ISFPs and depression

coren said:

So I'm 19 and have been depressed for about two years now. I'm very much an ISFP and was wondering if depression is more common among us.

Discuss.

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I am a XNFP but since I really can't peg myself as an introvert or an extrovert I tend to check both the INFP and ENFP forums a lot. I quickly noticed that the ENFP subforum was generally upbeat and cheerful whereas the INFP subforum tended to have a more melancholy vibe.

Having struggled with major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder myself, I was curious as to whether there was any correlation between depression and/or anxiety and one's Myers Briggs Type. I found there was a study done on this subject and I was not surprised at the results.

The study found that patients with unipolar depression were significantly more often ISFP and INFP four-factor types. The male ISFP four-factor type was the most dramatically over-represented.

Here is the link if anyone would like to check it out: Myers Briggs Type indicator personal... [World J Biol Psychiatry. 2002] - PubMed - NCBI

This information was surprisingly very comforting to me. I have always thought of my depression as a disease, a genetic defect. Which I still believe it is. However, I felt kind of relieved knowing that the way I view the world and interact with others and feel things very deeply is somehow related to my depression. That may seem counterintuitive but to me it was as if I connected one more piece of the jigsaw puzzle together to reveal why I have been plagued with this darkness for two decades.

I hope that this information doesn't make anyone feel worse but will perhaps provide some insight instead.

I was depressed for a while. It was caused by some childhood trauma. I'm not depressed anymore but I can go from feeling very happy to very down and sad in a matter of minutes. Its very intense sometimes. Usually beautiful music and going walking in the sunshine help me. I feel the worst when I feel like I have no purpose.

I believe that the reason so many ISFPs seem to Have gone through.hard times is because Fi is the perfect defense to these problems. Fi gives you the strength to stick to your morals and grow into yourself. It gives you the ability to understand your emotions better than any one. Unfortunately this can also make us hypersensitive and possibly depressive. BTW I have had Dysthymia for two years now.

coren said:

So I'm 19 and have been depressed for about two years now. I'm very much an ISFP and was wondering if depression is more common among us.

Discuss.

Click to expand...

I've also suffered with depression, mine was bi-polar. I'd be up and down like a yo-yo at times and as some other people have said in this thread, it used to hit me suddenly and disappear just as quick.

In 2010 I was diagnosed with anxiety disorder as well, and my doctor told me that it's very common that depression and anxiety go hand-in-hand. I've been on anti depressants for the last 2 and a half years to control it, as I was very unpredictable when having anxiety or depressive episodes and they were worried that I would harm myself.

I think that ISFPs are susceptible to depression because I think we are quite emotionally-driven and it's not very hard for those feelings to get the best of us!

That's my opinion, anyways.

I guess I had always supposed depression came with the territory of being an Introverted feeling type. I suffered most of my life from both anxiety and depression. And pretty severe bouts of it. I had a mental/emotional breakdown that messed me up for a while. I've learned how to overcome it and now I can't imagine very much pulling me into the rabbit hole again.

Yes I think I have been in dysthymia since about high school. Most of the time I've been melancholic or indifferent, and for a long time I don't get hyper or excited about things like some people do. Sometimes my depression gets worse. Other times I'm doing fine. A relationship problem hurt me very badly earlier.

I have social anxiety for a long time as well, but now I have gotten better even though it still strikes me sometimes.

I have neurotic depression, to be honest I thought that being like this was normal for a long time :\...seems like it is also suppressing my Se.

The whole disconnect from reality thing that comes with dysthymia. Some days its worse, some days its normal and I have some good days, but overall apathy, disinterest and melancholy prevails.

@uncertain welcome to the club *hands you a hat

I was depressed in the last 2 years. I moved into a new country (switzerland), learned a new language (German), tried to adapt a new culture, and missed my families and friends back home (well I still miss them). But I'm a lot better now, until I realized I'm going to graduate and I'm going to leave school and I'm going to lose some of my friends and class (which I starting to like).

FreeBeer said:

I have neurotic depression, to be honest I thought that being like this was normal for a long time :\...seems like it is also suppressing my Se.

The whole disconnect from reality thing that comes with dysthymia. Some days its worse, some days its normal and I have some good days, but overall apathy, disinterest and melancholy prevails.

@uncertain welcome to the club *hands you a hat

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Wow that's totally me, except for the hopelessness part. I still retain some hope. At least I try to. And I'm okay with concentrating.

Yes that doesn't bother me for the most part, but this whole thing is in no way cheerful either so I stay indifferent, and tranquil, actually. When it does bother me my emotion would go downhill and the depression gets worse.

uncertain said:

Wow that's totally me, except for the hopelessness part. I still retain some hope. At least I try to. And I'm okay with concentrating.

Yes that doesn't bother me for the most part, but this whole thing is in no way cheerful either so I stay indifferent, and tranquil, actually. When it does bother me my emotion would go downhill and the depression gets worse.

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Yeah, same here. I'm determined to find and fix myself. No way I'm giving up, neither should you. Ever considered getting counseling?

FreeBeer said:

Yeah, same here. I'm determined to find and fix myself. No way I'm giving up, neither should you. Ever considered getting counseling?

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Thanks. Yes that's important. I actually went to counseling for my social anxiety last year. For a long time I thought that I was born as weird and there was indeed something wrong with me, but that there was nothing abnormal about me being abnormal, and I would be just like that forever.

I wouldn't have gone there if I didn't stay at least a bit hopeful, believing that there's always a way to fix myself. My mom actually suffered from major depression and went to counseling, from which I got a vague sense that counseling might help. I didn't know how to fix myself so I just dived straight into counseling to see what would happen, but I was still largely negative about the whole thing by that time. (This part sounds pretty contradictory against the last paragraph but that's how it is. Hopefully it is making sense to you.)

The psychologist helped correcting my unhealthy and distorted way of thinking about myself and social things, but it was not until very recently that I got significantly better out of it. I'm still very reserved and seldom initiate conversation. I'm bad at talking, and this alone always makes awkward silence and awkward conversation.

I think I still have those unhealthy thoughts. We have not worked on my depression too much, and I guess that's why. I'm still pretty reserved about it even though my psychologist has known me for quite a while. Actually I am not sure if those thoughts are even unhealthy or abnormal anymore. I am probably just no good after all.

I've always been really anxious and since I was about 14, I've had crisis that lasted little periods of time, like 2-3 weeks or so.

Nearly two years ago it really hit me and wouldn't go away. I was diagnosed with depression and extreme anxiety and have been on medication for year now, which made it a lot better!
I'm still trying to manage it though, cause the medication will often made me insensitive and kind of robotic and being an ISFP, I just don't feel like I'm being my ordinary sensitive self.

Because we feel so much and so deeply, I do believe we can be more prone to depression. But I'm also determined to get better and I hope this is a matter of learning to deal with the things that affect us. That's what I've been trying to work on nowadays.