses them. At such times, they need quiet time alone to recover. from article Being Sensitive -- in an Insensitive World by Thomas Eldridge related site:  Highly Sensitive Persons

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The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this:
A human creature born abnormally, inhumanely sensitive.

To them... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy,
a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death.

Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create --
so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning,
their very breath is cut off...

They must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency
they are not really alive unless they are creating.

Pearl Buck  [1892-1973] Her novel The Good Earth (1931) won a Pulitzer Prize, and in 1938, she won the Nobel Prize in literature.

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I've taken off two months, three months at a time, and, by the end, I get really squirrelly. My night life,
my dream life, gets extremely populated and crazed. It's as though something in there is running all the time.     Stephen King
 

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Sensation -- in all its glories -- is the reason we are here.     serial killer Edgler Foreman Vess [John C. McGinley] No it's not.     his captive: Chyna Shepherd [Molly Parker] from  movie based on the novel Intensity by Dean R. Koontz

   related page:  the shadow self

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He's got a very severe case of obsessive-compulsive disorder... He has an amazing attention to detail, which gives him this ability to read people and crime scenes and to see things that other people don't see. The way his mind works is like Sherlock Holmes. It's all about the logic of how things happen and why. He has a kind of overview, a sense of things, using his vision, sense of smell, whatever clues he feels in the air. He sees things that nobody else can, even thought they're in the same room. Tony Shalhoub - about his character Adrian Monk, in the series "Monk" [quotes & photo from usanetwork.com]

 

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Jodie Foster.. thinks she understands the temperamental New Zealander Russell Crowe more than most.  She explains, "He's terribly talented and an incredibly charming guy, but I think when he gets nervous he gets incredibly serious. He's a very light, funny guy. He has a little leprechaun side to him. He has that glacier intensity. He is truly intense."  [imdb.com celeb. news Mar. 29 2002] [photo: Crowe as John Forbes Nash, Jr. in "A Beautiful Mind"]

 

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Brain Activity Difference Found in Social Phobia New York (Reuters Health, Nov 20, 2002) - New brain-imaging research suggests that a heightened brain response to hostile facial expressions may be at work in people with social phobia. Social phobia, also called social anxiety disorder, is marked by an excessive fear and avoidance of situations in which a person feels he or she will be judged by others - such as public speaking, or even eating in front of other people. Although researchers suspect that some form of brain dysfunction is involved in social phobia, the biological roots of the condition are unclear. Still, recent research has suggested that a brain region called the amygdala might play a role. Among its jobs, the amygdala helps regulate feelings of fear and anxiety. Evidence also suggests that the brain region helps people "read" the facial expressions of others.  There is reason to believe that people with social phobia might process "harsh" or critical expressions differently, and that this difference might show up in amygdala activity, according to the authors of the new study. *related page:**anxiety

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