INFJ or Borderline?

The key word with all personality disorders is "extreme." I think the main thing about BPD is a lack of an internally defined sense of self or confusion about their identity in relation to others and extremely self-destructive behaviors, such as addictions and suicide attempts. They have an extreme fear of abandonment and can sometimes go to extreme measures to avoid the real or imagined abandonment. They also tend to lack emotional boundaries and have trouble maintaining any sort of healthy relationship with others. I remember that in my abnormal psych class the prof said that they are often victims of sexual or emotional abuse. I think this is very different from a normal INFJ, who is sensitive but still able to separate their own needs from the needs of others. But NF types are probably more likely to have it...*Also forgot to add that their feelings towards others tend to change a lot. Like one day so and so might be their best friend, then the next they hate that person with a passion because of one argument they had.


[video=youtube;liBJhHDw3o8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liBJhHDw3o8[/video]

 

The way a derringer is different from a submachine gun, I would say.

 

There's a thread called INTJ or Asperger's on the INTJ forum. I wonder if this is becoming a trend.

ESFP or Bipolar disorder. ENTP or Antisocial disorder.

 

There is a difference between personality type and a given disorder. I believe that genetic predisposition, combined with psychological type, trauma and other environmental triggers, cause the given disorder.

There was a thread around here that tried to relate crappy childhood to being INFJ. I don't think that the childhood makes one an INFJ. I think being an INFJ makes one turn out differently from those experiences, than another type (among other factors).

 

I agreed.
And also, perhaps there are some correlation, but it's not exactly limited to a specific type.

Like, perhaps INFJs have a bigger chance to have borderline personality disorder.
Or, does borderline personality disorder make someone (appear to be / look / act / think like) an INFJ?

Perhaps crappy childhood does play some part in making an INFJ.
Or, do INFJs just have more emotional / psychological sensitivity that makes crappy childhood felt even worse than they are?

 

It's the scarcity that causes dramatic comparisons.

Really, who cares if it's 2% of the population? Who should care if it's even the same two percent?

People have too much stock in what they read, especially when it comes to small percentages. So, I might say that there's only 1% INFJs so therefore there's a difference between INFJ and BPD (since BPD is 2%) but in actuality that is really inane for me to say, and I just don't know.

Another one is when people say that there's too many INFJs and starts claiming that some of them must be false since they believe it goes against the 1% of population idea. Well maybe that 1% factoid is wrong, but it is rarely questioned- it gets taken as some kind of fact and they expect other information to align with it. That's not how it works.

 

This

 

Yeah. What I figure, given the concept of shadow types, is that some INFJs can be BPD but it isn't inherent.

If you subscribe to shadow types, INFJ would be ENFPs shadow, so an ENFP under stress may exhibit the functions that an INFJ would normally be seen using. So if the behavior is maladaptive it might actually be a good idea to check if something is actually flipped.

So in this case it might even be possible that some people with BPD may appear INFJ like, but would actually be another type with the functions flipped around to appear that way.

 

Uh...

If you have a disorder, it seriously impairs the way you function. People with personality disorders act in completely irrational and abnormal ways. Just because someone is extremely emotional or unique doesn't make them disordered.

Even though people with personality disorders typically won't have any use for conventional personality categorization systems, it is possible that BPD people bear strong resemblance to the INFJ type description, compared to those of other types. It's kind of like how a square can be a rectangle, but a rectangle can't be considered a square.

 

Chulo, nothing you described sounds like BPD. The F is the only one that is correct.

Judging isn't the same as SPLITTING. Dissociation is not the same as disconnecting. Entire different ballgame...one is a ballgame the other is a hurricane.

 

Hmm.. yes but why would it be relevant to them, or what would they be able to use knowing their type for if a) their disorder being there would render their evaluation flawed/inaccurate (are the tests designed to accommodate people with differences like these?), and b) their disorder would be constantly overriding their "core" personality anyway?

 

I've cut people out of my life but I can't say that I've ever split someone as an adult. I've been able to look at most people and not hate them for something minor. That's something that a child does (or someone with a personality disorder). They split as adults because they were traumatized when they were using those defense mechanisms as a kid. I don't think it's about closure, it's more about still kinda being a child inside. It's like a grown toddler but more dangerous (or could be) I have dissociated before, but it's not something that happens on a regular basis and the type we are talking about here is where you go somewhere and you don't know where you went. You're just gone. That's what happens with those with BPD...they don't remember their rages. I'm sure what you felt was dissociation but not on the brink of psychosis. Borderlines are on the borderline of psychosis. They could slip into psychosis with any minor trigger. Most of them can't function in a career, a high-functioning one might be able to have a long term relationship or two with some serious therapy but like I said, one is a nice ballgame the other is a terrible scary storm.

I could see some INFJs with PTS show some borderline traits but not the full blown personality disorder.

 

I think they cut people out as an attempt to control their fear of abandonment. Many people with BPD feel as though they are "defective" and "broken" beyond repair, so much so that no one could ever truly love them and they will always be abandoned and alone in the end. So they have to reject and leave people first before those people have the chance to abandon them.

 

I have borderline personality disorder. I'm borderline INFJ, ENTP, ENFJ, INTP, INFP, ENFP, ISTP, ISFJ, etc... :O