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[shadowkat]

Found this article entitled How Each Myers-Briggs Type Reacts to Stree and How to Help to be interesting.

I'm more or less an INFJ. I say that, because depending on my mood while answering the questions, I can be an INFP or an INTJ. The only two categories that stay the same are IN. (Introvert/Intuitive).
But mostly, I come out INFJ. The weird one.

That said, it doesn't entirely nail me.

What stresses out an INFJ:
– Having to focus too much on sensory/concrete details
– An overload of sensory stimulation or noise
– Interruptions
– Distress within a close relationship
– Having their values violated
– Not enough alone time. Too much extraverting.
– Working with closed-minded people
– Lack of appreciation or understanding
– Unfamiliar environments with overwhelming amounts of details
– Having plans disrupted
– Not having a clear direction
– Lack of harmony
– Criticism and conflict
– Not being able to use their intuition or envision the future
– Having to focus too much on the present


Eh, more or less true. Particularly not having a clear direction or plans disrupted. Also, not having enough alone time, violation of values, close-minded people irritate me (in case you haven't figured that out by now), lack of harmony... all fit.

There's a few things in there that are ironic. Considering, I live a huge urban environment, surrounded by sensory overload...I think I'm less stressed out by this than the list makes out.
OTOH - I tend to avoid the areas of the city that are overwhelming in this way. For example? I stay clear of Times Square. And most crowded areas. And hate rock concerts.

Amusing that "having to focus too much on the present" and "not being able to envision the future" stress INFJ's out - sort goes counter to the whole Power of Now/Mindfulness training that I'm doing. I'm rather amused by the irony of that. Oddly it's not stressing me out, focusing on the now or moment. If anything I find envisioning the future more stressful. So the last two -- don't quite fit. Also, I'm getting better at handling the lack of appreciation or understanding bit - right now, I don't care. Which is freeing in a way.

I wonder if I'm shifting myself more towards an INFP at the moment?

When under stress, the INFJ feels fragmented or lost. They feel like they can’t be themselves, and feel an urge to act a part to “survive” or fit in. This disassociation can cause physical symptoms for the INFJ, like headaches, IBS, or nausea. The repressed feelings they’re holding onto can cause them to become immobilized. If they are under chronic extreme stress, they may fall into the grip of their inferior function, extraverted sensing. When this happens, they may engage in indulgent, self-destructive habits like binge-eating, cutting, over-exercising, alcoholism, or excessive pornography use. This often feels like an out-of-body experience to them. What they do provides no pleasure, but feels somewhat robotic and out of control. After this occurs, they dwell in self-hatred, falling even more into guilt over what they’ve done. They may become uncharacteristically angry and quick-tempered, unreasonable, and irrational. They may become obsessed with details in their outer world; obsessively cleaning or doing housework. They stumble over their words, and their intense feelings eventually lead them to a state of complete exhaustion.

While the first three or four sentences got me nailed. Not sure about the indulgent behavior. Binge-eating, binge-watching, yes, definitely. And yes - if feels robotic and out of control. And yes, I do dwell in self-hatred and guilt over it. So sort of?

But..

I don't tend to obsessively clean or do housework, usually, I just can't get motivated to do it.
And definitely don't cut, over-exercise (I wish) or engage in excessive pornography...well, not unless you count fan-fiction or reading romance novels... does getting off on 50 Shades of Grey and Nautibitz's Spuffy fanfic count as excessive pornography??? Maybe?

How to help an INFJ experiencing stress:
– Give them space.
– Reduce sensory stimulation; music, interruptions, TV, etc,..
– Let them express their thoughts and feelings.
– Understand that they may be irrational. Don’t judge them.
– Don’t give advice. This will only stress them out further.
– Let them take a break from some of their responsibilities
– Encourage them to spend some time in nature, walking or reading a book.
– Take a walk with them if they want company.
– Encourage their less serious side, and let them relieve emotional tension by letting them cry through a sappy movie or novel of some sort.
– Be forgiving if they’ve been overly harsh or critical while under stress. Chances are, they will feel very guilty about it.

This actually nails me in various ways. In particular:

"Don't give advice, this will only stress them out further"

- So true. I tend to get furious and yell at the person. Because it completely stresses me out.
Mainly because usually the advice entails me doing something that makes no sense and I can't figure out how to accomplish and just doesn't work for me. And I feel guilty because I can't do it and am letting the other person down as a result.

Comments

[elisi]

I wonder if I'm shifting myself more towards an INFP at the moment?
You can't change type. When they talk about what stresses the types, they're talking about inferior functions. (Not sure how familiar you are with MBTI. Everyone has four functions*, in what's called a 'function stack', the lower the function, the weaker it is.) Your 'inferior' function (the lowest one) is the one that often comes out when you're stressed - your Achilles heel, as it were.

I don't know if this is at all helpful or of any interest. If it is, I can literally go on forever & explain where the various stress factors come from. (For an INFJ. Am happy to do other types too.)


