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Question #1195255061Friday, 16-Nov-2007
Category: Theory Drugs
Can depression change your type? I have hereditary depression and when I'm on my medication I tend to be more extroverted, and less socially uncomfortable. I was really a quiet person up until I started taking medication at age 13. I've also noticed that when I was younger I was a lot more sensitive and introverted. I was more of a feeling person back then...I'm considered a thinking person now, I tend to be rational and think things through...but I also tend to cry in a lot of scenes in movies that most people wouldn't cry at. -- Kerry
Your Answers: 1+
A1 Depression, from what I hear, can definitely alter your results in a personality type test, your perception of yourself and quite possibly your personality type. According to Carl Jung, a person's personality type *can* change over the course of their lifetime, too, keep that in mind! I've found that who I want to be and what I have the energy for sometimes don't line up, usually when I'm feeling tired or sad. Hopefully that answers your question -- Jay Bop
A2 Weird and interesting as I have been wondering about type changing over time. I always used to test ENTP and I know I am this type because I am absent-minded, loose stuff all the time so I try to consciously be careful about that but I will lose my keys in the house somewhere routinely and I am interested in new ideas etc. Basically the portrait for the ENTP is very much like me. But anytime I take a test as of late, like a recent one on myspace I saw that a friend took, I come out as ISTP. I am not good with tools though, well I try but I can be klutzy sometimes, that is frustrating when you are trying to do something and move too fast and do something dumb like drop something and break it. But I am not a master of tools, actually that is a skill I admire and would like to master but it is not something I am extremely proficient at. So perhaps you just develop into being more like the type you would like to be. That makes sense if it is a developmental thing. True though that I work a lot and don't always feel like being social because I don't have the energy and feel tired because I have a job and a business. So that also makes sense. -- chrissyc
A3 It sounds like you're taking a stimulant. I have no idea if your type can be altered by any type of medication but my guess is that to do so it would have to alter your DNA. -- econdue
A4 I would suggest that, the more psychologically healthy the person, the more developed their secondary function. But your secondary "function attitude" is basically conflicted with your dominant; during times of personal crisis, your conscious identity may be overidentified with, and overly attached to, your dominant function. So, inevitably, you might do something stupid (probably as a result of your H.A.), then get depressed. But that kind of depression might be quite beneficial, if you take the opportunity to develop your secondary. Just a suggestion, one that might be completely wrong. I can't prove it, but I can tell you where I got it: It's based on Lenore Thomson's writing (not a Socionist, admittedly, but relevant nonetheless). -- The Sum-Total ENTj.
A5 i think when you are on anti-depressant, it can reduce your anexiety, sadness, and alot of negative emotions in which these emotion can make you not being yourself. so when you are on medication, you can be who you really are. -- Jas
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A6 I'm not taking a stimulant. I'm on Lexapro. -- Kerry
A7 test -- Anonymous
A8 Comparing notes with you is interesting. I have my whole life ahead of me yet I'm still recovering from fairly severe depression. I just want to find out my goddam type; i feel the need to fall back on something. It would give me peace, or so I tell myself. The notion that anyone could be "stuck on" one type is rather enfuriating, as some types seem to have limited potential. I have been unable to determine my type for reasons such as this, so apart from this I really have nothing to offer. But I'm on a certain tranquilizer brand of medication, anti-pshycotics or something, that and prozac. I'm a completely different person than I was before, I was talkative, sensitive, concise, analytical. Now I'm muddy and general and a little greedy but for the most part a weak, distorted version of my old self. It seems unlikely that something as radical as type change could occur outside of childhood and adolescent "growth phases". -- Anonymous
A9 howzit.. with me u can trust what u hear.. i don't adapt to u to deceive u unless u my enemy. This is what i have to say: first off, u don't need to worry about the seeming I to E shift... or the F to T shift. in a 'child becoming adult sense' even Introverts, because of 'competence zones' become seemingly more Extroverted (true E&I devisions are really to do with times and mechanisms of reposure). the medication definitely had an affect in the F to T shift, and in what u call the 'to Rational shift'...but this is not really Rational (as in socionics terms a J type characture, whereas Irrational is P).. i am guessing that the meds are seritonian systems targeters (as-in 'uptake inhibitors' much like Esctacy _so what tells u, that atleast in part, i have replicated this, analysed this, and know what i am talking about?). Now i have to