INFJ personality and depression (+ Explaining the relationship)
In this article, we will explain what a personality is. It will also discuss the Myer-Briggs type indicator, what it means to be a person with an INFJ personality type, its strengths, and aspects to develop.
The article will also discuss how people with an INFJ personality type tend to be more susceptible to depression and what they can do about it.
What is a personality?
A personality is a compound of psychological characteristics that turn the person into who they are. A person’s personality is formed from the moment they are born and is constantly affected by the experiences and the environment the person is in.
What is the Myer-Briggs type indicator?
The Muer-Briggs type indicator is a method created by Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myer around Jung’s book Psychological Types.
In their theory, a person’s personality is determined by each person identifying themselves in the 4 dichotomies the authors established:
- Extroverts/Introverts
- Sensors/Intuitive
- Thinkers/Fellers
- Judges/Perceivers
According to each persona choice, it will be created 16 unique personality types, those are:
- ISTJ: the inspector
- ISTP: the crafter
- ISFJ: the protector
- ISFP: the artist
- INFJ: the advocate
- INFP: the mediator
- INTJ: the architect
- INTP: the thinker
- ESTP: the persuader
- ESTJ: the director
- ESFP: the performer
- ESFJ: the caregiver
- ENFP: the champion
- ENFJ: the giver
- ENTP: the debater
- ENTJ: the commander
What is an INFJ personality type?
The INFP personality type, known as the mediator, is a person who can carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. They care about their needs and the need of the people they love. When people, e they love are in pain, they tend to feel the pain right with them.
They are the group of people that usually know exactly what to say because they might have gone through similar things. Aside from that, since they are highly perceptive people, they can figure out what people are feeling before they even say it.
They are people that are willing to stay close to people they love even when they are at their worst. They tend to help too much, so they cannot set boundaries, they can be known as confident, and that can be something that sets a certain pressure to maintain that role.
Being an INFJ is one of the rarest personality types, which can mean that they might have trouble identifying and connecting to a lot of other people. Although when they find people they can relate to, they will build close and meaningful relationships, since they are great creators of emotional intimacy.
They are people with an amazing sense of intuition, it is almost like they can predict what will happen. But that is just the highly observant side that can help them notice
patterns, see the big picture, and perceive how things could turn out.
An INFJ person can be, although they are emotional people, highly analytical, that’s why they tend to enjoy careers in the field of technology, research, or science. They also tend to need harmony, being that they value people that work in the relationship as much as they do.
What is depression?
Depression is a mental health condition in which the person experiences intense sadness, lack of purpose and meaning in life, a great sense of helplessness, a negative view of the future, low self-esteem, and a decreased sense of self-worth.
A person with depression might develop a large range of symptoms, they can go through a change in eating and sleeping pattern, intense crying, or difficulty to cry even if they feel like it.
People with depression might experience a lack of energy, difficulty focusing, loss of interest in all activities, in more severe cases, a person can have self-harm thoughts and thinking of death and suicide.
Is an INFJ more susceptible to depression?
Yes, a person with an INFJ personality tends to be more susceptible to depression. Because they are usually so available to listen and help others, they might take in too much, get absorbed in other people’s troubles or sadness, leaving them with a higher possibility to develop depression than people with other personality types.
If a person with that personality type is in touch with someone that is going through a problem, they might stand by this person to a level that they might feel their energy being drained out, but they can’t stop helping other people.
This might make people with INFJ more easily depressed because they can get emotionally tired and drained from dealing with other people’s feelings.
Aside from that, the INFJ person can be too hard on themselves, they might want to achieve great things at an unrealistic speed, which can make them develop a decreased sense of self-worth, another aspect that is related to depression.
Another side of the INFJ personality that can make it easier for them to be depressed is the way they deal with conflict. Since it is so hard for them to go through conflict situations, they might work to the point of exhaustion to not go through one.
They tend to overthink, and this rumination can also impact their mental health, being that it won’t let them disconnect from the negative feelings they experienced before.
A great way for a person with an INFJ personality to avoid getting depressed is to work on creating emotional boundaries from people close to them. This might help them in saying no, as well as standing up for themselves and understanding that the conflict is also a possibility to create a new and better reality.
For doing that, a therapy process can be extremely helpful. It can help you observe your patterns, think of new possibilities of behavior, and think a little more about your well-being.
If you’re facing this, it may be a good idea to seek the help of a therapist or other mental health professional. You can find a therapist at BetterHelp who can help you learn how to cope and address it.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): Do people with INFJ personality type tend to get depressed?
How does an INFJ person act when stressed?
People with an INFJ personality can get stressed about criticism from people they love because they are such empathetic people, it might leave them feeling more vulnerable, so when criticism is said, they might not know what to do about it.
They also get stressed and drained by external conflict, so they might go to great lengths to prevent it from happening. Aside from that, since they are such introverted people, big social gatherings can be a great cause of stress to them, they don’t know how to manage interaction with so many people, so small events might feel easier for them,
Another thing that can cause them to feel stressed is going through a failure or disappointment, they are usually so vulnerable and have such high expectations, that once that happens, it can hit them psychologically and physically.
What can make an INFJ sad?
People with an INFJ personality are like sponges, they can soak in all the emotions of people that are around them, and the places they are in. So you are feeling sad, aside from thinking about what, in their life is making them sad, it is important to think if you might be hanging out with people that are being prejudicial to you.
If that is the case, you can either try to establish better boundaries in that relationship, so you know where the person’s sadness ends and where does your begin.
Another thing that might make a person with INFJ is doing things without purpose and passion, which can be about a work situation, a relationship. They need their actions to mean something, so if you are feeling sad right now, try to think about what aspects of your life bring you joy and what can be done to feel it more.
You might not feel comfortable in your skin, it can be that you still haven’t learned to listen to what your intuition is saying or because you just want to be accepted by everyone, so you are not being yourself. If that is the case, try to accept who you are and embrace your qualities, that can bring people that really will understand you.
What are the signs I am an unhealthy INFJ?
People with INFJ personalities can establish unhealthy patterns. That usually can lead to their feeling depressed. Something that they do that can be prejudicial to them is putting the needs of others ahead of their own to a point where they are drained out.
Aside from that, they can be too comprehensive with people, not setting their boundaries, being scared of saying no and hurting people. Because of that, they tend to think of other people’s needs before their own, but it all can change if they have a conflict with you.
A person with an unhealthy INFJ personality can cut people out of their life as soon as a problem arises. Because they give too much of themselves to people, it might be hard to understand that people won’t agree with them, so they might just cut the person out of their life.
Is it possible to change to another personality type?
Some parts of a person’s personality can go through some changes because of the experiences they might go through in their life, but some of the core aspects of a person’s personality can be more settled and not change.
With that said, it might be hard for a person with an INFJ personality type to change to another complete opposite, but they could develop, through new experiences, some new ways of functioning around the people and the world they live in.
Why is INFJ such a rare personality type?
Since the Myer-Briggs type indicator is relatively new, it might be that we still just don’t know if there are more people with INFJ personality, but it also might be that the IN aspect of that personality is something harder to find.
The NI aspect of their personality is usually rare because it speaks about a part of our society that doesn’t embrace it, so people might modulate their behavior to not show that aspect of themselves.
Those aspects speak a lot about the intuition and feelings of a person, so is not everyone feels comfortable sharing that side of who they are, or are even open to recognizing that aspect of their personality.
Conclusion
This article it was discussed what is a personality, what is the Myer-Briggs personality type, and what does it mean to be an INFJ personality type. Also, the article showed why people with that personality type tend to develop depression more often than people with other personality types.
