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How/Do you assign the label "unhealthy" when speaking in this forum?

Qre:us

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These words are part of our forum meme: Healthy/Unhealthy

"That person is not a healthy example of XXXX type."

What exactly is your thought process when evaluating this? What is healthy/unhealthy in terms of how you use the terms for MBTI types discussed on this forum?

E.g., a thread will pop up, with a poster describing a problem with a "friend", and ascribing a type to said friend. And, inevitably, the responses will start having words like, "unhealthy", etc. Are we ascribing anything negative to equal "unhealthy" automatically?

:shrug: <- dang it, I wanted to use the Kanye emoticon because it was so grotesquely annoying...
 
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Antimony

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Ime, I tend to just take in how balanced or unbalanced they are.

Isn't that what we all do?
 

JocktheMotie

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When I want to trash a type but not have the Type Police freak out about it.
 

Antimony

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Actually, I don't think I have ever said 'unhealthy' on here haha.

I guess what I do is assess how much they piss me off, then. That normally comes from too much Te, Fe, or Fi. Or Si hahaha
 

gromit

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Not sure about on here, but in general, I'd say if they keep making the same types of choices or behaviors with damaging effects on themselves and/or others.
 

Xenon

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Not sure about on here, but in general, I'd say if they keep making the same types of choices or behaviors with damaging effects on themselves and/or others.

Yeah. I think of an unhealthy person as someone who repeatedly behaves or thinks in a way that has a negative effect his/her life, or the lives of people around them. That's true whether personality type is part of the discussion or not. If I mention type it's because some thoughts and behaviours are related to type, and I want to talk about that relationship.

I think sometimes on this board it is used just to express annoyance with certain traits found in other types. And ward off protests of, 'But not ALL XXXXs are like that! What do you have against XXXXs?"

Meh. People aren't mentally unhealthy just because they annoy me. And if I want to talk about annoying aspects of some-but-not-all XXXXs, I'll just say so.
 

skylights

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Not sure about on here, but in general, I'd say if they keep making the same types of choices or behaviors with damaging effects on themselves and/or others.

this.

medical language is to a vast extent a binary. i've taken a cultural anthropology class where we discussed the language of western medicine (i know there are problems with the designation "western", but i don't have a more accurate word for this as of yet), and things are generally yes or no. either you are disabled or you are not; either you are healthy or you are not; either you are ill or you are not.

of course, all is shades of gray.

in psychology/psychiatry one generally uses the term "unhealthy" to imply that a person is doing/thinking/believing something or in some way that is significantly inhibiting their ability to function the way they would like to. i think that holds some degree of water here as well. though that does bring up the interesting point of impact on others: is it possible to be a healthy antisocial person? is it possible to be healthy and still want to do harm to others? perhaps a better idea of health is relative: how are you doing compared to how you could be doing, not compared to anyone else.

anyway, as for the forum, someone pissed off at another type (or another person of the same type) could totally call unhealthy when they just don't understand the other person or want to accept their reasons (of course an ENFP can't be hateful! or, well, they must be unhealthy!)

healthy =/= likeable, though i imagine a healthy person would have a better chance of it .
 

slowriot

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in mbti terms it can be divided into two.

It can be someone with an abnormal functional layout. Meaning that their development of either their dominant or tertiary function is lacking compared to the development of their inferior function. Therefore creating an unhealthy personality, in reference to said persons typological/functional layout.

The second being a person that has major psychological issues that block and interfere with the person normal dominant and tertiary functions.

Unbalanced could be used for the first one but I think unhealthy to most people is seen as someone that has an underdeveloped or understimulated function. In the sense having been emotionally or intellectually understimulated but still have either F or T as their dominant or tertiary function.
 

InTheFlesh

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Ime, I tend to just take in how balanced or unbalanced they are.

Isn't that what we all do?

So, if balance equates to healthiness (balanced people can still have depressive symptoms), does that mean a "healthy" type could be depressed?
It seems a bit contradictory.
I can't spell >.<
 

highlander

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in mbti terms it can be divided into two.

It can be someone with an abnormal functional layout. Meaning that their development of either their dominant or tertiary function is lacking compared to the development of their inferior function. Therefore creating an unhealthy personality, in reference to said persons typological/functional layout.

The second being a person that has major psychological issues that block and interfere with the person normal dominant and tertiary functions.

