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[Type 5] When down in the dumps, do you retreat entirely inside your head?

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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I've noticed when I feel shitty, I tend to really withdraw into my head. I ignore my physical environment, and become even more of a slob then I am already. I lose my appetite. I keep everything outside my head as far away as possible. Am I alone with this?
 

Totenkindly

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I've noticed when I feel shitty, I tend to really withdraw into my head. I ignore my physical environment, and become even more of a slob then I am already. I lose my appetite. I keep everything outside my head as far away as possible. Am I alone with this?

Well, the rhetorical answer to the question ("Are you alone if you retreat into your head?") is "yes." :smile:

Pretty much my experience is the same, EXCEPT that I don't lose my appetite -- I start comfort eating and gain weight. :(
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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I definitely lose my appetite. Food is just too much work and it kind of loses it's lustre.
 

five sounds

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My 5 husband is the same way. He just checks out when he's feeling down. It's hard to stand by and watch when all I want to do is help.
 

JocktheMotie

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Depends more on energy level for me. If it's low at the time, it will definitely be a withdrawal from my daily life, routine, not eating, and minimizing concerns. I'll start to have the desire to sort of...light my life on fire, torch all connections to whatever I think is causing the distress, and rebuild fresh from the ashes; it's an attractive process for me, and feels pretty damn good, but it's more of a scorched earth approach than really needs to occur.

If the energy is higher, I'm usually able to successfully get angry (the big key!) and inflict a more precise and decisive positive change in the situation. If I'm down, just gotta analyze, identify, create the change. Angry energy is the easiest way for me to make sure the change happens, even if it feels a bit like cheating...
 

Tiltyred

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Those are two symptoms of clinical depression. (I also do the opposite -- eat comfort foods and gain weight. Also I am lethargic and sleep all the time rather than have sleeplessness.)
 

Lady_X

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Depends more on energy level for me. If it's low at the time, it will definitely be a withdrawal from my daily life, routine, not eating, and minimizing concerns. I'll start to have the desire to sort of...light my life on fire, torch all connections to whatever I think is causing the distress, and rebuild fresh from the ashes; it's an attractive process for me, and feels pretty damn good, but it's more of a scorched earth approach than really needs to occur.

If the energy is higher, I'm usually able to successfully get angry (the big key!) and inflict a more precise and decisive positive change in the situation. If I'm down, just gotta analyze, identify, create the change. Angry energy is the easiest way for me to make sure the change happens, even if it feels a bit like cheating...
Me too... I start to have the very strong urge to light a match and walk away... Or just keep driving instead of going home.
 

Totenkindly

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Some days I feel like this.

MjAxMy1kMTM4NmM1Y2M4ODY2NGQ5.png


But really, just fake my own death and disappear to the far east.
 

Tiltyred

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Can I go too?
 

greenfairy

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I don't feel down in the dumps perse for more than a day or a few hours unless something major happens like ending things with that stupid INTJ guy; but then I felt very tired all the time and slept a lot, and did lose my appetite for about a week and a half. I've never lost my appetite before. I didn't want to interact with the outside world much either; but I still made myself exercise, which helped. And going to my dance class was still fun. Normally under stress though I just eat sugar and complain to people, and overthink things.

If the energy is higher, I'm usually able to successfully get angry (the big key!) and inflict a more precise and decisive positive change in the situation. If I'm down, just gotta analyze, identify, create the change. Angry energy is the easiest way for me to make sure the change happens, even if it feels a bit like cheating...
I relate.
 

EJCC

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Not a 5, but I'm the same way. Inferior Fi + disintegrating to 4 = extra extra moodiness when feeling down. I'll go about my daily business, but without as much energy, and completely silently, because even the slightest hint of outward expression could open the floodgates. Staying that way for long enough will usually calm me down. I'll recognize in the moment that the waves of anger and guilt are creating the thought processes, not the other way around.

When that doesn't work, it's usually b/c the bad mood is on the existential side and I can't reason my way out of it. In those situations, it gets more like the other posts on the thread and thus more like depression. Worst case scenario, I'll distract myself with mind-numbing activities, sleep too late and too little, not eat enough, and drink more heavily when I do drink. (Same frequency, though. Biweekly?)
 

Lexicon

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If I'm particularly low- I'm tired. I sleep to try to reset my brain.
Under stress, I miss meals & disintegrate if I don't pay attention.. making me more tired, feel shittier. Perpetual.
I'm in my head all the time in general, even when engaged, if that makes sense. I emotionally disengage, to some degree, when very stressed. I may or may not interact. I may be ok for superficial group discussions but avoid 1:1 contact. I may suddenly feel like a bag of bricks & quickly depart. My indifference makes some people uneasy, but I often mask it with humor- for my own sake, and theirs. The rest of me is curled up inside myself, trying to deal with.. whatever the fuck's upsetting me.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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Coming out of it. Yes.

But yeah, I'm always in my head, but when I'm healthy, things outside "reach" me. When I'm in a funk, they don't reach me. There is a wall around me.

Curiously, what seemed to bring me out of it was a combination of sound advice to grapple with and a busy day at work. To me, this suggests that there are ways out... and it's not just a matter of riding it out. I need to find something outside of me to get absorbed with, I think, and I'll be ok.
 

Galena

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This does happen to me, at least once it did rather badly. The not eating/not sleeping version: I'll do more of both things when I'm feeling better.
 

VagrantFarce

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Certainly when I go through something terrible, my instincts are to pretty much shut everyone else out. I'm a little less extreme when going about it nowadays, though.
 
W

WhoCares

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I'm a get prone on something comfy and let oblivion take over kind of person. I was really burnt out yesterday, lack of sleep, too many tricky people in my vicinity, no food all day. I went to the hotel, closed the drapes and died. Some days you just need to close the door on it and come back to reality when you can give a shit.
 

Tyltalis

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I've noticed when I feel shitty, I tend to really withdraw into my head. I ignore my physical environment, and become even more of a slob then I am already. I lose my appetite. I keep everything outside my head as far away as possible. Am I alone with this?
Seems pretty normal to me. Although I'm pretty sure I'm already on the verge of insanity anyway.
 

Alea_iacta_est

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As a 5w4, I do retreat back into my head when I'm depressed, but after a while I reach a point of just serenity, detaching from all of my emotions and stress that have created this state, and I begin introspecting and solving various problems that relate and don't relate to the issue at hand. After being disconnected from my emotions and having solved a couple of problems, my self-confidence is usually boosted and my 8 fix starts coming out of hiding and gives me an extreme self-esteem high. It's sort of like a "Look at the shit you just solved in your head, we (I) can handle anything! Fuck these problems and this stress, we're on top of the world."
 

Ene

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When I am down, which is extremely rare, but does happen, I want to dig a hole, crawl in and pull the dirt in behind me so no one can find me.

In reality, I hide...just go for a walk into the woods and turn off outside communications and technology....no texts, no pcs, etc. cause I'm hiding.
 
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