[NF] NFs(maybe SFs too?) and "emotional absorption"

[Leysing]

Actually looking back...I usually rarely have dreams unless something is bothering me. And usually they're nightmares for the most part! But I am wondering if there is a difference with display of emotion between enfx and inf because most people around me feel that I am unemotional when it's quite the opposite inside. Do you guys get that too? Only people very close to me are aware of that, the rest think of as very "t" (haha! yeah right...I wish though)

The few people with whom I have discussed MBTI irl haven't believed that I'm an F.

 

[Dwigie]

I am not an F, type but this happens to me as well.

I do have a fairly high Fi though. My Fe on the other hand is really low.

It doesn't happen all the time, but I find that emotions are "sticky" with me sometimes. By sticky I mean that if I put the book down or turn the TV off my emotional reaction lingers. Sometimes for hours or even days. My problem is not so much violent things but things that are sad, people dying, relationships ending, some personal tragedy.

I hear other women talking about loving sad movies, because they cry, but after that they feel better. They have catharsis. If I cry, either because of a movie or book or because something in my life is sad, I don't feel better afterward.

Books tend to do it for me more that TV. Especially if it is a series and I have "known" the characters for several books.

In general, I tend to experience a high level of emotion when I read. I never understood people who say that staying at home reading is "boring" because for me it is often an emotional rollercoaster.

Ilah

That's interesting, I don't experience that "catharsis" either, it's more like a lingering panic/happy/sad etc.. feeling but then again my T is pretty high. Leysing, what do they think you are?

 

[Leysing]

Leysing, what do they think you are?

INTP or INTJ.

 

[Usehername]

INTP or INTJ.

When I very first started to learn about MBTI, I thought my INFP bro was an INTP. He's a math whiz and very nerdy, though, so it sorta makes sense in retrospect with limited MBTI knowledge.

 

[littledarling]

I have noticed that I tend to take on what other people are feeling. Especially those who I consider to be very close to. Also, these strong feelings often show up as physical symptoms, much like any sort of conflict does.

 

[ixquic_creation]

I think I've developed a pretty decent filter for this type of stuff. I do get sad, but I manage to block the pain out.

If it is a close friend, I empathize, completely. But... I manage to withdraw inside myself and still remain objective.

However...

Books. Books do it for me.

For example: Fourth grade. I was reading "Summer of My German Soldier" during reading time. Anton died and I started sobbing. The entire class looked at me as though I had sprouted an extra head. No one understood that it was the book that did it to me.

For example: Earlier this year. (I'm 20 years old, currently.) I read "Stranger in a Strange Land" (finally). One of the main characters dies at the end. It's three in the morning, I'm sitting on the couch in the living room. I burst into tears and start shouting "No! No! No!" over and over again. I wake up my brother, who thinks something horrid has just happened. I calm down... only to burst into tears again because the ending is so beautiful.

 

[Leysing]

When I very first started to learn about MBTI, I thought my INFP bro was an INTP. He's a math whiz and very nerdy, though, so it sorta makes sense in retrospect with limited MBTI knowledge.

Yes... I can clearly see the reasons to the mistypings - my Ti happens to be rather strong, too. It's just rather amusing in the sense that in the end I'm very F.

 

[Little Linguist]

It depends.

 

[Hang]

Oh...so this post wasn't necessary ._.
Secretly I'm a wannabe T, then I could enjoy scary movies without having nightmares....xD. My t friends sure do I was always excited to go with them at first, I proposed the idea then I was too scared to do it again...kinda pathetic if you ask me

I can be a T wanna-be at times. But watching scary movies without getting scared, I don't think that's a T trait, it could be any. I'm just saying, I like how Widekit put it to words. Nothing towards you.

 

[Hang]

When you have the nightmares take control. Realize you're dreaming then start kicking the monster's ass. It's your dream, you're the one handing everyone their ass, not the other way around.

I could actually do that. But I only do it without realizing it. And my subconscience is being jacked up with caffiene and sugar, very hard to control dreams.

