#mistyping

Anon wrote:After years struggling with my mental health, now I want to take action and take the serious steps to improve myself and my life, so I can make it worth living while I am around. I find that I can use mbti as a tool for it.

So I thought I was an INTP for a long time, but now I come to realize that my T usage is not that primary, I thought I used TI because I am always strategizing even the simplest things, I want to make this as correct as possible so it will optimize my wellbeing, things always have to make sense for me, but I can observe in my lifetime that I haven’t been very consistent.

I thought I used aux Ne because I was scatterbrained and couldn’t hold many interests for a long time, but truthfully I’m not good at generating many ideas, even though I think I’m fairly good at making connections.

Tert Si because of my tendency of resigning to comfort zones when things get too hard or failure is in sign. I throw hands very easily when I see or think things are not going to work out the way I envisioned them. I can be very rigid in some mindsets when I believe I’m right, I can be very nostalgic and create narratives for myself so I can estabilize my identity of sorts.

Inf. Fe is a tough one, I’ve always had a hard time integrating with the world, I have very few friends now because I isolated myself after high school because of depression and anxiety, but deep down I have an enormous desire for connections and I just can’t put myself out there, I’m really afraid of being invalidated or hurt or shamed for being myself.

So I started speculating the possibility of being Ti tert, with my necessity of being logical and efficient just an introverted loop. I’m very sure I’ve been overusing my introverted functions too much, I’ve been terrified of putting myself out there in the world, literally and methaphorically, I’m terrified of even trying, because I don’t want to fail. I’m so deep in my own ruminations that I have trouble in acting.

So maybe I use Si or Ni as my dominant functions, conceptually I kind of understand Ni but I have a hard time visualizing it, so maybe I use too much that I don’t even realize like when I never take things people say at face value because obviously there must something undelying, or when I just can’t accept things as they are because it will probably hurt if all of these is meaningless. Because of my depression it’s really hard for me to make big plans for the future, but I envision how I’d like to be if I wasn’t so messed up in the head, I create strategies in my head to get in that good place or image of myself I created in my head, but I just can’t take it into action.

So I’ve been trying to figure out my type for a long time, always doubting my conclusions, so I’m between INTP, INFJ and ISFJ. I would really appreciate if you helped me, I really want to wake up, get up and start living a life I’m proud of.

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The points that you brought up for why you believed you were INTP are the same as every case I’ve seen of INFJs mistyping as INTP. Of the three types, the psychological issues/problems you’ve raised are better explained with the unhealthy INFJ stack. You haven’t presented compelling evidence of Si-Ne. If you suffer from serious anxiety or depression, it is a good idea to get some therapy.

Anon wrote: Hi, I hope you’re doing well. I thought I might’ve been an INFJ before, but now I’m considering to be a Fi-dom. I’ve always considered myself to be a Ti user, since i’m very analytical and I don’t consider only my personal feelings in my considerations and I do have the wrong perception of high Fi users of being too self righteous, lacking logical thinking in making decisions that will specially influence other people too.

I’m quite self absorbed myself too in making decisions I will make an analysis first and foremost from my perspective I like to believe I’m being impersonal, trying to figure out things on how they make most sense and will benefit myself first but I will consider how it will be better for everyone involved too. I feel like my moral and standards can be malleable too, if it will benefit me in the end or I see it as a sort of better path, is it possible for me to still be a Fi-dom?

I’m very individualistic, emotionally secretive and I choose my expressiveness very carefully I’m always trying to be mindful of other people’s feelings and expectations even if this awareness will not make me act in a way to conform. I’m deeply interested in understanding people’s character, motivation, psychology etc In a way to probably navigate better personal relationships or to just create a holistic comprehension of people. I’m considering taking a psychology course when I finish my first degree.

I do have ingrained principles in myself, and I consider my well being first even tho I deal with severe self-loathing and shame for not being able to be the person I’ve always idealized I would be. I’m still figuring out what I really want and I very much struggle with it. I feel like I’m in a never ending path of figuring out myself and my life and all the practical issues of my life get sidetracked in this pursuit. I feel like I can’t start living until I figure it out.

I haven’t figure out my perception functions yet, I sometimes feel I’m realistic and grounded but I have strong difficulties in dealing with things as they are, I feel like I tend to complicate them and assume too much when actually it’s quite straightforward. When I was a teen I cared too much about other’s people validation and I probably seemed like a very conflicted fe-user, but the feeling after cutting myself to fit in was bad.

My T struggles often involve of getting my life together I feel safer with established procedures but I have a very hard time following them through. I related a lot to Ti, because I tend to create personal models of systems on how to deal with stuff, but they are very simplistic and often fail. When I’m stressed I can be very obsessive and compulsive, like trying however in my control to take control of situations whether dealing with people, myself or practical issues of my life.

I have many issues that are cited for Fi-doms, I can’t function when I’m going through too many negative emotions, I take how I’m feeling as the first measure to navigate things I can feel things very intensely and with complexity, but I honestly don’t have any strong passions or am stubborn about my ideals. I do crave for validation, even social, probably because I’m very insecure about my character and I’m worried about not measuring up in external standards, because I def am not measuring up.

I have a strong sentiment of not bringing anything to the table in relationships and this makes me isolative and distant with people (I don’t want to be shamed or judged, at the same time I want to be seenwholly and accepted but I can’t take the steps that are required, eg opening up, showing vulnerability etc). I have many contradicting traits and motivations and not being able to find common ground with them causes me distress.

Escapism is a problematic route I often take, when the real world, the practical aspects of my life are too much for me to deal, or they are not going as I intend and I’m dealing with disappointment and failure. In these moments I over indulge myself trying to applacate the emptiness I feel. These days I’m lacking direction, action and motivation because I can’t quite figure out what I really want. and I feel very disconnected from my life and end up too caught up in my subjectiveness.

I rather not live at all than live a life that I can’t see as valuable or right in my perceived standards that have to do with my personal visions and also from external measures of success because we do live in a society and it’s probably going to be easier to be in it if you’re measuring up to some of it. You think these descriptions are closer to a fi-dom? I ruled out being a thinking type because I let my emotions cloud my better judgements sometimes, and i’m still in doubt with Ne and Se.

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The Function Theory Guide already includes points for quickly ruling out certain dominant functions. You have brought up more than enough points to rule out dominant Fi. Generally speaking, if you have to stretch logic to try to make a dominant function fit you, you’re not that type, especially if you are incapable of understanding the function in anything but stereotypically negative terms. As far as I can tell, you are conflating your unhealthy introverted tendencies with Fi.

The problems and issues you raise are more consistent with the unhealthy INFJ stack than INFP stack. Developing Fi would require you to sink even further into your unhealthy and isolating feeling life, how would that be good? Developing Ne would exacerbate your aimlessness and escapism, how would that be good? You lack life direction -> the solution is Ni development in crafting and committing to a long term vision, isn’t it? You are “empty” and have low self-worth -> the solution is Fe development through emotional connection and belonging to something meaningfully larger than yourself, isn’t it?

Sometimes, when people are very resistant to function development, they try to convince themselves that they’re another type, usually picking a type that doesn’t really require them to change. Whether this is true of you, only you know.