forced changes

[petra]

i'm wondering is it possible to change your mbti type, but not purposely? like you're adopting to something that has happened, or is happening, some bigger changes, situations, traumas etc. what then happens, is that transfer from one type to another very difficult for person?

i suppose that people change throw life, that sometimes we can't be the same as when we were children, but i'm asking for some 'forced' changes. subconsciously you know that if you don't change, if you don't assimilate, you won't make it. something like defense mechanism. so sometimes that's not a good change, but necessary, and it will be very stressful for person?

is that possible at all? are there some texts about it, or about something similar?

 

[Cecilff2]

i'm wondering is it possible to change your mbti type, but not purposely? like you're adopting to something that has happened, or is happening, some bigger changes, situations, traumas etc. what then happens, is that transfer from one type to another very difficult for person?

i suppose that people change throw life, that sometimes we can't be the same as when we were children, but i'm asking for some 'forced' changes. subconsciously you know that if you don't change, if you don't assimilate, you won't make it. something like defense mechanism. so sometimes that's not a good change, but necessary, and it will be very stressful for person?

is that possible at all? are there some texts about it, or about something similar?

A more extreme version of this is Dissociative Identity Disorder. Another thing is shadow functions. Under stress some people switch to their inferior functions and act like another type. (e.g. an INFJ starts relying on Ne, Fi, Te, and Si)

 

[88chaz88]

Change is a bad word for it, but you do develop into other types I believe.

I used to be a solid ISTP, but since being with my girlfriend (DoveAlexa) I've typed as ISFP pretty consistantly.

 

[Nixie]

You could look at In the Grip by Quenk (can't remember her first name) and she also did a book called Is That Really Me. Both deal with personalities types and how they react when stress and stuff cause you to act in your inferior aspect. I haven't read In the Grip but the other one was really facinating.

 

[IndigoSensor]

I am of the opinion that your true type is static and does not change.

 

[Melkor]

I am of the opinion that your true type is static and does not change.

I'd have to agree with Indy on this one, but I'd like to add, and hope he concurs, that should the chemical balance of the brain be disturbed, through drugs, injury or mental illness, the type might change drastically.



Such as in my case, being subjected to about eight years of medication and psychological torture as a child.

In all other cases the true type is simply operating under a guise.

 

[KazeCraven]

You might really develop a particular function (or two), but I think your function heirarchy (and thus type) remain the same.

 

[IndigoSensor]

I'd have to agree with Indy on this one, but I'd like to add, and hope he concurs, that should the chemical balance of the brain be disturbed, through drugs, injury or mental illness, the type might change drastically.



Such as in my case, being subjected to about eight years of medication and psychological torture as a child.

In all other cases the true type is simply operating under a guise.

Yup I agree. Severe pressure such as this can and does change personality at it's core, and thus type can shift as well.

 

[88chaz88]

Yup I agree. Severe pressure such as this can and does change personality at it's core, and thus type can shift as well.

I wonder if synesthesia has influenced Dove's INFJness. I rather think it has.

 

[DoveAlexa]

I wonder if synesthesia has influenced Dove's INFJness. I rather think it has.

We've discussed this, and synethesia main effects my S's. On the one hand it makes memorizing something meaningless like a sting of numbers way easier, thus making my memory look better than it is, Si, and that the world of sensation is way more interesting, but on the other hand it can also make it more, scary, exhausting and unpleasant. If something, like a loud teacher lecturing, is already unpleasant from the sound, I get added bad stimulation added on several fold. So I've shied away from stimulation more than other INFJ's even.

 

[Barnabas]

The makers of the test believe so

 

[TinyBubbles]

i agree with [MENTION=2635]Melkor[/MENTION] and [MENTION=387]IndigoSensor[/MENTION], personality is probably changeable but only to a defined extent (after a certain age anyway)

 

[petra]

thank you all for your answers.. but i'm more interested in how people react to that kind of changes, than if changes are possible. let's assume that you can change, what then happens? how do you feel? or i think the main question is how our type is formed? maybe that's what is bothering me. in my opinion it's partially genetic (someone said chemical balance, and temperament) and partially our experience and environment. so most of us are formed as children, but how big circumstances have to be to cause a change? are some people more inclined to it and why? cecilff 2 had also a good answer about stress.

 

[arbygil]

thank you all for your answers.. but i'm more interested in how people react to that kind of changes, than if changes are possible. let's assume that you can change, what then happens? how do you feel? or i think the main question is how our type is formed? maybe that's what is bothering me. in my opinion it's partially genetic (someone said chemical balance, and temperament) and partially our experience and environment. so most of us are formed as children, but how big circumstances have to be to cause a change? are some people more inclined to it and why? cecilff 2 had also a good answer about stress.

Stress can change your perceptions, as can the other issues, but no; I don't think your personality can change. I think you're born with it. I think at times we can act like other personalities because we have to out of self-preservation but the change isn't permanent - you're still you, underneath, but you've undergone so much stress and terror and what have you that you're responding out of brokenness rather than out of truth.

Sometimes we are so broken that we keep that mask on for the rest of our lives, and we never break free from it. That's the ultimate sadness, to me; to realize that you've never reached who you were meant to be because you've lived beneath the protection of constant woundedness.

The question may be, then, whether you're truly who you should be, or if you're acting out of what you *think* you should be to protect yourself. Those are very different things. The problem is, everyone around you will be able to see the true you, but you won't see it until you finally face those things that have hurt you.

 

[Nighthawk]

i'm wondering is it possible to change your mbti type, but not purposely? like you're adopting to something that has happened, or is happening, some bigger changes, situations, traumas etc. what then happens, is that transfer from one type to another very difficult for person?

i suppose that people change throw life, that sometimes we can't be the same as when we were children, but i'm asking for some 'forced' changes. subconsciously you know that if you don't change, if you don't assimilate, you won't make it. something like defense mechanism. so sometimes that's not a good change, but necessary, and it will be very stressful for person?

is that possible at all? are there some texts about it, or about something similar?

When I was a teenager, I went through a very stressful, hard-core military school designed to crank out officers. I was forced to assimilate if I wanted to make it through ... which I did, because it was a full scholarship. Introversion and intuitive thinking did not lend itself well to the way the system ran there. It was based on being an outgoing persona and dealing with the concrete affairs of day-to-day operations. The people I saw do very well there were ESTJs ... and some ESTPs. I didnt' know about MBTI back then, but did notice who was successful and tried to mimic them. Fake it until you make it. I forced myself to be more outgoing, but it still never came naturally. I also forced myself to get my head out of the clouds and deal with more concrete matters. Finally, I also forced myself to be more structured and organized. I pretty much started acting and behaving like and XSTJ (never got the full extravert effect down).

I worked that way for over a decade ... but pieces started falling apart a few years into it. It took a lot of mental and emotional energy to keep up the facade. I learned a lot of good things by moving out of my comfort zone ... organization, dealing well with others, self-confidence ... but I could not maintain the momentum of moving outside my type indefinitely. I started acting out more and more ... clashing with authority figures and drinking a lot. Perhaps this was self-sabotage to try to end this facade career that I had gotten myself into. It eventually did end. Ironically due to circumstances beyond my control ... or else I might still be trying to plug away at it.

For me, it was possible to mimic other types. I became better at it over time and learned a lot doing it. I can't say that I regret it. It did take a lot of energy however and I was unable to keep it up indefinitely. I eventually reverted back to my true type.

 

[petra]

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