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Can depression/ dysthymia lead to mistyping?

Aleria

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Mar 10, 2014
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The question is pretty straightforward... But, can episodes of depression or dysthymia lead people to have a distorted perception of themselves leading them to mistype, as MBTI is discovered by self-reporting, mainly?

Discuss.
 

á´…eparted

passages
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Yup, absolutely. In fact, I am nearly dead certain it is a major reason why reason I saw myself as an INFJ (and just an introvert in general) through out my teens and until last year. I've come to realize that I am pretty clearly an extrovert. Depression symptoms can kill those core attributes which actually makes things worse.

Depression can completely kill drive, confidence, ability to think clearly, and overall exist in a "neutral" state that is needed to type oneself. I still suffer from it but have grown enough to see through the veils of it.
 

five sounds

MyPeeSmellsLikeCoffee247
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Absolutely. Enneagram disintegration is another interesting facet of this discussion. Made me unsure of my heart fix for sure.
 

Aleria

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Mar 10, 2014
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115
Yup, absolutely. In fact, I am nearly dead certain it is a major reason why reason I saw myself as an INFJ (and just an introvert in general) through out my teens and until last year. I've come to realize that I am pretty clearly an extrovert. Depression symptoms can kill those core attributes which actually makes things worse.

Depression can completely kill drive, confidence, ability to think clearly, and overall exist in a "neutral" state that is needed to type oneself. I still suffer from it but have grown enough to see through the veils of it.

Absolutely. Enneagram disintegration is another interesting facet of this discussion. Made me unsure of my heart fix for sure.

Yeah, that's what I thought. I made this thread because of two real life examples I saw. My father, during an episode of major depression, scored as ESTJ. After treatment, he came up as ESFP. A friend's mother during depression scored as INTJ, after treatment she came up as ESFJ.

Those cases were mistypings during major depression. So, I wonder if dysthymia has the same effect...
 

á´…eparted

passages
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So, I wonder if dysthymia has the same effect...

I think that one is a little more difficult. My therapist and I have speculated if I have this (neither of us felt the need to formally diagnose it), and if I do, I have had it for so long I no longer notice it.

Note that I am meerly speculating here. The thing with dysthymia, is the low level persistence. It's not something commonly or easily treated with talk therapy or medication because of the lack of severity in an acute sense. Further, this is something that needs to go on for years and years and clinical attriubutes for the disorder state that it never really goes away for periods like depression does. For this reason, I wonder if this is almost a personality-like make up due to how persistent it is. It might actually influence ones type to the point where it truly will settle as that. You could ask two questions, for example "They're an ISFP because of dysthimia" or "They have dysthimia because they're ISFP". The former has disorder influence, the latter could be spurred by poor cognitive function development/usage (which isn't too uncommon, it's really a catch-all for just poor personality development and coping mechanisms). The question is, which question is more apt, or are they both apt? Ultimately, I think that dysthimia would influence type, but not change/mask it. It's not strong enough to do so, and it's so persistent that personality could mix with it and actually solidify type if it has not already been so.
 

INTP

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It can, but doesent always do. I guess it depends on the person and reasons for depression
 

Qlip

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I was dysthymic in post-adolescence and way into adulthood, during pretty formative years and I used to test as INTP. I used to even hang out on INTPc and picked up a career in tech. I felt considerably different than I do now, although I'm sure my functions have not changed. I'd say that my Fi wasn't well developed, when it managed to come out it would behave almost like a tertiary function, a lot of all or nothing, and my Te seemed to attempt to fill the gap.
 

Azure Flame

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as posted above, its why I typed as istp instead of estp.
 
B

brainheart

Guest
Yeah, when I was in the midst of a major depression I typed as INTP 5w4. Once I was passed that and got back to INFP (I typed that years ago, when healthier), dysthymia made me over identify with and consider nine for enneagram type, I guess due to the passivity/sloth aspect.
 
L

LadyLazarus

Guest
I feel as if depression can make one seem more introverted, it may also have some effect on T vs. F as well, and maybe even some effect on N vs. S as the individual may be more likely to mistype as an N if they see N's as lethargic and eccentric/different.
 

Odi et Amo

To here knows when...
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Dec 18, 2013
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I was a happy kid. This first time I ever took typology tests, I tested as an ENTJ and a 2w1 (I was 10 years old). I fell into depression when I was in middle school and typed as INFP and 4w5 when I was 13. The depression has recurred since then; I have had three significant episodes of clinical depression in the past 4 years, which have made me more of an introvert and less of a conscientious person (behaviorally), and, in an interesting way, FAR more of a Feeling-type person (cognitively), so it's certainly interesting to me to hear that others have tested as Thinking-types during depressed periods. My experiences have been with MDD - before this thread, I was not familiar with dysthymia.

As far as my preference for Feeling over Thinking (which is cast in steel), I'm not sure how much of that is down to depressive disorder and how much is down to exposure to psychotherapy.

When I first became interested in typology, all I knew of my cognition was depressed me. Since I am in a healthy period and have been since right before I joined this forum, I feel as though my depression had indeed lead me to being mistyped, as I am now pretty sure I am an INFJ. Behaviorally I don't necessarily fit the conscientious mold (especially with work/school related things) but cognitively I am sure I use Pi and Je.
 

Octavarium

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Jan 27, 2014
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I think it can certainly make people appear to be or even start to think like a different type. I haven't been diagnosed with depression, but I've experienced almost all of the symptoms; what I have is probably closer to dysthymia. I'm surprised no one's said much about J/P. When I'm in a depressive episode, I tend to have very rigid, black and white thinking patterns with lots of shoulds, I feel responsible for everything and my obligations weigh very heavily on me. ON the other hand, in those same episodes, I have very little will power or motivation, staying focused can sometimes become more difficult and I'm not at all on top of things. It feels like I have all these responsibilities weighing me down so much that I can't move to do anything about them. So my thinking is really J but in some ways, I act like a P. It's like having the worst of both. From what I've read, those are pretty common depression symptoms.
 
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