IT'S POLL TIME

[cleolinda]

Okay, I want to run an experiment here. But first, a semi-unrelated explanation:

Several months ago, I stumbled across a Tumblr entry about being an empath, and went, holy shit, that would explain so many of my stress and health problems. I hit every single point on all of these lists. So: I am totally an empath. A really, really crappy kind of empath. I mean, it sounds like a Dungeons & Dragons character class, but my point is, I soak up everyone else's negative feelings. I don't know how to shield myself, and I don't know how to dump my mental browser cache. I have no firewall, people.

In a similar blog post, we are told that empaths can... heal. I don't know about the laying on of hands and what-not, but I'd be willing to go with "make people feel better, in a non-Jesus kind of way."

So I'm fooling around instead of working last night, and for some reason, the Myers-Briggs personality test came up. I had saved my result somewhere, and I'm an INFP. Apparently this is statistically somewhat rare--1-5% of the population. And the Keirsey temperament of INFP is... the Healer.

After I had a couple of conversations on Twitter, I am starting to think that that's what "empaths" are--the INFP personality type. So, what I want to know is, how many of you are whichever personality type, and is there a correlation between the INFP type and empath-y?

So: here is your free personality test link.

Here is the chart matching up Myers-Briggs types to Keirsey temperaments. I mean, just to elaborate on the subject.

Depending on how much of this sounds like you, you may be an empath. Keep in mind: it's the unpleasantness that I recognized, not the special-snowflake psychic-healing business. 


Now:

[lj-poll-1728808]


Now all I have to figure out is what to do about the lack of firewall.

ETA: "Hey, you know those Myers-Briggs tests?"

MY MOTHER: "YES!"

"Wow, okay. So I took one again, I'd forgotten what I was, and I'm an INFP."

MY MOTHER: "YOU ARE SO AN INFP."

"See? I'm saying."

"I AM AN ENTJ! I am like the epitome of an ENTJ. And that's why I work in HR."

"Oh, well. Okay then."



 

Comments

[ilyena_sylph]

It tagged me ISFP, but I've known since early grade school that I was empathic -- it's a family "talent" (it's no damn talent, it's a goddamn curse).

I'm sorry you're stuck with it, it's often pure hell (I just spent 72 hours with 5 hours sleep because my mother was too busy to sleep, finding out only on the third day that that was what was going on).

[majoline]

Ahahaha. It is so a curse! I'm a ENFJ and being an extroverted extreme empath is hell. Thank the gods for my very Aspie bf.

[ilyena_sylph]

OH gods, I cannot even imagine being extroverted and dealing with this crap...

[photoman86]

Yea, as a fellow ENFJ, it can be good and bad at the same time. I tend to end up like an energy vampire. I can get really jazzed and perky when I'm in a fun group, but when dealing with a house full of family drama I get 8 different peoples anger and what not. Not fun.

[ambersweet]

I'm an INFJ and an empath, but I can shield/block people out to a certain extent. INFJs are counselors, and guess what my career goal is? Yeah.

[dragonfly]

INTJ, apparently. "Mastermind". What was my first career? Military officer. *snerk*

[leanwellback]

I've not taken one of these tests before, but I'm so much an ENFP, it's ridiculous. I'm also an empath, but thankfully I've got shielding down for the most part. I still have the over-eating problem you mentioned in the LJ comments (I didn't know that was a side effect, actually! So much is explained) but given the strength of empathic ability and being an extrovert, there's bound to be some draining that goes on.

Try taking some time in the morning and imagining yourself in a bubble of blue, healing light and then fill the bubble with your essence so only your energy is within that space and that should act as a shield. You can also try meditating and breathing through your chakras to realign your energies. If you have trouble meditating or doing visualisations, crystals and stones definitely help. You can get chakra stones which help with the realignment. Blues and purples are good, but whatever you're drawn to is worth having around.

[cleolinda]

I still have the over-eating problem you mentioned in the LJ comments (I didn't know that was a side effect, actually! So much is explained)

I KNOOOOW. Finding that out has at least done me some good, because now I try not to impulse-eat after I get off a long phone call with someone. Or drink plenty of water while I'm on, or eat fruit, or I don't know, something. Because I kept getting these I NEED COOKIES, STAT urges whenever I would get off the phone.

[cassildra]

This is interesting--my therapist gave me the Myers-Briggs test last year, but I never knew there was a correlation between empathy and INFJ status.

If you want some shielding info, let me know--I do it reflexively, but I can give you some info. You've already got some good ideas in the comments, though.

[greyduck]

Well, we have the --FP in common, anyway. *chuckle*

ESFP here, aka "The Performer." Which... actually rather neatly sums me up, for good or ill. Sensing and Feeling, withholding judgments as much as possible, and thriving in social situations? Yep, yep, yep.

I can get burned out socially, however. Sometimes that 'E' could go 'I' depending on circumstances, like that two-year depression I suffered through after getting fired from the radio station gig.

[harpers_child]

quick and dirty shielding 101: you know that space around you that you think of as your "personal bubble"? turn the outside of that into a mirror to bounce back everything coming in. if you want to you can turn the inside of it into a mirror to keep in all of the you stuff. if you're in an emotionally hostile environment turn your mirror into a wall a hundred or a thousand feet deep. make mazes between the outer and inner walls if you want to. just make it incredibly difficult for the outside to get to the inside.

[kuangning]

I am strongly I_FJ, and waver between S/N at different times -- more N than S in my cynical middle age, I admit.