pause on the lateral level,.. Kerry, this is non-addressed to u. To adults, with children... may i advise that u don't panic..it's the blight of parenthood in 'Western Aware Spheres'. Each child type, should perhaps have a depression period. Because of same model raising..as in schools. i also had a depression period.. it is just, that to raise out of it..i like many other kids, had to learn mechanism with which to come out of it. with thinkers, it is instituting more mechanisms of analysis, this is a boaster therefore!..and essential in carreer and person development. Oh Kerry..at this stage u probably would not know if u where ever a F or T.. cause all kids, regardless of T or F regard themselves in the emotional lemu of childhood..it is part of identity building. On the lateral, i would say u fine, your mechanisms of personhood are in no ways destroyed. This said.. i must forewarn u of mechanisms important to another adult awareness stage.. that of 'finding a mate'. like a zebra who inprints on there mothers stripe pattern, so to i would guess, the 'xtacy awareness phase' is important for 'mate inprints'. this is yours to figure out, and i hope u do an outstanding job of it...cause i would really never like to be on those chronic low doses of x. really, if u ever on it, learn from it like a placebo..institute many mind/cognitive mechanisms to help u with your daily load, as-well as the overall planning phases. The x would have effected your self-awareness in daily cognitive thinking, causing u to think u a T over F.. as i said, u probably would not know, but it is overall to do with general 'vectoral' preceivement of T and F by others...so atleast in this, i was right in asserting that u would like and relish your boy-freind phase of life, not merely in the physical but in the mechanisms that partners constitute to deal with each other. u fine, i hate my enemies more, pls ask me to clarify or broaden if this has caused u panic, i really don't beleive that u have any reason to worry...there are really so many other evils in the world..the worst of what i can think of now is Thinker types such as myself becoming involved Churches, never taking drugs atleast to become self-aware of themselves.. and plunging all that activity in cyclic activities which take advantage of them -- @sirac
A10 A6 - antidepressants are either stimulants or depressants, I have never heard of Lexapro but your response is surprising. Maybe my last post was a bit hasty, you may want to study the placebo effect (real sense of the term, not what it is popularly thought of). btw, depression is not exclusively hereditary. -- econdude
A11 Ok, as far as i'm aware lexipro is an inhibitor..ie it will stop the body creating what is regarded as 'abnormal' chemical balances. As far as I know its one of these new fangled type drugs which is said to have more of a 'natural' effect on the body-it stops the body producing too much of a good chemical and too much of a bad one to stop the whole chemistry getting mixed up - as the body is struggling to regulate the chemistry it on it's own, (i think maybe beta blockers fall into this category) So it would neither be a stimulant (like lithium - a common depression treatment) or a depressant (like a sedative - to slow the brain and hence system down [alcohol is the most commonly used sedative!] So like I say (it could be wrong of course but as far as i'm aware) this type of drug is more of a regulator. When it comes to your type, as a suggestion why not see if SG (site owner) would be willing to type you from a few photos. I've also heard some other experts will do it for you with some photos and maybe a quick on line chat for a small fee. Don't think its too expensive, but as its important to you it may be worth it if it would help you find your type and move forward on the path of personal knowledge/insight it could provide. Just an idea, hope you get it resolved. -- Cyclops
A12 I will happily try to type someone for free if anyone requests it, although I certainly defer to and give full credit to the two major English socionics sites which have unwittingly mentored me (and I am grateful to both). As far as the anti-depressants, doctors and psychiatrists think they can toy around with the brain using pharmaceuticals without consequences. The brain is extraordinarily complicated, and adding to the confusion is the fact that the best scientists and academics have a very primitive understanding of it. I would hate to see someone suffering pay for the stupidity and arrogance of these people who make quite a handsome living off their fancy diplomas and schooling in something they don't fully understand. Maybe I was thinking of SSRIs as either depressants or stimulants, but I wouldn't mess around with those kind of drugs if you paid me to take them. -- econdude
A13 @A8: In order to know your type, you would have to be in healthy state. Depression can change you so that you start to behave untypically for your type. -- INTp
A14 It seems like I was more extraverted in elementary school, but in middle school, I became depressed and a lot less social. My mom made me go to a psychologist and he strongly recommended antidepressants, but I didn't take any medication. I'm pretty sure I'm not depressed anymore, but I just decided to stay unsocial because I liked it better that way. -- intp
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