 

[Snail]

I'm sure this must happen to a lot of you, for example you guys are witnessing a fight in the street and will feel uneasy for an hour or two even though you had nothing to do with the fight and might actually become agressive yourself in other to "purge" the emotion. You're pretty much like a sponge...
It's quite annoying actually, I remember watching a documentary where someone had been attacked and gotten his hand cut off by rebels in Haiti I believe I felt a weird sensation in my arm and was paranoid for the next four days o.o.
Or for example someone tells you about something painful and you get tingly all over, weak in the knees for example. Happens to me all the time, I saw three minutes of SAW III with a friend thinking: ha, I can handle it.
I still remember the scene....disgusting, I decided to stay away from violent and scary movies forever after that. Does anyone else have to literally shut themselves off from the world periodically before they lose their sanity?

Yes. I am exactly the same way. I mostly just avoid movies now for fear of panic attacks. Even non-violent movies that have cruel characters who say mean or unfair things can get to me. Unexpected scenes sometimes do it, like in "The Last Supper," when the first evil person is invited to dinner and starts being an asshole, the one they kill in self-defense before they start poisoning people, I started screaming and shaking and had to smoke half of a pack of cigarettes to stop crying over the thought that there are actually people in the world who might be like that and might have such horribly unfair ideas. I just went into a blind panic and started screaming
"Kill him, just kill him!!! Oh please kill that motherf*cking c*cks*cking as*hole!!!! Kill him now!!!" even though I consider myself a pacifist in real life and don't even squish bugs. It was like all of the pain of the injustices of the entire world came out of me all at once. I couldn't sing for over a week because I had damaged my voice, and I'm not sure it ever fully recovered. Some notes still have a roughness to them. Certain kinds of violence bother me more than others, and usually it is worse when I can relate to the character being victimized. I didn't know I carried so much rage inside until that incident, because I make a huge effort to be forgiving to everyone who hurts me in real life. I was so terrified of that character's attitudes that my fight response kicked in, which is unusual. It is more normal for me to want to run away from real conflict. It was still a fear response, but since my fear rarely comes out in that form, it was a bit overwhelming.

 

[Domino]

I am not an F, type but this happens to me as well.

I do have a fairly high Fi though. My Fe on the other hand is really low.

It doesn't happen all the time, but I find that emotions are "sticky" with me sometimes. By sticky I mean that if I put the book down or turn the TV off my emotional reaction lingers. Sometimes for hours or even days. My problem is not so much violent things but things that are sad, people dying, relationships ending, some personal tragedy.

I hear other women talking about loving sad movies, because they cry, but after that they feel better. They have catharsis. If I cry, either because of a movie or book or because something in my life is sad, I don't feel better afterward.

Books tend to do it for me more that TV. Especially if it is a series and I have "known" the characters for several books.

In general, I tend to experience a high level of emotion when I read. I never understood people who say that staying at home reading is "boring" because for me it is often an emotional rollercoaster.

Ilah

I cried when Porthos was killed in "The Man in the Iron Mask". In fact, I couldn't forgive Dumas for doing it. I felt better only after I read that he cried over Porthos too.

 

[CharmedFantasy]

hmm seems most NFs on here don't really like scary movies then? I actually enjoy weird/bizarre/scary/suspense/murder films(because the stories are usually very different than other regular movies). I seek them out and especially think it's great idea watching them in the movie theaters because it makes it even more scary, better with the surround sound, big picture, and darkness! >.> I do get scared sometimes but I like to scare myself anyways lol. :/ I think I get more involved in love,tragedy, happy stories(movie or book)... I'm really sensitive and will cry if something really touches me(usually if someone I like dies, unhappy ending, confessions).. It's weird, it's like I put myself in their perspective and I almost feel how they are feeling so I get all emotional. o.o one time I watched a movie about a couple, and one of the lover died saving the other.. I bawled like a baby lol.. You know that book, Where the Red Fern Grows? I cried at the end, D: when the two dogs died.. because I felt like the boy and their relationship was so close, so sad that he lost them.