*Sensing, 'Thinking' (i.e. logic), 'Feeling' (i.e. values) and iNtuition - these can be either introverted or extroverted.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I went to Personality Hacker (http://www.personalityhacker.com/about/)and took the test again, yep, INFJ. There's also an article about how INFJ's and INFP's often get confused, but actually are very different types, and provides 7 differences.

My difficulty with it though is it is still attempting to index the human being, and well there's just some things that don't quite fit. Or slip through the cracks. It tells you who you are based on generalizations and assumptions, but doesn't seem to take into account exceptions. (shrugs). I think this has always been my innate difficulty with psychology as a science, it's horribly inexact and dangerously inaccurate at times. There's so much we don't know about how our minds work and how we think.

And each individual person is unique. None of us think the same. We may have a few similarities here and there, but we think and perceive so differently. And there's so many variables that come into play. I remember having a discussion ages ago with a college friend about whether environment or DNA had more affect on influencing behavior patterns and thinking. Nuture vs. Nature. She came at from a sociology perspective, while I was convinced it was a bit of both. I mean you and I could both be INFJ's for example, but, we live in different places, one of us may have a learning disability or a digestive ailment, one may have kids, one may not...all of these are vital factors.

I think human beings like to over-simplify things sometimes so they can put a label on it and put it in a box. Sort of like Riley does in the episode of BTVS entitled Restless.

I'm not saying there isn't a great deal of value in the Myers-Briggs personality tests or that they aren't useful, but I think they can be dangerous if someone relies solely on these tests to figure themselves out or solve their relationship issues. A personality test taken on the internet can only tell you so much.

[elisi]

I mean you and I could both be INFJ's for example, but, we live in different places, one of us may have a learning disability or a digestive ailment, one may have kids, one may not...all of these are vital factors.
Very true. But MBTI is about Nature rather than Nurture - much like how you may be right or left handed, or gay or straight. MBTI is, basically, about how your brain processes information. So we might be very different in how we have been brought up, and how we live our lives, but if you are an INFJ too, we would share a certain way of approaching the world.

I'm not saying there isn't a great deal of value in the Myers-Briggs personality tests or that they aren't useful, but I think they can be dangerous if someone relies solely on these tests to figure themselves out or solve their relationship issues. A personality test taken on the internet can only tell you so much.
Oh god this. I dislike the tests. My husband (who is an ENFP, I can absolutely attest to that) has - because I started talking about it - taken a few tests, and came out as either an ENFJ or an INFJ. If he'd bothered to read up on it further and understand the different functions, or even listen to me (which he refuses to do, he thinks it's all rubbish), he'd understand that he's so very much not an ENFJ. But because the tests often test on letters/preferences (I/E, N/S, T/F, P/J) they're not all that accurate. And, despite being only 'one letter apart', ENFJs and ENFPs share no actual functions...

Now I could go on, but I shall spare you. *g* However if you're interested allow me to recommend Personality Junkie, which is very good & indepth in their articles/descriptions (their test isn't great though). Start with Typology 101 and go from there. :)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I actually looked up a few vids on You Tube, and there's one with Carl Jung, who basically created the whole thing, and he states that typing is a good way of explaining certain behavior patterns but not rely on it absolutely.

Personality Hacker is actually one of the better tests that I've done and it does a good job of explaining the typing and how INFJ and INFP differ, and how ENFJ and INFJ differ. What is interesting about it is the whole the idea of how the brain is divided - you have a pilot, a co-pilot, and two backseat drivers.

I'm wondering if Personality Hacker is a cousin of Personality Junkie? [ETA: No, apparently one is free and a lot more detailed and one is not. Look up Personality Hacker, it's interesting - and goes in a lot of depth more than the Please Understand Me - Myers Briggs Books do.]

98% of the tests I take end up with INFJ, and now that I've read the summaries of them, yeah, I fit that type.
I started thinking about the discrepancies and realized, no, wait that works. The problem though with it, and this is true of most psychology, is a tendency psychologists have of projecting either themselves or people they know personality onto others. Example: "Oh, my mom was an INFJ, and she could never say no to anyone, and never took time for herself - that's so INFJ." Well, no, that's just your mom. A lot of INFJ's actually can say no, and do take a lot of time for themselves - and have always done so.

Which is what I liked about Carl Jung and Jungian psychology, he was open to the fact that a lot of factors came into play. And how you can't rely on just one. Unlike Freud, who was insistent on it just being the ego, id, and superego.
Jung went deeper and said, wait, it's not that simple, and the human mind is rather complex.

I'm frustrated psychology major, can't you tell? And like many frustrated psyche majors, I make the mistake of trying to self-diagnose myself. One should never do that. My mother was a psychology minor - so we discuss psychology a lot.

[elisi]

Meant to get back to this, sorry, life just took over for a while.

