[INTP] The Unhealthy INTP

[Lithium Onyx]

Can a true INTP be psychologically healthy and happy, though, really?

I can't imagine it, they are utterly neurotic, and pessimistic by nature.

The closest thing to a smile they can muster is a smirk.

EDIT: Admittedly, I was thinking about my (unwell, and dead ) INTP father as I was writing that thought.

Yes.

Being INTP has little to do with neurosis. Calling all INTPs neurotic is like calling all INFPs bleeding hearts (although that might be right on the money ) or ISTJs boring conformist perfectionists.

I actually tend to lean toward optimism, when the world isn't in a state of absolute bedlam.

I don't smile incredibly frequently, but that doesn't mean I'm not at solace in my mind.

 

[Lurker]

Can a true INTP be psychologically healthy and happy, though, really?

I can't imagine it, they are utterly neurotic, and pessimistic by nature.

The closest thing to a smile they can muster is a smirk.

EDIT: Admittedly, I was thinking about my (unwell, and dead ) INTP father as I was writing that thought.

Oh, no. It's you, hater of introverts and INTPs.

Maybe if you marry an INTP you can work out the problems you had with your father by projecting them onto your spouse. This time you can say what you wish you'd said back then...

 

[wastrd]

Can a true INTP be psychologically healthy and happy, though, really?

I can't imagine it, they are utterly neurotic, and pessimistic by nature.

The closest thing to a smile they can muster is a smirk.

Well that made me smile.

Responding to your rhetorical question though; I don't know, many claim they can.

 

[colourscientist]

i definitely relate to the loss of self-respect that was mentioned (although i didn't realize it before, it was such a natural state)
competency is your only source of self-worth, working compulsively
avoiding conflicts then lashing out with bitter Fe melodrama
criticising and rejecting others to frustrate them and express hostility
coldness and detachment from the emotions of others
thinking that morals aren't taken seriously therefore they're unrealistic (i believe that's more my experience)

 

[Sarcasticus]

I'm actually a happy and calm person by default. My friends always commented on my deafening laugh. I blame undeveloped Fe for not knowing how to laugh "appropriately"; I sound like a seagull fighting for a bag of chips.

I LOL'd.

 

[Risen]

Oh, no. It's you, hater of introverts and INTPs.

Maybe if you marry an INTP you can work out the problems you had with your father by projecting them onto your spouse. This time you can say what you wish you'd said back then...

LOL.

 

[Matthew_Z]

I'm actually a happy and calm person by default. My friends always commented on my deafening laugh. I blame undeveloped Fe for not knowing how to laugh "appropriately"; I sound like a seagull fighting for a bag of chips.

Wait, THIS IS AN INTP TRAIT? So much for thinking I was unique in that respect.

 

[Takelah]

for me:

• 
  chain-smoking

• entertaining suicidal thoughts

• extreme mental and physical fatigue

• not answering/returning phone calls (get extremely annoyed if phone rings; usu just shut it off/switch to silent)

• spent an inordinate amount of time online, sometimes trying to find out if i was suffering from some sort of mental illness

• wishing i was born in japan and could just retreat into my bedroom (with internet connection of course) and be a hikkikomori

• constantly finding excuses not to meet people

 

[weminuche]

for me:

• not answering/returning phone calls (get extremely annoyed if phone rings; usu just shut it off/switch to silent)

• spent an inordinate amount of time online, sometimes trying to find out if i was suffering from some sort of mental illness

I looked over at the phone on my desk when I read this. It says I have 41 voice mails.

 

[Polaris]

Unhealthy INTPs . . . They ostracize outsiders, beat down everyone else in order to soothe their insecurities, and overreact to everything that threatens their fragile, limited sense of superiority. On the whole, they resemble a huddle of grouchy men stranded on a small, shrinking island amid a stormy sea.

 

[Risen]

Unhealthy INTPs . . . They ostracize outsiders, beat down everyone else in order to soothe their insecurities, and overreact to everything that threatens their fragile, limited sense of superiority. On the whole, they resemble a huddle of grouchy men stranded on a small, shrinking island amid a stormy sea.

Fairly accurate.

 

[Valuable_Money]

Can a true INTP be psychologically healthy and happy, though, really?

I can't imagine it, they are utterly neurotic, and pessimistic by nature.

The closest thing to a smile they can muster is a smirk.

EDIT: Admittedly, I was thinking about my (unwell, and dead ) INTP father as I was writing that thought.

I find daddy issues to be a HUGE turn on

 

[Risen]

I find daddy issues to be a HUGE turn on

I love it when you call me Big Papa .

 

[Magic Poriferan]

I find daddy issues to be a HUGE turn on

I love it when you call me Big Papa .

 

[Lithium Onyx]

I looked over at the phone on my desk when I read this. It says I have 41 voice mails.

ROTF! What do you do?

 

[wildcat]

Ok, I know that these copy threads are getting annoying. But I was in the SP section and saw the "Unhealthy ISTP" thread, and it sounded a lot like me.

So out of interest and curiosity, I'd like to hear about your experiences with unhealthy INTPs and see how similar and different they are to the other introverted thinker.

Cruelty is a delight in a misfortune of another person.

The INTPs, even in their bad days, have no such delight.
They are not more uncaring about the needs of others than they are uncaring about their own needs.

They are not greedy.
In good and bad days, they turn the other cheek.

 

[Athenian200]

Cruelty is a delight in a misfortune of another person.

The INTPs, even in their bad days, have no such delight.
They are not more uncaring about the needs of others than they are uncaring about their own needs.

They are not greedy.
In good and bad days, they turn the other cheek.

INTPs sound like saints, then.

 

[wildcat]

Like Nunki Marilyn Monroe had a sense of superiority.
She was fragile.
Therefore her sense of superiority was limited.
She was a an INFP.

A good actress, too

 

[wildcat]

INTPs sound like saints, then.

I always wondered what would be the correct definition for us INTPs.
I could not find it out. You did.

I was a way too modest.

 

[SillySapienne]

I find daddy issues to be a HUGE turn on

That would be funny if that were actually true.

I once briefly dated a guy who was into my having issues with men, in general, (dead father included). Truth be told, it weirded me out, he always wanted me to talk about them, (my issues), and he was obsessed with how different he was from my, or the, archetypal Man.

People are strange.

Still, I do think many INTPs are psychologically unwell, they have a sadness, or at least an apparent sadness about them.

Whether melancholy or miserable, they seem very alone, more so than other people.

The lucky ones become happy when thrust into their favorite niches, which tend to be abstract.

You know what, Darwin and E. O. Wilson, maybe more Wilson than Darwin seem(ed) like healthy INTPs.