 

[Domino]

Where The Red Fern Grows has officially destroyed everyone. lol A very VERY sad book.

 

[animenagai]

man, i can't say how much i agree with this thread. i like being happy, i like being happy all the time. however, whenever something sad happens to me, someone i know, whatever it is i get emotionally wrapped up. all i can think about will be those mean words that somebody said or why the two characters couldn't have a happy ending. SF's can get very emotional indeed but i DISAGREE that they get the same kind of involvement the NF's do (unfortunately perhaps for us). SF's from my own observation get wrapped up only about themselves or people really close to them. if they see a beggar on the streets or see something sad on TV, they would not think twice about it.

 

[ixquic_creation]

Where The Red Fern Grows has officially destroyed everyone. lol A very VERY sad book.

It murdered me.

 

[SquirrelTao]

This actually doesn't happen to me. But I wonder if something like it is what actors and actresses use to get into their roles. I think it's cool, provided you can swim in it instead of drowning.

I like horror movies. I see them as being about the secrets we keep from ourselves and/or that society keeps from us.

 

[Tropics]

I stay away from horror and movies that involve violence, it's too much. I also absorb peoples emotions like a sponge. It can be quite exhausting. I remember as a child if another child started crying or was in pain. I'd start crying too like it was happening to me! It's been like this my whole life. It seems impossible to change but my nerves could really use a break! Books also get to me too, sometimes I cry for characters like they were real people if something bad happens. Feelings rule me. Oh well.....

 

[animenagai]

hmm seems most NFs on here don't really like scary movies then? I actually enjoy weird/bizarre/scary/suspense/murder films(because the stories are usually very different than other regular movies). I seek them out and especially think it's great idea watching them in the movie theaters because it makes it even more scary, better with the surround sound, big picture, and darkness! >.> I do get scared sometimes but I like to scare myself anyways lol. :/ I think I get more involved in love,tragedy, happy stories(movie or book)... I'm really sensitive and will cry if something really touches me(usually if someone I like dies, unhappy ending, confessions).. It's weird, it's like I put myself in their perspective and I almost feel how they are feeling so I get all emotional. o.o one time I watched a movie about a couple, and one of the lover died saving the other.. I bawled like a baby lol.. You know that book, Where the Red Fern Grows? I cried at the end, D: when the two dogs died.. because I felt like the boy and their relationship was so close, so sad that he lost them.

i think ENF's get emotionally drowned and they don't like it. INF's are attracted to sad things because of it.

talking bout scary movies, i do have examples on just how bad we can be. i hate scary movies. i don't understand the point of paying that money just so you can be scared. i remember being peer pressured into watching i am legend (which isn't even a horror film really) with my friends. the group was an ENFP (me), an ISFP, an ESFP and an ENFJ. we're a laid back, fun loving, spontaneous group as you may tell, so during the movie, we were all cracking jokes.

at the beginning of the movie, we were all cracking jokes. all 4 of us. it wasn't really scary just kinda interesting. but by the end of the movie, it was only the SP's that were talking. why's that? because me and the ENFJ were too busy 'jumping' from the zombie lookalikes breaking roofs and such. the SP's were used to it. they're detached and those things don't phase them much. the ENFJ pretended that he wasn't scared, but we knew better . i just admitted it. scary movies and ENF's just don't mix

 

[proteanmix]

man, i can't say how much i agree with this thread. i like being happy, i like being happy all the time. however, whenever something sad happens to me, someone i know, whatever it is i get emotionally wrapped up. all i can think about will be those mean words that somebody said or why the two characters couldn't have a happy ending. SF's can get very emotional indeed but i DISAGREE that they get the same kind of involvement the NF's do (unfortunately perhaps for us). SF's from my own observation get wrapped up only about themselves or people really close to them. if they see a beggar on the streets or see something sad on TV, they would not think twice about it.

Wow you could not be more wrong.

I imagine that SF's probably feel a keener sense of urgency to actually DO something instead of feeling their pain but doing nothing because of passive idealism.