[Radiant Flux]

I've been thinking alot about this subject, and I have an...idea. It seems to me that thinkers are more prone to break-downs...or perhaps it's introverts.

It just seems that feelers and extroverts share more about how they're feeling, and being an IT, I tend to bottle it up.

Hmm. This seems lame now.

Your thoughts?

 

[Just_Some_Guy]

Prone to breakdowns? That seems to be the only way to really confront emotions as Ti is the exact opposite of Fe. The two just don't align. Forcing the world to conform to your logic versus allowing yourself to conform to the emotional stimulation of the world? That's a tall order.

The problem seems to be that the INTP just doesn't have a readily available means to discuss emotions, so they get bottled up and neglected, slowly building strength until they rupture the logical confines that suppress them. My philosophy is that Ti is like a calculator (giggle). Would you allow your entire being to be run by a calculator? Hell no! But that's what people tend to do. It's awesome to have an incredible calculator at hand, but letting rule you is just not right.

 

[Mendelevium]

Emotions are dangerous. That is something I treat as a truth, and I generally do not notice them until I realize I am projecting my own emotions onto my observations far too much, or when I have a tantrum.

However, being a writer, I generally have to examine the emotions of my fellow human beings to make something interesting to my target audience, which gets slightly odd because I get the feeling of 'playing god' at those moments -- a feeling of mild amusement and curiosity with a sense of 'what happens if I press this button?' Then I understand that I am regarding something very human, no matter how I view it, which means I am, in effect, psychoanalyzing my potential self, which then turns messy because I have an automatic denial of being 'human' which is quite obviously untrue despite my detachment from humanity.

Oh, and the feeling of dry humor. It only really made sense in my head, did it not?

 

[feefafo]

I usually end up feeling lots of emotions at once. Really, the emotions have been there for a while, but I only really notice them when I'm under pressure and they all come out at once.

I try to get past this by letting out my emotions when it's safe. Sometimes I need to have a good cry (in the safety of my own house), have a good, lengthy discussion (with my mum or a close friend (or the Internet)) or keep a diary for a few days when I have too many thoughts to keep in my head.

The difference with my emotional releases and other people's emotional releases is that I need to FIX it once I've got the emotions out. For some people, once they've had a cry about it all, it's fine because the emotions are out of the way. Once I've cried - or when I'm crying - I have to work out exactly what's caused me to feel this way so I can stop it from happening again. Emotions are kind of like a way to tell you what your thoughts actually mean and where they're going to take you. It's simple - if you're happy, then you're doing something right. If you can't see for tears, then you've got to change something before you cause any serious damage.

I wonder if the way I handle emotions has anything to do with being a woman.
:dry:

 

[Zic]

My grandad died a year ago.
Didn't shed a tear.
My grandma died a couple of years ago.
Didn't shed a tear.

Watching all those people at the funeral crying (which I had never seen in my life before) was puzzling. Like -wtf?
Not that I didn't feel sad for them dying, but I saw no point in crying - what, am I going to get them back or something? The best thing I could do was just go on. Mourning, well, it's pointless.

 

[username]

Aren't we prone to depression? Why is that? Do we think too much and fall into negative thought patterns?

 

[feefafo]

Aren't we prone to depression? Why is that? Do we think too much and fall into negative thought patterns?

I just think we fall in to thought patterns and they lead to negative places.

We're naturally very hard on ourselves. What happens when you turn your logic back on your thoughts and feelings? Is it always logical to be happy? But there's still lots of other problems! Anyway, what makes us special? We haven't done anything fantastic. If we had, we'd be highly respected members of society by now. No, we still stay at home. In our heads. On Internet forums. There's not much to be happy about there. No important and useful ideas. No motivation to carry them through, anyway. No social life to fall back on. If we were going to make something of our lives, we would have at least started by now. But no. So there's really, really not a reason to by the slightest bit happy at all.


Sometimes I forget I'm only 14.

 

[Mendelevium]

Indeed. Then there is a question of judging one's worth by social achievements, which can cause existential depression...I still have problems. I believe INTP's sometimes resort to the method used by scientists to deal with anomalies: ignoring it. It is a coping mechanism -- by ignoring the negative thoughts one can cut off the negative emotions at the source, at least until the topic is brought up again. :tongue:

 

[SomeWeirdGuy]

Once when I was around 9, me and my mother were in the car and about to park by the mall when a man (presumably unemployed) came up beside the car and knocked on the window. I immediately thought he was trying to rob us. My mom tried to talk to him, but he put a hand to his ear, meaning that he was deaf (obviously). He then handed a keychain to my mother and held out his hand. The keychain was very simple, a molded plastic form with a butterfly sticker and another layer of plastic covering it. On the chain part there was a small note saying this (I still have it so I am reading this off the note):

Sir or Madam,
I am a deaf person and sell the handmade keychains. Will you help me by buying this keychain? The price is $3.00
Thank you

My mother fished around and came up with only 2 dollars (the rest were used to buy a chocolate bar earlier probably). He gave us a thumbs up through the window and walked away. My mother went inside the mall to go buy groceries and left me in the car. That was one of only a few times I cried with all my raw emotions.

