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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 13 of 13. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by devon00 on January 5, 2004, at 17:59:34
Here is the thing. I think people think of me as an unusually pessimistic person. I complain a lot (I'm very sensitive to rejection, annoyance, everyday difficulties, etc.). I often express and feel disappointment in all different areas of my life. This is just a pattern of thinking that comes from my family and is very hard to shake.
The thing is that I think of myself as a *very* optimistic person, in a way. Whereas everyone else seems to expect things to turn out bad, I expect them to turn out great. They expect friends to disappoint them. I don't. They expect life to be hard, tedious, frustrating. I don't. They expect work to be unfulfilling. I don't, etc, etc. Inevitably, my super-high expectations (for myself as well as the world around me) and idealized vision of the way things "could" and "should" be leads me to be disappointed, surprised, and (ocassionaly) outraged about "the way things are." Hence I seem to be a pessimist rather than a disappointed optimist.
It's hard for me to accept things just "as is" and move on from my vision for how they "could be." How can I see things from a different perspective? I'm an INFJ, which seems related to this problem. Thanks for your thoughts.
Posted by Camille Dumont on January 6, 2004, at 10:04:17
In reply to Optimism Vs. Pessimism, posted by devon00 on January 5, 2004, at 17:59:34
Your way of seeing things is not necessarely bad ... if everybody accepted everything "as is" then there would be no progress.
I do get frustrated easily as well, over little nonconsequental things. What helps me alot is to vent it somewhere ... in my journal ... this way I don't bother everybody with my endless ranting and raving. Then, once the "anger" is appeased, its easier to try and see other options.
I guess my point is its ok to be dissatisfied with things that happen ... so long as the frustration doesn't blind you to possible solutions. Try and channel the frustration you feel in more constructive things like trying to fix things to make them the way you want.
I'm an ISTJ myself...
Posted by leo33 on January 6, 2004, at 19:11:14
In reply to Optimism Vs. Pessimism, posted by devon00 on January 5, 2004, at 17:59:34
I completely hear what your saying.
Posted by kara lynne on January 6, 2004, at 19:25:04
In reply to Re: Optimism Vs. Pessimism, posted by Camille Dumont on January 6, 2004, at 10:04:17
Posted by zeugma on January 6, 2004, at 19:33:08
In reply to INFJ / ISTJ ?? (nm), posted by kara lynne on January 6, 2004, at 19:25:04
These are classifications of the Minnesota personality inventory or something like that. INFJ: Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging. ISTJ: Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging. Was that helpful?
I'm an INFP, by the way.
Posted by naiad on January 6, 2004, at 20:19:43
In reply to Re: INFJ / ISTJ ??, posted by zeugma on January 6, 2004, at 19:33:08
Actually, it is the Myers Briggs Personality Index. It is based on Jungian archetypes, I think. Anyway, if you Google Myers Briggs Personlaity Index you will get lots of hits and lots of info. BTW, I am also an INFJ. A rather small perscentage of people are INFJ's and here we have three of them. Coincidence?
Posted by zeugma on January 6, 2004, at 20:43:06
In reply to Re: INFJ / ISTJ ??, posted by naiad on January 6, 2004, at 20:19:43
> Actually, it is the Myers Briggs Personality Index. It is based on Jungian archetypes, I think. Anyway, if you Google Myers Briggs Personlaity Index you will get lots of hits and lots of info. BTW, I am also an INFJ. A rather small perscentage of people are INFJ's and here we have three of them. Coincidence?
Yes, I knew it was something with an "M."I doubt it's a coincidence that there would be a lot of Introverted and Feeling types here; most of us are here because of depression and the like and there's an especially high correlation between Introversion and depression, anxiety, etc.
I'm actually an INFP: Introverted Intuitive Feeling Perceiving. I think these are usually described as the type that looks at life through "rose colored glasses." Well, I wouldn't say i do, but I'm awfully nearsighted, so a lot of things go right by me...
When neurotransmitter.net is back up I'll post a link to some studies correlating Meyers briggs taxonomies to various forms of mental disorders.
Posted by naiad on January 8, 2004, at 8:22:18
In reply to Re: INFJ / ISTJ ??, posted by zeugma on January 6, 2004, at 20:43:06
My son is an INFP and that is an even smaller percentage of the population.
Posted by Dinah on January 8, 2004, at 9:55:08
In reply to Re: INFJ / ISTJ ?? » zeugma, posted by naiad on January 8, 2004, at 8:22:18
I've taken the test a number of times, and got a number of results. In my formal psychological testing, I got an INTJ/P (the latter was too close to call with any assurance). But she said the N and T were pretty close too. The only thing I really strongly am is I. Does that mean I'm well balanced? rofl.
Posted by naiad on January 8, 2004, at 16:16:12
In reply to Re: INFJ / ISTJ ??, posted by Dinah on January 8, 2004, at 9:55:08
> I've taken the test a number of times, and got a number of results. In my formal psychological testing, I got an INTJ/P (the latter was too close to call with any assurance). But she said the N and T were pretty close too. The only thing I really strongly am is I. Does that mean I'm well balanced? rofl.
Dinah,
That is so interesting that you got a lot of different results -- must be because you straddle the center line...or could be interpreted as being well balanced. I know the first time I took the Myers Briggs I was still nursing my son and my hormones were in a different zone than normal. I scored so far on the feeling scale that it was a zero on the thinking side of the sheet. Scary! When I recently retook the test, I was still an INFJ but closer to the middle ground.When I brought up the MBPI to my therapist he didn't want to spend a lot of time there, said he wasn't well versed. I was tempted to ask his type but didn't. He probably wouldn't tell anyway.
Posted by naiad on January 8, 2004, at 16:28:14
In reply to Re: INFJ / ISTJ ??, posted by naiad on January 8, 2004, at 16:16:12
Posted by kara lynne on January 8, 2004, at 18:03:27
In reply to Re: INFJ / ISTJ ??, posted by zeugma on January 6, 2004, at 19:33:08
-Was that helpful?-
Yes, thank you very much.
Posted by zeugma on January 19, 2004, at 15:12:16
In reply to Re: INFJ / ISTJ ??, posted by naiad on January 8, 2004, at 16:16:12
This study found ISFP and INFP types to be the most prone to suffering unipolar depression:
Myers Briggs Type indicator personality profiles in unipolar depressed patients.
Janowsky DS, Hong E, Morter S, Howe L.
School of Medicine and Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. David_Janowsky@med.unc.edu
OBJECTIVE: The current study was designed to compare the distribution of Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality types in patients with Unipolar Depression compared to normative data. METHOD: The MBTI divides individuals into four dichotomous types: Extroverted and Introverted, Sensing and Intuitive, Thinking and Feeling, and Judging and Perceiving. This yields eight single-factor and sixteen four-factor types. One-hundred-thirty Unipolar Depressed patients were administered the MBTI-Form F. RESULTS: Unipolar Depressed patients were significantly more often Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving single-factor types respectively, and Introverted-Sensing-Feeling-Perceiving, and Introverted-Intuitive-Feeling-Perceiving four-factor types. The male Introverted-Sensing-Feeling-Perceiving four-factor type was the most dramatically over-represented. CONCLUSION: The MBTI effectively discriminates a patient group with Unipolar Depression from a normative population.
I suppose I can attribute my nearly lifelong depression to my MBTI personality type. Now I wonder where all my other problems come from....
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