Unbalanced could be used for the first one but I think unhealthy to most people is seen as someone that has an underdeveloped or understimulated function. In the sense having been emotionally or intellectually understimulated but still have either F or T as their dominant or tertiary function.

From a type standpoint, what jumps to mind for me is a dominant without a sufficiently developed auxiliary to balance it. I suppose you could have tertiary or inferior that is acting up too.
 

skylights

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From a type standpoint, what jumps to mind for me is a dominant without a sufficiently developed auxiliary to balance it. I suppose you could have tertiary or inferior that is acting up too.

what, i wonder, is the difference between someone with well-developed aux and underdeveloped dom, and their I/E counterpart?

take, for example, an ENFP with very well-developed aux Fi and underdeveloped dom Ne, and an INFP (dom Fi aux Ne):

i assume it would end up being something like, in the ENFP, instead of Fi helping and guiding Ne, Fi would end up confining Ne. the functional "supportive parent" turning into the overprotective parent. it could make them seem "introverted" but really less introverted and more reclusive.

switching that, for the INFP, well-developed Ne and underdeveloped Fi could lead to Ne pushing Fi every which way and not giving it the chance to stabilize and refine. it could make them seem "extraverted", but really more credulous than extraverted.
 

Udog

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What exactly is your thought process when evaluating this? What is healthy/unhealthy in terms of how you use the terms for MBTI types discussed on this forum?

E.g., a thread will pop up, with a poster describing a problem with a "friend", and ascribing a type to said friend. And, inevitably, the responses will start having words like, "unhealthy", etc. Are we ascribing anything negative to equal "unhealthy" automatically?

Besides what Jock said, it's also used as a form of denial when a person doesn't want to take ownership of certain behaviors that someone of their own type displays. "An unhealthy <my type> would do that, but I would never." Sometimes this is legitimate, and other times, it's just self-denial.

When I use 'healthy', it boils down to whether the person respects themselves and others around them, has a working relationship with the emotion of fear, has their eyes open as best as possible to reality, and takes responsibility for their actions. The last one in particular is key, as people who take responsibility for their actions often have to have at least some of the other traits.

I sometimes intermix "mature" for "healthy", though, which I shouldn't. They aren't the same.
 

JocktheMotie

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Besides what Jock said, it's also used as a form of denial when a person doesn't want to take ownership of certain behaviors that someone of their own type displays. "An unhealthy <my type> would do that, but I would never." Sometimes this is legitimate, and other times, it's just self-denial.

This is also a big one. Essentially, how it's used here often is to allow one an escape hatch. It's a caveat that allows the wielder of the words "unhealthy" to either attack a subset, or distance oneself from the criticism of others.

I don't really know how someone can really be quantified as typologically unhealthy, so it's a tricky set of language to wield. To be honest, I've lately thought that anyone who naturally expresses an extreme functional preference is typologically unhealthy, but that's nearly all of us, since only those who express a preference identify with the type descriptions in the first place.
 

Udog

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I don't really know how someone can really be quantified as typologically unhealthy, so it's a tricky set of language to wield. To be honest, I've lately thought that anyone who naturally expresses an extreme functional preference is typologically unhealthy, but that's nearly all of us, since only those who express a preference identify with the type descriptions in the first place.

Interesting point - Typology doesn't really go into levels of health like the Enneagram does. Instead, most descriptions seem to substitute "healthy" for "socially acceptable". So for example, to be a healthy extrovert they simply have to learn how to stop annoying people by doing that thing they do. :D

In MBTI discussions, "Health" implicitly seems to equate to the ability to deny the primary, basic urges of our mind, because no matter what our type, those primary urges tend to not be very socially acceptable. Instead of calling it that, though, we refer to it as "balance".
 

Amargith

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I tend to use it with regards to those that seem have been blindsighted or not addressed (significant) emotional baggage they carry with. Everyone has baggage, but those that are unaware of it, or refuse to address it and run from it, tend to be less balanced as an individual, it would seem. Also, ime, when someone actually acknowledges it, without knowing what to do about it or while working on it, it can already make a world of difference, I find.

It's also in a way a natural state, as none of us are born with natural emotional maturity. Some just mature faster than others.

Edit: I am aware that my own bias/perspective of the world is bound to colour this assessment.
 
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