MBTI and AvPD

Irmtraud wrote:In my humble opinion, AvPD might be seen/understood as the extremity/parody of the so-called "typical" IN** personality traits and attitudes.


I think that one's personality traits (yes, that's what can be a reasoning for stereotypes on what can we expect from a "typical" ESFJ, a "true" ISTJ, or you name it...) have very much to do with how one reacts when dealing with stress; what kind of stress they are mostly sensitive to; and what kind of maladaptive coping mechanisms they might develop.
An extremely introverted person with a strong sense of "inner control" and introjection is very likely to develop avoidance coping, hypercontrol, blaming himself/herself, perfectionism to avoid criticism. (While, an extremely extraverted person might react with outward aggression, or something like this.)

I really like your analysis. It sounds very convincing and sound.

Yay, sorry for offtopic but I think this antidepressant finally started to kick in! Or was it that atypical neuroleptic they had me on? I don't care what, but I feel so good I even had courage to post here.

Interesting discussion about extrovertism, and I wanted to ask you something. You say:

For me, being in a crowd is one of the worst nightmares.

Is it more of a nightmare if you interact, or if you don't interact with anyone in the crowd?

As for me, I feel energized when interacting with people, but rapidly drained whenever I feel like an outsider. And most of the time I feel like an outsider when there's more than one other person in our group, because I'm the silent type and feel left out unless someone directs all words at me personally. And of course, I feel drained if people are being mean or shout and argue, but I assume everyone does.

inverse wrote:Sometimes, yes. Like, I love taking my son to DisneyWorld (helps that he's autistic so we get front of the line passes) or on day trips to big cities. Sometimes I'll drive through busy neighborhoods just to people watch. Once, maybe twice a year I'll go to a movie - around lots of people but I don't have to interact with them. And if I'm completely isolated for long periods of time (I work at home) I don't do well at all, which is one of the reasons I go to the gym everyday.

I'm not extroverted, but I might be one of those half and half's, and who know knows, if I wasn't avoidant, if I wasn't set up to be humiliated every time that I got any attention, I might have grown up to be extroverted. My mother's whole family is extremely extroverted - loud, attention seeking, incapable of being alone.

Oh I see.
A certain amount of interaction is needed for introverted persons - even for the healthy ones -, but in moderate amounts and usually just with the "special" ones. (Those who have no need for interaction are called schizoid ones, if I remember well.)

I assume kids with autism need really special parenting methods - how do you deal with it in everyday situations?

Your real personality - I eller E, and the like - is something you should discover for yourself, as no-one can know - or determine - it for you! Some say that there are "ambivert" type persons.

Yeah. Being humiliated and being made fun of is one of the biggest risk factors to develop one or another type Cluster C personality disorder, I suppose everyone who is active in this thread could say much about it

-- Mon Sep 14, 2015 7:09 pm --

FragranceOfLilac wrote:I really like your analysis. It sounds very convincing and sound.

Thank you! I really try my best to make some sense, with varying levels of success, of course

FragranceOfLilac wrote:Interesting discussion about extrovertism, and I wanted to ask you something. You say:

For me, being in a crowd is one of the worst nightmares.

Is it more of a nightmare if you interact, or if you don't interact with anyone in the crowd?

Hmm, good question! Sometimes even the thought of interaction makes me panic, other times it makes me feel humane.

FragranceOfLilac wrote:As for me, I feel energized when interacting with people, but rapidly drained whenever I feel like an outsider. And most of the time I feel like an outsider when there's more than one other person in our group, because I'm the silent type and feel left out unless someone directs all words at me personally. And of course, I feel drained if people are being mean or shout and argue, but I assume everyone does.

Oh, this sounds very familiar.
I do not wish to sound too pathetic but for me, it begun when I was a child and the other kids were not willing to play with me if there were others to play with. I was just a "having no better choice" option for those occasions when nobody else was around.

This is why I prefer to have only one person around me. Even if my boyfriend's friends come - he has very cool and nice friends, they are fun to hang out with -, I feel that I should just disappear, as I am not important. They would surely have a better time if I was not around. (I am always thinking this, even if I did not get any negative feedbacks or affirmations from them!) I try to be polite and nice, but inside I am always screaming. (And afraid of saying something stupid, inadequate or rude. Even if this has never happened.)

I identify as INTP also, and I'm in the early-middle stages of AvPD. Many people are of the opinion that Social Anxiety allowed to fester is what eventually grows into AvPD. Some sources say that INFP has the highest correlation with AvPD, though.

This is what happened with me, because several years ago I was rather outgoing, sociable, open to the world. But the pressures of society, the lack of freedom, and the ugliness of humanity bore down on me at once. I became depressed and dropped off of my social networks and out of my fairly vibrant social life. Internet forums became the only place I could be myself, and where I could go for doses of real truth -- not the propaganda society feeds us and which people end up enforcing through peer pressure and hierarchical structures.

Sometimes it's very lonely, but I chose this life for a reason. At least this way I get to be myself and to explore truth, which is my primary passion in life. I found I wasn't able to do this before, with the people all around me telling me how I should think and act. For me, it's not a choice at all -- just a need.