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

[heart]

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.

This is not true at all from my own experience with SF.

 

[animenagai]

really guys? i'm keen to hear it. my ESFP friend has often blew of homeless guys looking for change, he teased me during primary school without feeling remorse... the list goes on and all this is justified to him because they're not close to him (or they weren't in my case).

it's kinda the same for my ISFP friend. makes fun of people he doesn't know all the time eg. people in McD's, people on the streets, you know the deal. people who are really close to him though? no way.

if you want to say that teasing is different from being 'emotionally absorbed' i have seen them laugh at people who are in sticky situations too. it just doesn't seem to phase them.

 

[proteanmix]

really guys? i'm keen to hear it. my ESFP friend has often blew of homeless guys looking for change, he teased me during primary school without feeling remorse... the list goes on and all this is justified to him because they're not close to him (or they weren't in my case).

it's kinda the same for my ISFP friend. makes fun of people he doesn't know all the time eg. people in McD's, people on the streets, you know the deal. people who are really close to him though? no way.

if you want to say that teasing is different from being 'emotionally absorbed' i have seen them laugh at people who are in sticky situations too. it just doesn't seem to phase them.

You're basing a comment of that magnitude on your two SF friends? LOL.

This is why I hate threads like this.

"NFs do you feel the rain on your cheeks?" And then a chorus of replies responding, Yes, Yes I do!! And I was moved to tear so that the rain and the tears mingled so that I could no longer tell the difference!

 

[Brendan]

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?

I experience things like that whenever someone relates the experience of physical pain, mostly extreme but sometimes minor. It's very evident when we're talking about prolonged pain though.

Today, as a matter of fact, a co-worker in his 60's had taken off his neoprene knee brace and left it on a table. The knee brace itself gave me chills. The coworker in question was nowhere in my immediate vicinity. Looking at the scar from my mother's knee replacement will give me chills as well.

 

[animenagai]

You're basing a comment of that magnitude on your two SF friends? LOL.

This is why I hate threads like this.

"NFs do you feel the rain on your cheeks?" And then a chorus of replies responding, Yes, Yes I do!! And I was moved to tear so that the rain and the tears mingled so that I could no longer tell the difference!

well i can't talk too much out of my own experiences now can i? and plus, same MBTI types have a shocking amount of similarities across the board. i wouold aprreciate it if you could give me some examples of your own experiences or quote some literature rather than just continually say "no you're full of shit".

 

[disregard]

well i can't talk too much out of my own experiences now can i? and plus, same MBTI types have a shocking amount of similarities across the board. i wouold aprreciate it if you could give me some examples of your own experiences or quote some literature rather than just continually say "no you're full of shit".

The emotional absorption in the OP is not the same kind of emotional absorption you cited in your post.

The OP was referring to being like an emotional sponge.. you related to us how your SF friends are "emotionally absorbed".. There is a big difference.

 

[animenagai]

The emotional absorption in the OP is not the same kind of emotional absorption you cited in your post.

The OP was referring to being like an emotional sponge.. you related to us how your SF friends are "emotionally absorbed".. There is a big difference.

elaborate, don't sponges absorb? do you mean that one would just find emotional triggers in everything and that the other one just can't find a way out of it?

 

[disregard]

The OP was talking about how she absorbs the emotions of others.. the stories you told were more indicative of "self-absorption". Pretty much the opposite of being an emotional sponge.

 

[heart]

I have an ISFP friend who can barely stand to watch the evening news because she feels too deeply about what she sees and feels powerless to help so many people. It's just wrong to assume that SF cannot feel for strangers. I'm sure we can draw up examples of selfish people from all the types.

 

[animenagai]

I have an ISFP friend who can barely stand to watch the evening news because she feels too deeply about what she sees and feels powerless to help so many people. It's just wrong to assume that SF cannot feel for strangers. I'm sure we can draw up examples of selfish people from all the types.

okay, i can accept that. i apologize for jumping to conclusions.

 

[locke]

I haven't seen many horror movies and generally try to avoid them. Like the Saw movies? I haven't seen them but I've heard about them. Just the premise behind them creeps me out. Putting people into traps and forcing them to make impossible decisions. That freaks me out even more than the violence I think. I didn't like 1984 for the same reason (Room 101). But there are some horror movies I can handle. Army of Darkness I liked (haven't seen the other Evil Dead movies) and this (** WARNING GRAPHIC LINK **) looks cool, which oddly enough is by the same guys who made the Saw movies. It's like a modern Rocky Horror Picture Show. I guess I can handle horror if the weirdness out-factors the scary. I prefer scary music to scary movies.

 

[stopandstare]

Its funny, I just posted a comment about my aversion to a movie called Wolf Creek in another thread here a few minutes ago... its one of those abduction/torture movies based on real events and has really affected me quite badly - to the extent that I'm not sure if I will ever be able to visit Australia!

I also tend to feel any kind of pain from descriptions & graphics - like my sister is a nurse & often describes some of the things she does and I go weak at the knees - I pray god that I will never need a cessarian section after her describing it... **insides cringing at the thought**

Then on the other hand - when the pain is actually happening to me - I'm quite strong... I was very accident prone early in life and the horrible things that happened to me didn't phase me - but show me the sight of someone elses blood or suffering and I am out cold or upset lol!

 

[Dwigie]

Proteanmix,"NFS(maybe SFs too?)", they are included.

 

[sciski]

Emotional absorption = emotional contagion, really.

Interestingly, of all the people I know, the one who most could not handle horror movies was my xSTJ ex-housemate. She reacted very viscerally to graphic depictions of pain and actually would run out of the room because she said she could almost feel it happening to her. So this kind of empathy is not limited to Ns, or indeed, Fs.

As for emotional contagion, she was impervious to it, except where she saw examples of extreme injustice or unfairness being committed in the world - then she would get very upset.

 

[Dwigie]

Emotional absorption = emotional contagion, really.

Interestingly, of all the people I know, the one who most could not handle horror movies was my xSTJ ex-housemate. She reacted very viscerally to graphic depictions of pain and actually would run out of the room because she said she could almost feel it happening to her. So this kind of empathy is not limited to Ns, or indeed, Fs.

As for emotional contagion, she was impervious to it, except where she saw examples of extreme injustice or unfairness being committed in the world - then she would get very upset.

That's interesting, I know many Ts and they handle it well, guess it really depends on people then.

 

[INA]

That's interesting, I know many Ts and they handle it well, guess it really depends on people then.

She's also a sensor. The images may resonate with her more concretely than with an N.

 

[sophiedoph]

This is a big problem for me at work. I am upset to distraction and find it difficult to focus when I know my boss (probably bipolar or borderline personality disorder) is upset with me. What makes her upset? Nothing, anything--she's very capricious, and has been upset with me generally for the past eight months. And when she's upset with someone (before me, it was another lawyer in the office who was bullied for almost a year until she finally left) nobody else in the office will speak to you for fear of being on her bad side too... you are isolated.

I try and try to turn off my "emotional absorption" but cannot. Everyone tells me to stop worrying, to stop thinking about it, but it's not like there's a switch!

 

[sophiedoph]

Re: horror/gory movies... my husband and I watch them almost every night. We make fun of them and predict who will die and how. (Sometimes we bet on this!) The exceptions--Saw and Hostel--just too... something. For some reason we draw the line there.

We rarely watch dramas though, they are often depressing.

 

[Dwigie]

yeah, I hate it when people tell me "get over it..let it go, it'll pass" I obsess over personal problems, can't help it, tried though.It's true I can stand violence to a certain extent, torture no...especially not the hostel/saw kind.That's just too gruesome for people, my other friend was laughing almost to tears next to me! Me and my other friend were a bit disturbed by that but oh well...everyone has their reactions I guess. It sucks that it's your boss :/...

 

[Giggly]

RE: emotional absorption. Perhaps you are an Empath, which there are varying degrees of.