# Be Yourself!!!!!



## marzipan01 (Jun 6, 2010)

Know your type, learn what comes naturally to you and do it, and accept other people for their types and what comes naturally to them.
If you are yourself and feel free to be yourself, some people won't like you. Oh, well. They aren't your real friends anyway. 
Studies have suggested that good friends who accept/love you for who you are lower your blood pressure and help you live longer, more fulfilling lives. Fair weather friends who disrespect you and treat you poorly actually cause physical illness. 
If you insist on pretending to be someone who you aren't you are likely to develop psychological problems that will lead to physiological problems. (pretending to be another personality type, pretending to be straight, etc.) This is called Prolonged Adaptive Stress Syndrome (PASS). 

Symptoms of Prolonged Adaptive Stress Syndrome:
1. Fatigue
2. Hypervigilance
3. Immune System Suppression
4. Interference with brain funciton
5. Changes in Neurochemistry
6. Memory problems
7. Dicouragement/depression
8. Self-esteem Problems 

Arlene R Taylor PhD--Prolonged Adaption Stress Syndrome (PASS)--Realizations Inc.
http://www.benziger.org/articlesIng/?p=34

http://personalitycafe.com/intp-forum-thinkers/51733-physiological-base-mbti-types.html


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## Istbkleta (Apr 30, 2011)

Thanks.

Can you please keep posting here any new research you might find, that you find interesting.


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## marzipan01 (Jun 6, 2010)

Istbkleta said:


> Thanks.
> 
> Can you please keep posting here any new research you might find, that you find interesting.


Absolutely, here are some more (from various threads, etc.)
How to cultivate other functions: 
How to Experience Different Function-Attitudes

Evidence for genetic component of Autism, Schizophrenia, ADD being linked: 
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/gm102.pdf
SpringerLink - Current Psychiatry Reports, Volume 2, Number 1

And an article that suggests what I believe to be true which is that this genetic component (cited above) is linked to cognitive dis-inhibition which leads to higher levels of creativity and eccentricity (intuition): 
The Unleashed Mind: Why Creative People Are Eccentric: Scientific American

As the scientific american for the mind article illustrates, creative eccentric types such as Albert Einstein (INTP) and Charles Dickens (ENFP) are basically schizophrenic people with high enough IQs to sort through the thicket of information they are receiving. Thus, the basis of the thread I started http://personalitycafe.com/critical-thinking-philosophy/59174-question-intelligence.html

That is not to say that intuition = intelligence. Far from it. I have no idea how crazy it would be to have high cognitive inhibition (sensing type) combined with a high IQ. Well, that would just be nuts!


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## dirnthelord (Dec 29, 2010)

I read that our emotions play a major role in aging. So, If we are not our selves, we are mostly depressed, sooo...we get unwanted emotions...like depression...and well, die.


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## Quelzalcoatl (Dec 6, 2010)

marzipan01 said:


> Know your type, learn what comes naturally to you and do it, and accept other people for their types and what comes naturally to them.
> If you are yourself and feel free to be yourself, some people won't like you. Oh, well. They aren't your real friends anyway.
> Studies have suggested that good friends who accept/love you for who you are lower your blood pressure and help you live longer, more fulfilling lives. Fair weather friends who disrespect you and treat you poorly actually cause physical illness.
> If you insist on pretending to be someone who you aren't you are likely to develop psychological problems that will lead to physiological problems. (pretending to be another personality type, pretending to be straight, etc.) This is called Prolonged Adaptive Stress Syndrome (PASS).
> ...


Hmmm... I like this topic. More people should know this. I may not tolerate many people, but I'm not going to will them into pretending to be someone they're not, and I'll not do any of the sort either. Let's just say, I'll _PASS_ on that.


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## suicidal_orange (May 6, 2010)

'twas interesting last night when a girl I've worked with for years and been out socialising with a lot said "oh dear, I thought you were above that" when I was laughing at Chuck Norris jokes. And she's right - I'd like to think I was. Clearly she has bought the overly serious image I try so hard to present to the world, but is it really me? I think not... Of course this may have nothing to do with type but this thread title reminded me of it anyway. 

Trouble is that this is the exact opposite of what another (male) colleague said at work last week - "your people skills have really gone downhill since moving to this team". He wasn't referring to people skills but to my apparently increasing intolerance of the inabilities of others. Bad as it sounds I've always considered myself superior in some respects but instead of defending those less able now I express displeasure, just like the rest of my team. I want to find me but for each mask I destroy I build a replacement, and now you say I'm killing myself? :frustrating:


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## Quelzalcoatl (Dec 6, 2010)

asmit127 said:


> I want to find me but for each mask I destroy I build a replacement, and now you say I'm killing myself? :frustrating:


So, darling, how are you enjoying your long-term suicide? Lemonade for the hard labour? Yes? Yes.


