# Is it possible for a depressed ENFP to be mistaken for an INFP?



## Artisticviewpoint (Jan 22, 2012)

I'm having a really hard time figuring out my personality type as of recently. When I was a kid I almost always came out as an ENFP. Always. Then I hit a certain age and all of a sudden I started testing out as an INFP- but it was during a stage in my life where I was surrounded by toxic people and very unhappy. I started to become very seclusive and didn't want to talk to people because all they ever said were mean and abrasive things. 

So what I want to know is- what are ENFPs like when they're depressed? Is it possible for them to be mistaken as an INFP?


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## KateMarie999 (Dec 20, 2011)

I was depressed for years and kept typing as an INFP. I think that's a very common reaction. ENFPs are known as the most introverted extrovert so it's not all that surprising for them to become anti-social when unhappy or depressed.


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## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

You develop your functions as well.
Around your 20s your second function starts to develop.
This can make an INFP seem like an ENFP due to development of Ne.
Or make an ENFP look like an INFP due to the development of Fi.
The second function most probably causes the greatest shift in extroversion/introversion and then it calm down the older you get.

I think this can be the case behind the crazy difference between extroversion and introversion in school (for people around the age of 12 - 16 especially) since the second function isn't balancing things out well enough.

It's common that ENFPs mistype as INFPs due to this. A lot of ENFPs think that their type changed when they got older and they became INFPs instead of ENFPs. This however isn't accurate since the development goes in 2 entirely different ways.

*INFP*
An INFP up to the age of about 18 will most of the times be quite introverted and become more extroverted as time goes on and around their early 20s they will seem extroverted. This will however start to disappear as Ne gets developed and becomes more controllable. Around that time the Si function will start to develop and the INFP will start to grow introverted again, tho not as much as when the dominant function developed. When that function is developed, the INFP will develop their inferior function which makes them a bit more extroverted.

*ENFP*
An ENFP up to the age of about 18 will most of the times be quite extroverted and become more introverted as time goes on and around their early 20s they will seem introverted. This will however start to disappear as Fi gets developed and becomes more controllable. Around that time the Te function will start to develop and the ENFP will start to grow extroverted again, tho not as much as when the dominant function developed. When that function is developed, the ENFP will develop their inferior function which makes them a bit more introverted.

So short story: their development is opposite.

PS. I've barely slept, so don't blame me for mistakes


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## Swordsman of Mana (Jan 7, 2011)

@Acerbusvenator
actually, many ENFPs are quite introverted from very early in their lives. 

@OT
ENFPs mistype as INFP all the time, especially if we have strong Fi and are Social Instinct last


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## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

Swordsman of Mana said:


> @_Acerbusvenator_
> actually, many ENFPs are quite introverted from very early in their lives.
> 
> @OT
> ENFPs mistype as INFP all the time, especially if we have strong Fi and are Social Instinct last


Question is if they are introverted if you compare them to an INFP of same age, gender and same instinct order.
I made more of a simplification of the truth. 
There's usually quite the difference between the 2 types if you compare them. Even if ENFPs are quite introverted in relation to other extroverts.


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## Laeona (Feb 20, 2012)

If a very happy INFP can appear to be ENFP, then it stands to reason a depressed ENFP could appear to be INFP.

Introverts become exhausted by human interaction, extroverts are energized by it. But it serves to reason that if the company you've had is "toxic", then it would not be energizing, and it would cause you to shy from it, thus appearing introverted. I also think @Acerbusvenator makes a good point: we are always working on pieces of our personality as we grow. It doesn't necessarily change our core personality type, it just strives to bring greater balance to it.

You have to have gone through an awful lot to get you depressed, Artisticviewpoint. I hope you have at least one person in your life that lets you vent about all of it.


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## MuChApArAdOx (Jan 24, 2011)

As an ENFP i wouldn't ever look like an INFP, even if i`m depressed. I/E plays no role in my behaviour regardless if i'm in a healthy state or not. The only way i would look more INFP would be if i became obsessed with subjective thinking, leading more with Fi than Ne. That doesn't ever happen . We have INFP's here that are mistyped as ENFP. I think we also have INFP here that are actually ENFP.

Sorry i'm not much help although if you're trying to make a correlation between the two in regards to I/E. ENFP can look very much like INFP in human interaction and visa versa. Once you get to know both types personally the differences are huge.


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