Example: "Oh, my mom was an INFJ, and she could never say no to anyone, and never took time for herself - that's so INFJ." Well, no, that's just your mom. A lot of INFJ's actually can say no, and do take a lot of time for themselves - and have always done so.
See my immediate response is - nope, that stereotype is an ISFJ. *g* But - once you delve deeper into the functions and understand how they fit together, you understand *how* people function, and where the stereotypes come from. But going from stereotypes only, you'll go wrong. (Which is basically what you were saying.) However, it's fascinating to dig down... I never thought anything could explain my mother, but MBTI has. It feels a little like magic. :)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Okay taking the Typology Test and I think the Personality Hacker test is better. This one? Some questions are impossible to answer.

ie:

Are you typically:

* Sympathizer

* Strategist

Me: depends on the situation. At work? Strategist. In life? A Sympathizer. I honestly don't know.

This is the problem with these tests, if you've no clue - you are basically guessing. Or if neither applies? What then?

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Okay finished the Typology 101 test? And I suggest you head over to Personality Hacker and do that one. It's a better test. Personality Junkie - typed me as INFP, (I got 60% P, so barely) and to get more info? You have to pay. While Personality Hacker gives you a complete workup for free and only asks payment if you want to use it for personal growth.

Go here: http://www.personalityhacker.com/

Here's the youtube video on INFJ and how the brain is wired, which I've never seen anyone do before. Usually they just give a general overview of each type like the Personality Junkie site did.



Thought it was rather fascinating and fit.

Depending on the test, I jump between INFJ and INFP, which according to this site can happen a lot, because people get confused about the types, and sometimes the tests aren't accurate in their questions. This one has an added question section that includes comments. And it's a lot more thorough. Also the questions are clearer and less ambiguous.

So much of psychological typing and diagnosis is dependent on how questions are phrased and answered. And how the test is administered. (I know this because I've had professional psychologists run tests on me at various points. And done it myself in psychology courses. So much of it is pattern analysis. I remember when I was in law school, one psychologist almost misdiagnosed me as ADD, but another, who was trained in the field, said, uh no, you're a normal law student struggling with a visual coordination disability. Don't fret about it.)

It's a called a soft science for a reason -- there's no hard facts or proof of anything. And a lot of the hard sciences make fun of it because of that. Philosophy gets the same flak. As does quantum physics. So it's in good company. People who like concrete facts and figures, and proof, tend to get annoyed with the softer sciences or so I've discovered.
While I prefer them, because I tend think that nothing is set in stone and everything is variable. So for me, the softer sciences are more interesting and more honest. ;-)

[elisi]

Okay finished the Typology 101 test? And I suggest you head over to Personality Hacker and do that one. It's a better test.
I did say the test was bad. But the articles (101, 201, 301 and 401) lay out the basics, and take you through the functions in a very clear way, which I wish I'd discovered sooner. Once you get your head around the functions - how they work and fit together, and the different function stacks - that's when it gets properly interesting.

Here's the youtube video on INFJ and how the brain is wired, which I've never seen anyone do before. Usually they just give a general overview of each type like the Personality Junkie site did.
I've only watched a little, but that's what I mean. Speaking of the difference between INFJ and INFP, then they share no functions at all, they just look alike from the outside. INFJ's function stack goes: Ni-Fe-Ti-Se and INFP's go: Fi-Ne-Si-Te. Often it takes time for people to work out what they are - especially if they have other issues that distort their true functions. (But it's so worthwhile to stick with it! Understanding how Darcy & I differ, f.ex., has made life simpler in many ways. Yes, he still annoys me, but now I know *why*, which makes a big difference.)

When I first started, I found a chart similar to this one & printed it off:



It was extremely helpful to have to hand before I got it all fixed in my head. :)

I also came across this which offers nice definitions:



(What they call 'Observing' is what usually known as 'Perceiving' and 'Deciding' is probably a better term than 'Judging'. Overall it helps to remove F & T from 'feeling' & 'thinking' which are so misnamed!!)

So much of it is pattern analysis. I remember when I was in law school, one psychologist almost misdiagnosed me as ADD, but another, who was trained in the field, said, uh no, you're a normal law student struggling with a visual coordination disability. Don't fret about it.
*nods a lot* I don't even want to think about how those things can be skewed...

While I prefer them, because I tend think that nothing is set in stone and everything is variable. So for me, the softer sciences are more interesting and more honest. ;-)
Well, I'll back away now, but if you want to know more/discuss it further, I can bring my NTP friends (one INTP & one ENTP), who can talk about this at more length and in more detail than you would ever have thought possible! But they can also ask all the right questions to help you work out what type you are... (I've been 'studying' typology for 2 1/2 years, but it's a proper rabbit hole and the more you learn, the more you realise there is to know.)

ETA: Actually Inferior functions are often a good short-cut to working out which type you are, as it can be difficult to decide between your strengths, but your Achillies heel is easier to ascertain...

Inferior Te (for INFP)

Inferior Se (for INFJ)

(I was never really in doubt that I was an INFJ, but that article above was so unerringly accurate that I began predicting what would show up next... And I was right.)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the details.

[elisi]

Tests are AWFUL and wildly inaccurate. And this is exactly why.