Whenever I stare into the butterfly sticker on it, I always cry a bit. Maybe its the memory of that man or the simple beauty of the keychain... I just can't explain it. That butterfly always captivates my eyes with the glint of the small sticker, the beauty of the rock behind it... its true art.

If you ever wanted to know what an INTP looks like when they are overwhelmed by emotion, that was it. I might take a picture of the keychain sometime.

 

[LQ9]

I'm definitely a bottle-it-up-er. I do just fine that way. I can actually be quite sentimental and nostalgia-prone when I'm alone. I tend to stay calm, cool and rational with others. The only thing I can't handle is other people's anger - scold me seriously and that's it, I'm a puddle.

 

[AkiKaza]

I'm definitely a bottle-it-up-er. I do just fine that way. I can actually be quite sentimental and nostalgia-prone when I'm alone. I tend to stay calm, cool and rational with others. The only thing I can't handle is other people's anger - scold me seriously and that's it, I'm a puddle.

I don't like other people seeing my break down, so I always go hide in my room, where I feel much safer. If I cry in public, then I'll feel weak, and I'll hate myself for the rest of the day, maybe even longer.

And I can't stand when other people yell at me or get angry at me. It's like it's just too much raw emotion directed at me all at once and I can't handle it, I get shaken up so badly, I'll be distracted for hours.

 

[kiwigrl]

I've been thinking alot about this subject, and I have an...idea. It seems to me that thinkers are more prone to break-downs...or perhaps it's introverts.

It just seems that feelers and extroverts share more about how they're feeling, and being an IT, I tend to bottle it up.

Hmm. This seems lame now.

Your thoughts?

Good point. My ISTJ brother had a nervous break down years ago, he is fine now but I think that it was his inability to express his emotions which caused it. He still is someone who struggles with expressing his emotions.

I also think that apart from MBTI, certain temperaments like melancholics are susceptible to break downs. They take things harder than the other temperaments. This is why, even though I am NF I also am part melancholic temperament so if I get down about something I have to be careful that it doesn't affect me too deeply and send me to a dark place.

 

[Mendelevium]

Strong emotions give me a panic attack -- no pun intended.

 

[ProlyphiQ]

I agree. I think I read on one of the many INTP profiles that because we 'live' inside our heads, we try to keep the external world as simplified and uncomplicated as possible. Unfortunately, the realm of the emotional world is a very external problem for me personally, so I tend to only show my true feelings in more of a private one to one basis. Florid declarations of emotions in public make me uncomfortable and too display anything [in public] which deems irrational (i.e. yelling, screaming or slapping) is fatal to a relationship, simply because I don't like drawing attention to myself.

But getting back to the subject matter, I consider myself to have very deep emotions, but the venue I choose to express it is private. Therefore any type that needs a constant affirmation of love, especially in public, doesn't work well. I actually find it suffocating and silly.

 

[The Phantom]

The trick is to just say 'fuck it' every once in a while, and just let go.

 

[Incorporeal]

The trick is to just say 'fuck it' every once in a while, and just let go.

Amen to that, man.

 

[honestfi]

There is a great line in the film A Matter of Life And Death, when Frank Reeves says: "A weak mind isn't strong enough to hurt itself. Stupidity has saved many a man from going mad."

It is sooo true. I'm not saying that NF's or SF's are stupid, but the hardest thinkers put the greatest pressure on their brains until maybe they think the whole weight of the world is on their shoulders and they crack.

Won't go into details, but I have seen this first hand.

 

[Aislee]

Throughout my life, and for the entirety of a whole year, I've spent my time around many NFs and SFs as opposed to what I usually prefer: NTs. So for some reason, despite being an INTP, I am extremely prone to breakdowns. Although I feel crappy for crying in public (it looks pathetic), I no longer have a problem with being upset around other people because I decided not to care about what other people think when they see me upset. I realized it happens to a lot of people... everyone gets upset every once in a while.

Most of the time, I tend to bottle my feelings up though. Especially positive ones. For some reason, the negative ones seep through my skin occasionally. And when I'm put under pressure or am faced with multiples of emotions at the same time, they just burst out of me.

So people tend to think that I'm a Feeler when they witness all of this. However, back when I was a child I would never show my feelings. It was because of my friends who awkwardly showed me it's okay to cry and show my emotions that I found it easier to do. As for present day, I still tend to hide my feelings unless I feel that the situation gives me an 'okay' to show emotions... or if I'm around very close people.

 

[Acebrock]

Personally, I'm like a vulcan. I bury my intense emotions as much as possible, because the second they get way from me, I completely lose control. Then again, I do carry a lot of baggage, from a very unfun time in school.

If my emotions have to be drawn out, I tend to break down or fight back against it, and try to maintain my shell of stoicism, because having a breakdown is just humiliating for me.

It doesn't help that I don't have anywhere or when private enough to have a nice cry.

 

[noosabar]

My emotions drive me insane, I am consumed lately with emotional termoil and it harasses me to a point where I truely question the stability of my mind, I feel like im teetering on the edge of breakdown. Screaming silently.
No one else around me has a clue with whats going on. I give nothing away, my problems are not theirs.