Dabrowski's (1972) theory of positive disintegration argues that anxiety appears to be the dynamic of self‐actualization. A study to assess this hypothesis (Wilkins, Hjelle, & Thompson, 1977) reported that self‐actualization was incompatible with chronic, debilitating or neurotic anxiety. The current study further examined the empirical and conceptual relation between anxiety and self‐actualization. A measure of self‐actualization (the POI) and two measures of anxiety were taken from Ss (N = 126). Thirty‐three items from the POI were found to be measures of anxiety and were scored negatively for self‐actualization. Removal of anxiety items and rescoring of the POI yielded self‐actualization measures that were related positively to anxiety test scores. The results indicate that the POI theoretically is biased against anxiety, the conclusion of Wilkins et al. is not necessary, and Dabrowski's theory remains viable.
Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration relates that anxiety appears to be the dynamic of self-actualization. A study to assess this hypothesis (Wilkins, Hjelle, & Thompson, 1977) indicated that self-actualization was incompatible with chronic, debilitating or neurotic anxiety. However, the test purported to measure or assess self-actualization (the Personal Orientation Inventory) is biased against Dabrowski’s premise because the POI’s theoretical constructs and test construction are based upon the philosophy that anxiety is a hindrance to self-actualization. The findings of this study support the position that self-actualization and anxiety are compatible at both low and high self-actualized levels with self-actualization positively contributing to anxiety at the high self-actualized level. Severely anxious individuals are not necessarily self-actualized but anxiety does not, apparently, inhibit self-actualization growth. Self-actualization appears to precipitate anxiety as a means of growth. However, anxiety does not necessarily precipitate self-actualization. Thus Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration remains viable.
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