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## marzipan01 (Jun 6, 2010)

asmit127 said:


> Trouble is that this is the exact opposite of what another (male) colleague said at work last week - "your people skills have really gone downhill since moving to this team". He wasn't referring to people skills but to my apparently increasing intolerance of the inabilities of others. Bad as it sounds I've always considered myself superior in some respects but instead of defending those less able now I express displeasure, just like the rest of my team. I want to find me but for each mask I destroy I build a replacement, and now you say I'm killing myself? :frustrating:


I'm not sure wearing a mask is the same as pretending to be someone else. Hmm...Maybe it is. 
Okay, this is making me think of examples of when I behave like other types and it exhausts me and I get burned out/exhibit PASS like symptoms because it has happened to me in the past. 
As an ENFP, I'm not naturally inclined to turn off my empathy switch. So, when I have in the past been required to keep working hard despite the fact that I was surrounded by negativity around every corner (colleagues who hated my guts, two-faced fellow employees, cold calling, etc.) wow! Was I ever exhausted and depressed at the end of the day!
Detail oriented, mundane tasks wear me out, too. Memorizing details was very hard in college unless I could see the big picture. 
I would imagine for you, as an istp, it would be very taxing to have a job where you had to see the big picture perspective of someone else's emotional struggle (such as literature classes or being a psychologist would require) would wear you out by the end of the day or going into some field that required you to learn a bunch of theory without any practical application.


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## marzipan01 (Jun 6, 2010)

Quelzalcoatl said:


> So, darling, how are you enjoying your long-term suicide? Lemonade for the hard labour? Yes? Yes.


Your delicious cynicism is refreshing. Mmm...lemonade


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## topgun31 (Nov 23, 2010)

Thanks you for this post! It's always good to find scientific supports for various subjects.

This reminds me of a book I read entitled _reclaiming the fire: how successful people overcome burnout_


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## psynite (Feb 7, 2011)

asmit127 said:


> Trouble is that this is the exact opposite of what another (male) colleague said at work last week - "your people skills have really gone downhill since moving to this team". He wasn't referring to people skills but to my apparently increasing intolerance of the inabilities of others. Bad as it sounds I've always considered myself superior in some respects but instead of defending those less able now I express displeasure, just like the rest of my team. I want to find me but for each mask I destroy I build a replacement, and now you say I'm killing myself? :frustrating:


You very well can't act like something your not. People are multi-faceted, you can only express your personality in very few ways that can be understood. We all wear different masks all the time, but all our masks come from inside us. Being yourself is as easy as it is hard. For me, its just being true to what I want and not suppressing myself. If you believe in a soul, you can think of your personality as how you dress it up, business suit for being serious, clown costume for fun, etc. Just like how you dress up physically is an expression of what you wish people to see in you, what part of you that you project is just only one facet of who you are. 

I think that this disorder is reflective of people who try and do something that they can't justify or that isn't congruent with what they believe. An example of a soldier, one who kills for what he believes to be his country and the safety of his people and is fine with that vs the one who struggles with it because he doesn't feel that killing is right, even if he knows that he may be protecting his country. I'm thinking that this disorder is just what you feel like when you settle.


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## Linnifae (Nov 13, 2009)

Indeed! For a while I was under intense stress and tried coping by acting ISTP-like. It was killing me because it's nothing like how I truly am and it just made the rest of the stress in my life even harder to cope with. And my husband who IS an ISTP actually started getting upset with me because if he "wanted to be with someone like himself he would have." I still have ISTP envy though. Oh well. I'm working on it. =P


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## suicidal_orange (May 6, 2010)

psynite said:


> We all wear different masks all the time, but all our masks come from inside us. Being yourself is as easy as it is hard. For me, its just *being true to what I want* and not suppressing myself.


As long as you don't loose sight of that you're doing ok.



psynite said:


> If you believe in a soul, you can think of your personality as how you dress it up, business suit for being serious, clown costume for fun, etc. Just like how you dress up physically is an expression of what you wish people to see in you, what part of you that you project is just only one facet of who you are.


An interesting parallel - I hate my masks just like I resent having to wear a suit to an interview. It's not like the acknowledgement of social ritual is in any way an indicator of ability to do the job especially as everyone plays the game (or automatically looses). Other than that my appearance doesn't say anything about me; my clothes are mainly old and big name branded, not because I've fallen on hard times and am clinging to the past but because big brands have traceable environmental/humanitarian records which are not available for no name companies making stuff as cheap as possible and bobly shirts keep the sun and rain out just as well as crisp new ones.



psynite said:


> I think that this disorder is reflective of people who try and do something that they can't justify or that isn't congruent with what they believe. An example of a soldier, one who kills for what he believes to be his country and the safety of his people and is fine with that vs the one who struggles with it because he doesn't feel that killing is right, even if he knows that he may be protecting his country. I'm thinking that this disorder is just what you feel like when you settle.


