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[Ni] Handicapped Ni

neptunesnet

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*Title May Be Misleading

What does unhealthy Ni look like?

I know most of the time it's difficult for people to define what exactly Ni is, but for those who have witnessed an unhealthy Ni user, or is one, describe it to me.

I see on this forum a lot of Ni praise (which is fine), but if all other functions can be immature or underdeveloped or just plain unhealthy can't the mysterious and revered Ni be, too?


Sidenote: If there is another thread of the same nature, I apologize.

And mods, I had no idea where to put this thread. It's intended for everyone, not just NFs.
 

Oaky

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Not much of an answer but paranoia. Those who are very paranoid are those who usually have unhealthy Ni.
 

Cimarron

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I was thinking it would look deluded, and out-of-touch with reality. Maybe like a person who develops a long plan with many pieces and parts that will "solve everything and turn it all around," and has reasoned all of it in their head, but sadly their plan's foundation is sitting on nothing and is a lost cause from the beginning.

Mmm, not sure what Ni-ers think.
 

cascadeco

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^I don't think that's a bad way of looking at it!

Paranoia, yeah. Conspiracy theorists. Completely attached to their own Ni-driven conclusions that they become consumed by them.
 

Oaky

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I was thinking it would look deluded, and out-of-touch with reality. Maybe like a person who develops a long plan with many pieces and parts that will "solve everything and turn it all around," and has reasoned all of it in their head, but sadly their plan's foundation is sitting on nothing and is a lost cause from the beginning.

Mmm, not sure what Ni-ers think.
No, this is healthy Ni with unhealthy Te.
 

neptunesnet

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I was thinking it would look deluded, and out-of-touch with reality. Maybe like a person who develops a long plan with many pieces and parts that will "solve everything and turn it all around," and has reasoned all of it in their head, but sadly their plan's foundation is sitting on nothing and is a lost cause from the beginning.

In the SP vs. N thread there was some talk of SPs and how they use Ni alongside their Se. If that's true, your description would make so much sense. My mother is an ISFP, and she does exactly what you've described. It's one of my biggest frustrations with her.


@Raging: Hmm, really? She does have very little Te...*ponders*
 

cascadeco

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No, this is healthy Ni with unhealthy Te.

hmmm...maybe. But the 'deluded' and 'out of touch with reality' piece can also imply ignoring valid pieces of new or conflicting information once you've reached a conclusion, which would eventually lead to unhealthy Ni if done for a long period of time. So wrapped up in your vision that you refuse to 'see' anything else that's brought to your attention that might not jive with it.
 

Oaky

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^Oh yes, that's a wonderful example.
hmmm...maybe. But the 'deluded' and 'out of touch with reality' piece can also imply ignoring valid pieces of new or conflicting information once you've reached a conclusion, which I think would be unhealthy Ni. So wrapped up in your vision that you refuse to 'see' anything else that's brought to your attention that might not jive with it.
Ni is fine to be 'deluded' or 'out of touch with reality'.
If you compare how an INFJ uses Ni and an INTJ uses Ni it would be different in that INFJs would back it up with Fe and INTJs would back it up we Te. Both may stay out of touch with reality it's just the way we bring back to reality with the second function in which both could come out differently. I think unhealthy Ni is when Ni is used in a way that would affect you negatively resulting with cases such as paranoia or SPD.
 

neptunesnet

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hmmm...maybe. But the 'deluded' and 'out of touch with reality' piece can also imply ignoring valid pieces of new or conflicting information once you've reached a conclusion, which would eventually lead to unhealthy Ni if done for a long period of time. So wrapped up in your vision that you refuse to 'see' anything else that's brought to your attention that might not jive with it.

I don't mean to be difficult, but aren't most unhealthy iNtuiters "out of touch with reality"?

Actually, I'm more often than not out of touch with reality even as a Fi-dom, but I don't consider myself unhealthy.
 

cascadeco

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Ni is fine to be 'deluded' or 'out of touch with reality'.
If you compare how an INFJ uses Ni and an INTJ uses Ni it would be different in that INFJs would back it up with Fe and INTJs would back it up we Te. Both may stay out of touch with reality it's just the way we bring back to reality with the second function in which both could come out differently. I think unhealthy Ni is when Ni is used in a way that would affect you negatively resulting with cases such as paranoia or SPD.

Yeah, I see your point..ultimately it's about being able to extrovert yourself - via Fe or Te - in a constructive way that might bring about what you've gleaned from Ni. Sitting indefinitely in Ni-mode, without learning to utilize much of anything else, would lead to paranoia...but that's also kinda what I meant when I said letting the Ni visions consume you.

neptunesnet - I think we're just arguing semantics at this point...I get what you're saying, and you're right, the whole 'not liking reality/being out of touch with reality' thing is an N thing...but I still think rejecting things that don't allign with your fantasy/ideal/intuited world, despite it being valid new information, isn't exactly a sign of health either.
 

