ive been lerking for a bit now. hadnt had much to say but this thread really hit home. i think there is a great deal of very important information in it.
personally, i either skipped right past the EXXX steps or they were so brief i dont recall them. i find that i am social up to a certain shallow point but past that, i am painfully introverted. to take on an extroverted attitude or any of the other 'large and in charge' attitudes, someone had to threaten, typically, a loved one. otherwise my stresses are all internal, reflected internally and damages/expresses only to me. i am, seemingly, outside of jest, able to be extroverted if it benefits another. i simply can not push myself outward like that.
i have also found that most minor stresses are delt with in a rather INTP fashion. if im bored or lightly stressed, i test INTP. (im still trying to figure that one out... its very consistent and when reading through their values etc, it is comfortable.)
What effect would severe psychological damage, trauma, or very prolonged stress then have on type? Is there really damage that is "unfixable"?
i think that really depends on the individual and what caused the damage.
i have been past the INFP stage only to land squarely in the ISTJ stage. it lasted for a few weeks until the situation resolved itself. it took intervention from a friend which likely helped me repair much of the damage done.
INFJ's, in my experience, are very 'hope' based creatures. we seem to find hope when we really need it. it is what fuels our innocence, expands our wisdom and gives us strength when all other things fail. when stressed, dont forget to give hope an inroad at all times. it will be what pulls you through any difficult time.
for me, the 'light at the end of the tunnel' is what typically repairs much of the damage done.
since, as INFJ's (or perhaps just because we are NF's), we are very complex, we have a remarkable ability to find, somewhere, what we need to repair damage we sustain. we are adaptable to the outside world, we are chameleons in relationships, we are intune with ourselves and others... there are so many different avenues to comfort ourselves.... not so remarkable since we come up with so many different ways to comfort others.
we just have to remember to use these methods ourselves!
-ash