I'm a cog in a wheel I hate and some of my work is directly related to efficiency savings, which basically means making my colleagues redundant. Not as universally conflicting as your "murderer for hire" soldier, but close enough. But can I quit? Of course not, I need a stream of income and thanks to assholes like me there are more people seeking work than offering it, and all the nice positions are filled first.


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## Up and Away (Mar 5, 2011)

Yea I've suspected my memory problems weren't really just from smoking weed years ago.

Especially when my highest IQ ability is working memory, which was like 40 points higher than any other of the tests, lol. And thats an actual 3 hour test administered too.


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## Necrilia (Jun 26, 2011)

Nothing new.. Organs directly communicate with brain and vice versa with neuropeptides (every cell of our body *feels*).

People differ, but my recommendation for relaxation would be an escape to a peaceful place near the woods, lavender and rosemary.


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## error (Feb 10, 2011)

Socializing with people is the most unnatural and awkward thing I have to do. But I really have little choice. Even if I'm dealing with INTPs, INTJs (what? they amuse me. I like their sense of humor.) or ISTPs, after I get back home I'm completely exhausted from trying to keep up with the conversations. But While I'm their I truly do enjoy myself, it's just the social hang over I suppose. Even when I'm in observer mode my energy falls through after the parties over.


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## 22575 (May 23, 2011)

How do you assess if someone has been mistyped (falsifying their type)? When analyzing someone's type there is bias from both the patient and the psychologist.


Is there a scholarly article which presents the sample size, metrics, definitions, etc?


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## marzipan01 (Jun 6, 2010)

unsung truth said:


> How do you assess if someone has been mistyped (falsifying their type)? When analyzing someone's type there is bias from both the patient and the psychologist.
> 
> 
> Is there a scholarly article which presents the sample size, metrics, definitions, etc?


Interesting question. 
I think your type can be derived from looking at what you naturally do. What comes naturally. 
It requires thinking about your own thoughts and a level of honesty. Also, I think types can be derived somewhat from misunderstandings and type relations.
I often think, "Okay, this person totally took what I said the wrong way. What can I derive about how that person is thinking from how he/she misunderstood me?"

But, of course, that isn't a hard science. lol.


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## 22575 (May 23, 2011)

Right, you can think about it and reflect and hope that you are avoiding systematic errors but there is no methodology presented for avoiding those systematic errors. The best way to present this idea (for me at least) is through a diagram. You have a box representing the person's mind and you have arrows, info in and info out. It's a black box so you don't see the mechanism which is occurring inside of it, one can only look at the information going in and out. In this pure form you can sort of guess and check and lead towards an accurate theory of the mechanism inside the box (like how we guess what goes on inside the earth or the sun). But with typology you introduce a second black box, either that of the psychologist examining the patient or the patient examining themselves, which communicates with the other box and alters both through the interaction. Since both boxes have unknown mechanisms you can't draw any solid conclusions. Basically my beef with these PASS articles is that they try to present themselves as scientific by stating that the author has a PhD, that they used PET scans (because obviously using a high tech piece of equipment automatically makes it science), and by coming up with an acronym and drawing parallels to PTSD to gain validity.


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## marzipan01 (Jun 6, 2010)

unsung truth said:


> Right, you can think about it and reflect and hope that you are avoiding systematic errors but there is no methodology presented for avoiding those systematic errors. The best way to present this idea (for me at least) is through a diagram. You have a box representing the person's mind and you have arrows, info in and info out. It's a black box so you don't see the mechanism which is occurring inside of it, one can only look at the information going in and out. In this pure form you can sort of guess and check and lead towards an accurate theory of the mechanism inside the box (like how we guess what goes on inside the earth or the sun). But with typology you introduce a second black box, either that of the psychologist examining the patient or the patient examining themselves, which communicates with the other box and alters both through the interaction. Since both boxes have unknown mechanisms you can't draw any solid conclusions. Basically my beef with these PASS articles is that they try to present themselves as scientific by stating that the author has a PhD, that they used PET scans (because obviously using a high tech piece of equipment automatically makes it science), and by coming up with an acronym and drawing parallels to PTSD to gain validity.


Exactly, that's why I'm going to get a PhD. maybe an MD. PhD. oh man that looks so hot.


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