Billy

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I figure unhealthy Ni would be someone who relies completely on their Ni without any fact checking to back it up, this would probably lead to excessive paranoia.
 

Oaky

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Yeah, I see your point..ultimately it's about being able to extrovert yourself - via Fe or Te - in a constructive way that might bring about what you've gleaned from Ni. Sitting indefinitely in Ni-mode, without learning to utilize much of anything else, would lead to paranoia...but that's also kinda what I meant when I said letting the Ni visions consume you.
Yes, absolutely. One must keep a proper balance to stay healthy.
 

Jaguar

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I figure unhealthy Ni would be someone who relies completely on their Ni without any fact checking to back it up, this would probably lead to excessive paranoia.

Son, if you can "fact check" your Ni, you might be ISFJ. :D
 

Virtual ghost

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I think that Ni can't be unhealthy. (same works for all other perciving functions)


Towards my opinion perciving is never the problematic part. While on the other hand juding function can easily be made disfunctional. What creates an illusion that perciving function is not functioning properly. Especially since the judging function will be the one that will defend you if you environment "attacks" you because of something.


I think that the only real way to have disfunctional perciving function is by having overdeveloped perciving function(s). (what is rare, if not impossible)
 

Andy

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Shadow Ni can take the form of self delusion, a belief that ones knows something to be true, even there isn't the slightest basis for it.
 

Z Buck McFate

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this is healthy Ni with unhealthy Te.

I think that Ni can't be unhealthy. (same works for all other perciving functions)

This is kind of what I was thinking. Unhealthy Ni is what might be found in an ISJ. But in a Ni dom- and maybe even where Ni is aux- the problem is really more about how the Ni is used. A really healthy Ni in cahoots with an unhealthy Fe or Te is kind of like a sharp ax in the hands of a deranged person; the healthier the Ni, the more elaborate the delusion. Probably. I think.

...ignoring valid pieces of new or conflicting information once you've reached a conclusion, which would eventually lead to unhealthy Ni if done for a long period of time. So wrapped up in your vision that you refuse to 'see' anything else that's brought to your attention that might not jive with it.

I figure unhealthy Ni would be someone who relies completely on their Ni without any fact checking to back it up, this would probably lead to excessive paranoia.


^:yes: I have a friend that seems like a Grade-A Prime example of spastic Ni use. I haven’t talked to her in a while because I couldn’t handle it. Anyway, she’d get angry about things and she refused to talk about it. She wouldn’t explain; she’d just say, “It’s just the way you are. It’s fine.” It got to the point where anything would set it off. I could ask for a pen, and she’d fly into some bizarre, incredibly vague and passive-aggressive ‘you-always-do-this’ rage. It got difficult to have so much as a single conversation with her without it being clear some kind of misunderstanding was taking place.

Then when she was finally willing to explain: as far as she was concerned there were no misunderstandings, it was just me trying to twist facts around because I “didn’t get enough attention growing up” so I was “making stuff up to get attention” from her. I was dumbstruck by this, because anyone who knows in me IRL knows that I would rather be stabbed with an ice pick than have a pile of senseless drama unleashed on me. Yet every time I tried to find out why she was angry, she perceived “Z Buck creating drama because she needs attention” instead of “Z Buck picking up on my anger and wanting to understand what she did to make me angry”. I had no idea where she got this, but it wasn’t from actual experience with me. Bizarre conclusions like this happened *a lot*.

My mom does things that seem kind of like an unhealthy use of Ni, too. This is something they have in common: they both seem to be entirely lacking in self-awareness (at times) and absolutely set on sticking to their story, no matter how absolutely ridiculous it sounds, how much they contradict themselves or how little basis it has in shared reality. I’ve taken to calling it Cornhol(Ni)o- when Ni is used in a completely spastic way- cuz it’s like dealing with Cornholeo (Beavis & Butthead). It’s like there some gaping hole in them, and they perceive these *magic* connections to make sense of the injustice they are feeling (the hole). When Cornhol(Ni)o takes over, they are completely impervious to reason or anyone’s take on reality but their own; and they are impervious to how unreasonable their own version appears to others.
 

Requeim

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crazy thoughts accepted as truth, with no evidence whatsoever

extreme paranoia (ever had a feeling that everybody (even strangers) are out to get you down?? i hope for you that you haven't, it's not fun)
 
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