Just wondered if there are any INFP folk out there who share the joys of a mental illness

I have written poetry. Does that qualify?

Social Anxiety.



Since early childhood. Growing up as a nervous wreck was tuff.

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Is the cup half-full or half-empty? Neither, the cup is the rightful domain of air,
and water are the imperialistic invader that must be fought by all means neccesary.
Drink it.

awww that sucks. I have quite a list accumulated since childhood - BPD, dissociative disorder, PTSD, psychosis and depression. It's like they're determined to give me the whole DSM-IV

I wonder if mental health issues are spread evenly across the board or if some personality types are more likely to suffer them than others...

Wow, that is quite a list! Do you/have you undergone therapy for any of them? BPD in particular sounds difficult to live with.

Here's a link to a fairly old (and questionable) site that correlates different types with different disorders.
http://www.ptypes.com/correspondence.html

i've mostly figured out how to handle my mild depression. when i get a crush, i can turn manic. that's fun.

I think I've probably got AvPD, but it's never been officially diagnosed or anything.

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What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. - Gerard Manley Hopkins

Depression, social anxiety and doubtless a boatload of others. The best news I've heard recently is that the DSM V is on its way shortly.
Then again, I've also looked at how the spread of 'western' psychogical disorders spread with western psychology. In Japan, some of the traditional issues are disappearing and being replaced by things that fit the DSM. As humans, we love to categorise things. However, different cultures have different outlooks on mind/spirit/body, and seem to have quite valid categories of disorder that simply don't fit 'our' templates. Like the spread of languages, I wonder if we are spreading our own types of psychology with our culture.
Don't forget, until 1974, homosexuality was listed in the DSM.

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Interesting points, there.....

Sakura - one of the interesting tidbits I've collected along the way is that depression practically disappeared in London during the Blitz. Apparently people had other things to worry about - diversion by bomb!
Once the war was over, the numbers returned to normal.

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+1 Sakura

I find the concept of hikikomori very interesting and wonder how that fits into DSM classifications.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori

I've heard of hikikomori...I can imagine myself become one lol...

Pipster - that wiki article is a great example of what I was talking about, trying to squeeze one cultures disorder into the DSM. I see similar things happening with language - as English spreads into smaller linguistic groups and replaces the original languages, highly original concepts and ways of thought are disappearing. http://www.wholeearth.com/issue/2100/ar ... .languages is a nice starting place.
Or here: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1 ... 8408247514

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Interesting articles mykl. I studied languages at university and did a couple of linguistics modules as part of my degree. We had a lecturer who was big into obscure languages and who used to do a few lectures on an Aboriginal language called Dyirbal:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyirbal_language
http://www0.hku.hk/linguist/program/world8.html

As I recall, it was all about men, women, fire and sticks, with a lot of violence - I used to know how to say 'the man hits the woman with a big yam stick'

I sometimes wonder if anybody connected with Dyirbal (which I think is based around Tully, something that amused me when I passed through there on a trip to FNQ) knows that there are hundreds and hundreds (I would estimate) of former Manchester University students who know several words of the language.

*hugs*

Don't avoid me, I like you. Always have.

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"It is a melancholy fact that massive works of the intellect do not spring from the abstract workings of the brain and the imagination; they are deeply rooted in the personality." -Paul Johnson

INFP, 4w5 sx/sp

Thanks man.

_________________
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. - Gerard Manley Hopkins

I officially DO have Avoidant Personality Disorder (i.e F60.6), I have a piece of paper by a psychiatrist that proves it

Well, that was my principal diagnosis. I've been bundled up with Social Anxiety, Social Phobia and OCD too in the past, but the AvPD one seems to fit rather well and explains pretty much my whole life, unfortunately.

It seems like a lot of AvPD sufferers are INFP's too, which is kinda weird.

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~I'll think of a witty comment later, or not. Maybe something to do with clouds?!~

honestly, i think its way too easy to get diagnosed with a mental illness... i have friends who were diagnosed with serious conditions like bipolar disorder or schitzoaffective disorder based on pretty isolated incidents that don't reflect their overall functioning at all...

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Isn't it pretty to think so?

I've seen lives wrecked by it...don't get me started. I know, you didn't....and I won't.

are you in the US tehBelle? I've heard psychiatrists over there are really quick to diagnose and medicate. Here (UK) GPs are reluctant to refer to psychiatrists and if you get that far they're pretty cautious about labels and medications...compared to what i hear goes on in the USA anyway. That's not to say either is better or worse - lot of people in the UK don't get psychiatric treatment when they need it, and it has to get to a point of major breakdown before anybody helps them.

Not Cactus Ed...lives wrecked by what, exactly?