1) Have you ever experienced an Ni/Ti loop? Did you feel 'schizoid', as
this article suggests? Or rather, did you better fit the symptomology of
avpd?
I suspect I am in the loop, somewhat, and yes; some parts does feel schizoid / avoidant. Or to be exact, the lack of Fe.
This one here fits;
- avoids occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact, because of fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejection;
- shows restraint within intimate relationships because of the fear of being shamed or ridiculed;
But this one is situational; how to say it without being a broken music box... my surroundings are unhealthy to my mental well being. But indeed, the trick is to evoke Se ('get out' more often) and Fe (and engage with people and the world more often, except that unhealthy surroundings..) to create a sort of external standards that is harmonious and balancing to the framework Ni and Ti has made.
Note the top three functions:
Ni is a worldview simulator. It can extrapolate endlessly upon itself at whim.
Fe is a moral/social executive. It builds and enforces systems of social protocols.
Ti is basically a set of scales weighing logical purity. It compares and contrasts the tangible to see what works best.
Disclaimer: the following is just what I have observed in myself during periods of unbalanced Ni-Ti loops; your mileage may vary.
When a Ni worldview is not fed by Fe to determine the best course of action for Human Concern X, it can (and will, in my experience) go wild and create all kinds of ideas and theories about the world that have no tangible manifestation. (Think of super hardcore conspiracy theorists.) Because Fe is on the Ignore List, Ti is the next thing called into action for evaluating effectiveness. But because it has no measurable effects to weigh and contrast, nothing to logically pin down and dissect, it will repeatedly shoot Ni's nonlinear ideas down as too far-fetched. Ni then generates more ideas to solve problem XYZ and the process repeats until the INFJ in question gets out of hir bedroom and actively engages the world.
Is that what you were looking for?
This one here is a good explanation. However, this is but one direction (when everything is deflected around and nothing really works)
There are another direction; one that I'm in. Namely 'shunning certain functions for the sake of another'. I'm going to explain it here...
2) What's so bad about an Ni/Ti loop? Isn't logical consistency good?
There are two keys:
a) Ni and Ti loops creates a certain framework. -THAT- framework tend to be internal. The worse the loop are, the more external influences will be blocked and dismissed 'because they don't fit my framework / ideals / what I -see- as good'. Notice on the above that Ti deflects everything? Yes. That also happens here. "This is wrong; this isn't right;
this doesn't fit!"
b)the bad part isn't in creating the consistency as it is to maintain those.
Tertiary loops are happening when we focus so much in maintaining our consistency, we forgot to engage with the world.... You know, in a 'I just cleaned my room here so I won't open any cupboards, touch any surfaces, and let anyone inside because THEY WILL WRECK MY ROOM AGAIN AND NO FUCK NO'
3) Is
belcs right in that undeveloped Fe has less to do with a personality defect, and more to do with "working through your problems"?
It......sort of is. The definition of working through one's problems is quite complex in the first place.
4) Why do infjs repress their Fe in the first place?
In my case, it's because the surroundings aren't healthy.
Fe (or at least -my- Fe) works as much as a sponge as it is a messenger. As they go outside to express their thoughts, ideas, and values -- They also absorb the surroundings' emotions, values, social cues.
When the INFJs in question realizes that 'hey, my surroundings is bad for my mental health (for various reason, whether it's toxicity, incompatible ideas, conflict prone, or potentially swaying / tempting us to sway)', the quickest way to remain 'sane' (that is, to protect our Ti / the framework of 'truths' we're making and to keep our Ni / perspective of the world 'pristine') is to withdraw.
This can mean physically withdrawing (Se) or emotionally / socially withdrawing (Fe)