Salon Series I: Spotlight on the Inner Experience of Gifted Adults
Salon Series, Event 5:
The Challenges of Identity Development for Gifted Individuals and the Role of Persona
DATE: Thursday, August 26, 2021
TIME: 1:00-2:30pm United States, MDT
WHO: Mia Frumau-van Pinxten
WHERE: The Netherlands
The precocious development and heightened sensitivity of gifted individuals means that they experience the environment and themselves differently from others. With society’s emphasis on conformity, this can lead to crises in the psychosocial development of the individual. When anxiety exceeds the capacity to adapt, defenses can be used as direct adaptation and arise in the form of projected social masks (Persona). This can give rise to feelings of estrangement and derail the continuity needed for stable identity development. In this presentation, I will discuss the different Persona observed among the gifted along with factors contributing to their emergence. Also, I will discuss strategies for dealing with Persona. Finally, in an interactive part, we will discuss the recognition of Persona in the life course of participants.
Mia Frumau-van Pinxten
In 1988, Mia graduated as a developmental psychologist from the Radboud University Nijmegen. The topic of her thesis was underachievement among gifted adolescents. For 31 years, Mia has worked passionately as a psychotherapist with gifted children, adolescents, and adults on a daily basis. This has led to scientific research (work on a Ph.D.) and the development of an analytic tool for use with the gifted, The Dialogue Toolbox on Goodness-of-fit for the Gifted, worksheets, a card tool, and a board game.