The last post, What each of the MBTI personality types do when they’re stressed, explored the various stress triggers for different personality types. Now it’s time to discuss an entirely different beast: the “in the grip” stress experience.
Think of it this way: when you start to get a little stressed, it makes sense that the strongest and most developed part of your personality (your favorite function) takes over because that’s what feels most comfortable to you. It’s like placing a security blanket over the discomfort of a stressful situation. But this coping mechanism doesn’t typically work for chronic or extreme stress triggered by things like burnout, illness, loss, life transitions, drugs, and more. The specific triggers are different for everyone.
When you experience chronic or extreme stress, you have a lower level of conscious energy. In other words, you just don’t have enough to give anymore. So when your usual coping mechanisms don’t work, the unconscious energy of your least favorite function sneaks its way into your behavior and overall outlook. When this happens, you’re “in the grip.” It’s kind of like a Jekyll and Hyde situation where something unfamiliar and alarming seems to have its grip on you.
Without self-awareness and healthy coping skills, it’s easy to get caught in the grip. And because your inferior function is underdeveloped, it often comes out in immature, childish ways when you’re under extreme stress. It happens to the best of us, even the experts. One Certified Practitioner of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) assessment, Michael Segovia, explains what the extreme stress response looks like for him as an INFP personality type:
“My least favorite function is something called extraverted Thinking. In everyday situations, that’s about organizing the world in a logical, task-focused way. It’s not typically what I do. So, when I’m in a place of extreme stress, that function can take over. And because I don’t use it often, I might not use it well. For me, it can come off as being really bossy, pointing fingers at people, and being pushy. Very unlike the person I usually am.”
The last blog post covered how different personality types act when their favorite function takes over at the first signs of stress. Since it’s Stress Awareness Month, and extreme stress can affect any of us at one time or another, here’s what happens to different personality types when they’re in the grip of their least favorite function – plus some examples of the lessons they can learn from the experience:
For ISTJ and ISFJ personality types, the “in the grip” experience may look like:
What they can learn from the experience:
For INFJ and INTJ personality types, the “in the grip” experience may look like:
What they can learn from the experience:
For ISFP and INFP personality types, the “in the grip” experience may look like:
What they can learn from the experience:
For ISTP and INTP personality types, the “in the grip” experience may look like:
What they can learn from the experience:
For ESTP and ESFP personality types, the “in the grip” experience may look like:
What they can learn from the experience:
For ENFP and ENTP personality types, the “in the grip” experience may look like:
What they can learn from the experience:
For ESFJ and ENFJ personality types, the “in the grip” experience may look like:
What they can learn from the experience:
For ESTJ and ENTJ personality types, the “in the grip” experience may look like:
What they can learn from the experience: