Damage or type?

splott

splott

Donor
MBTI
INFJ
Enneagram
5/6: self pres
I almost titled this post "when good INFJs go bad"...but I realized I'm assuming too much.

So I'm reframing the question: Does personality type persist through damage/baggage? I know someone who I'd suspect, from the level we connect, is INFJ. But he took a lot of damage in his history, dealt with it poorly, and now freaks out and backs away from too deep a connection. (Last time we connected very deeply, and he struck out at me, it was ugly. This time, I'm keeping distance...if he does it again I'm gonna stamp him as "too crazy for even friends".)

I'm wondering, has his damage made him functionally a different type? Does that happen? OR ...?
 
splott said:
I almost titled this post "when good INFJs go bad"...but I realized I'm assuming too much.

So I'm reframing the question: Does personality type persist through damage/baggage? I know someone who I'd suspect, from the level we connect, is INFJ. But he took a lot of damage in his history, dealt with it poorly, and now freaks out and backs away from too deep a connection. (Last time we connected very deeply, and he struck out at me, it was ugly. This time, I'm keeping distance...if he does it again I'm gonna stamp him as "too crazy for even friends".)

I'm wondering, has his damage made him functionally a different type? Does that happen? OR ...?
Click to expand...

did you know this person before the damage/baggage?
what do you mean when you say you connected? do you have philosophical discussions, or are they intimate or personal discovery discussions?

i think our life experiences play a great part in forming and changing our personalities. especially if they're negative or traumatic.
however, some people are just messed up to start with and end up having a meltdown every once in a while because they can't maintain the fa
 
JGirl said:
did you know this person before the damage/baggage?
what do you mean when you say you connected? do you have philosophical discussions, or are they intimate or personal discovery discussions?
Click to expand...

I didn't know him before, no.
And yes, all of the above..all kinds of deep discusssions.
 
I would think his experiences have simply repressed the natural growth and refinement of his personality type, causing all sorts of ugliness. Trauma can ruin anyone and trap them in moldy worldviews, unable to grow.

Just my thoughts, though. Take them lightly.
 
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My less than two cents worth: Temperament is biological, thus experiences can modify but never change it. What various traumas do is teach us to hide the parts of us that are vulnerable, which we shield with personas. But underneath the surface we are still the same person. You can change your politics. You can change your religion. You can change spouses. But you can't change your biology.
 
okay, so what I'm getting out of the responses is, a person will still be their MBTI type, but due to their damage and facade, they'll be harder to identify. okay.
 
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