# ENTPs and sadness.



## Nubis (Jan 20, 2016)

Hey there everyone! 

So, I have recently become more sure of my personality type as an ENTP 7. 

I have a few friends who are ENTPs and I have begun to notice a trait that we all share; we all seem to be very unhappy with life, even if nothing is specifically wrong. And so, seeing this, I began to wonder if perhaps this is just something that ENTPs struggle with.

The thing about this as to why I'm so stricken and confused by this is the fact that none of us really have anything bad happening in our lives. Some of us have had things in the past that we aren't happy about, sure. But none of us really have anything going on right now that could upset us. Yet, we all- deep down- seem very sad and all of us are very nihilistic. 

Myself for example: I have a pretty decent home life- ups and downs of course, but not much currently that's out of the norm from 'typical' families. I have a girlfriend and I love her very much, of course. I do decent in school, even without putting in too much effort. My health could certainly be better, but I'm by no means dying any more than anyone else. I have plenty of friends. All in all, my life is not bad.

Yet I still am just totally incapable of shaking this feeling of 'just being down'.

I joke and laugh and all the normal things that people do, and seem very happy on the outside. Yet, deep down I often 'feel down' with no specific or discernable reason as to why.

Therefore, I've concluded that- since all of the ENTPs I know are about the same way- perhaps it's just a common thing that ENTPs just experience with no real rhyme or reason.

I do, however, have a few theories on it, based on the different functions that ENTPs use.

1. Ne works excessively and, seeing how big the 'whole of everything' is, begins to make them feel very insignificant, which leads to 'my entire life means nothing'.

2. Ti works excessively and boils things down so efficiently that nothing seems 'special' and so everything is boring and unoriginal to them.

3. Fe feeds off of the feelings of others decently, but is often overwhelmed, leading the ENTP to have to deal with emotions that they don't fully understand, making them feel incompetent.

4. Si as such a weak function could cause memories to be very weak, so the ENTP may not be able to remember good things easily or well. The ENTP may also have a hard time recognising bodily needs such as eating and bathing, and may therefore feel as if they are 'unfit' to effectively take care of themselves, which could cause them to feel as if they may have a hard time being autonomous, which is very important to the ENTP. 

5. Ni sees the 'whole of everything, like Ne. But since Ni searches to put it all together and Ni in the ENTP is not very strong ENTPs prefers not to use it. They may not be able to understand the 'whole of everything' and how it fits together, which could frustrate them due to the fact that they have such a drive to understand.

6. Te is weak, which can cause the ENTP to have a hard time organising their external environment, which can lead to frustration when things do not seem efficient- which is very important to ENTPs- or things never seeming to work out the way that the ENTP hopes they will, which can cause them to feel as if they have failed.

7. Fi as such a weak function can cause the ENTP to have a hard time 'finding their place in life' and they may therefore feel like they are alone and 'on the outside'.

8. Se as the weakest function may cause the ENTP to have a reduced sense of external stimuli and therefore may cause them to feel less pleasure from physical experiences such as tasting food.

After doing this, I may consider going through each type and determining where sadness could potentially arise and why, based on their functions and the placement of their functions within their functional stack. Is there any interest in that out there?

Thanks for any feedback guys!


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## marblecloud95 (Aug 12, 2015)

Sounds like depression.


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## Nubis (Jan 20, 2016)

I know it does, but being that all the ENTPs I know are like that, it seems like more than just a coincidence.


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## BroNerd (Nov 27, 2010)

Too tired to do this now in detail but I bet you can make a pretty good argument too how those functions in an ENTP can keep that ENTP from not being depressed. 
Ne: Easily can see the positive possibilities and choosing to hang on to those.
Ti: Allows a person to analyze his or her situation in such a way to disregard the overly negative as illogical/unlikely, same with the overly positive but getting rid of negativity is most important to fighting depression.


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## Carpentet810 (Nov 17, 2013)

Its not depression. Its what I call Hurry up and wait. It drives ENTPs nuts to not be going forward or that waiting period when plans that if implemented come to fruition.

Its the inability to accept things as they are.


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## Nubis (Jan 20, 2016)

Very true. I guess it depends on how healthy the ENTP is?


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## Nubis (Jan 20, 2016)

I can't tell you how many times I've said something along those lines (eg. I just want to get on with my life- referring to disdain towards school)


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## Highway Nights (Nov 26, 2014)

I see it in INTPs all the time, never seen it in ENTPs. But I know that it can be frustrating to feel bogged down. I'm pretty sure I'm not an ENTP, but I remember kind of feeling this way in High School. Pace was too slow, meaningless task after meaningless task, rules that held no purpose, staff members who just came of as stooges etc. But things got a lot better when I started college and decided what I wanted to do. Life starts to open up to you. Gonna use a kind of dorky Nish analogy for a minute and say it's like an open world video game where you have this linear, meaningless tutorial, and suddenly it ends and a huge world just unfolds before you that you can do anything in. Within reason.


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## knife (Jul 10, 2013)

Carpentet810 said:


> Its not depression. Its what I call Hurry up and wait. It drives ENTPs nuts to not be going forward or that waiting period when plans that if implemented come to fruition.
> 
> Its the inability to accept things as they are.


I get irritable when I'm forced to "hurry up and wait". We don't like it when things don't move that the speed _we_ move at.


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## Carpentet810 (Nov 17, 2013)

knife said:


> I get irritable when I'm forced to "hurry up and wait". We don't like it when things don't move that the speed _we_ move at.


Indeed, I suspect it is one reason ENTPs have trouble getting plans off the ground. Intentional overplanning into oblivion to avoid the wait from implementation.


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## Nubis (Jan 20, 2016)

Thanks guys! This has actually been very helpful, because it's helping me to realize why some of my own frustration and other negative feelings about my life come from.
I guess, though, that you just have to deal with it. :dry:


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