MBTI & stress

[Aubrey]

I hope y'all aren't getting annoyed w/ me--I'm so fascinated by personality theory.

 

So my question is--do you find that under extreme stress, big decisions, etc., one or more of your letters switches? For ex, if you're normally an F, stress makes you pocket your feelings & *think,* but you also become emotionally unavailable, because the result would be like a magician pulling a string of handkerchiefs out of his pocket?

 

Or vice versa, if you're normally a thinker, under stress do you become more emotional? Does it effect how you approach problems, people, etc?

 

If you experience such a change, is it voluntary, do you think, or involuntary?

 

:bigear:

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

Or vice versa, if you're normally a thinker, under stress do you become more emotional? Does it effect how you approach problems, people, etc?

 

If you experience such a change, is it voluntary, do you think, or involuntary?

 

:bigear:

 

This is an interesting question. I am INTJ with a capital T but I recently went through a very stressful period and I just pulled the plug on thinking. I made a decision to stop thinking, had to stop thinking because it wasn't getting me anywhere. I can't say I went to the other side though. I tried not to feel either. :lol: I guess when the stress first hit, I became more emotional, but I shut that off as fast as I could. Basically, I shut off both sides and just hid out and scrubbed grout tile until the situation passed. :001_huh:

 

Thank goodness the situation resolved itself happily or else I might forever be an IN_J. :lol:

Edited July 7, 2010 by Alte Veste Academy

[Aubrey]

This is an interesting question. I am INTJ with a capital T but I recently went through a very stressful period and I just pulled the plug on thinking. I made a decision to stop thinking, had to stop thinking because it wasn't getting me anywhere. I can't say I went to the other side though. I tried not to feel either. :lol: I guess when the stress first hit, I became more emotional, but I shut that off as fast as I could. Basically, I shut off both sides and just hid out and scrubbed grout tile until the situation passed. :001_huh:

 

Thank goodness the situation resolved itself happily or else I might forever be an IN_J. :lol:

 

I'm INTJ, too, & I drive my F dh nuts because I can quickly & coldly make huge life decisions--marrying him, for ex. Then, once the decision's made, I start to *feel* it & panic until that part of me is happy w/ the decision, too, or until I begin rethinking it.

 

Basically, it means I'm a roller coaster after the decision's made. I snap at him to hurry up & decide, he slowly plods toward certainty (very slowly), & once he's there, I plummet into a dark hole that makes us both question everything.

 

Glad your issue resolved itself!

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

I'm INTJ, too, & I drive my F dh nuts because I can quickly & coldly make huge life decisions--marrying him, for ex. Then, once the decision's made, I start to *feel* it & panic until that part of me is happy w/ the decision, too, or until I begin rethinking it.

 

Basically, it means I'm a roller coaster after the decision's made. I snap at him to hurry up & decide, he slowly plods toward certainty (very slowly), & once he's there, I plummet into a dark hole that makes us both question everything.

 

Glad your issue resolved itself!

 

Thanks! Me too. :001_smile:

 

I really think I'm 99% T because once I make a decision, I'm good. I think a long time before I act though. I don't think I have an impulsive bone in my body. When DH asked me to marry him, we had dated 4.5 years so I was all in, having known what my answer would be for...oh, let's say 4.4 years already. :lol:

 

I forget what my DH is. I should have him test again. Where is the online version?

Edited July 7, 2010 by Alte Veste Academy

[2cents]

I'm an INTJ and normally stress makes me rely more on my planning and thinking tendencies to the point I can overanalyze/overthink things. I don't get emotional but I do get controlling, focused and dh says I micromanage. ;)

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

I'm an INTJ and normally stress makes me rely more on my planning and thinking tendencies to the point I can overanalyze/overthink things. I don't get emotional but I do get controlling, focused and dh says I micromanage. ;)

 

:iagree: You know, I shut down with MAJOR stress but for slight to moderate stress, I would say this is true.

[Mosaicmind]

Heck!!! Under stress I just let another "part" out to deal with it :)

[Aubrey]

:iagree: You know, I shut down with MAJOR stress but for slight to moderate stress, I would say this is true.

 

Yeah, slight to moderate, I simply organize & make lists. Move to Malaysia? I'm a nut. :lol:

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

Yeah, slight to moderate, I simply organize & make lists. Move to Malaysia? I'm a nut. :lol:

 

...and the more I think about it the more I think the real reason I shut down was not even that the stress was so large. I think the real reason I shut down is that I had absolutely zero control over the situation...couldn't affect it one way or another with thinking, planning, organizing, pro/con lists, etc. (all my go-to solutions :lol:). In a major stress, wait and see situation, what does a thinker have left? I went with tile grout. :lol:

[Lisa in Jax]

Aubrey,

 

I'm an E/I STJ, b/c my scores on E/I are very close. I'm very outgoing and can talk to almost anyone, but my batteries get recharged with family/quiet time, not at a party. So, when I'm stressed, I get more *I*, and much less E.

 

I haven't noticed a real change in the others when I'm stressed. I tend to be *more* S, T and J. Stress? Bring on the lists of pros and cons, so I can make a dadgummed decision! ;-)

 

Lisa