Cuteness makes me lightheaded and sleepy

[Duxwing]

Dear Forum,

Normally, I don't feel too much warmth when I see a couple of fuzzy kittens snuggling in a cozy basket, but when I choose to, the effect is powerful to make me lightheaded and sleepy. The effect got even worse while talking to my ENFX teacher, who is such a gentle giant with her Fe that I feel safe using mine; when I do, I get an initial rush of warmth, but soon, I feel emotionally tired-- and yet, she just keeps on chugging like it was nothing.

Why on earth would I feel worn out and even sleepy after doing so? And then, why would I continue doing it, like a moth flying into a lightbulb? My best guess is that since my mom is icy (tentative guess at INTJ) and my inferior is Fe, I look for something warm to cuddle up to, even if it isn't her. Moreover, I clearly remember having an Oedipus complex as a small boy (I tried to marry her... how silly I was); perhaps the Freudians around here can see where that leads. Finally, I've always been talking to the warmer teachers of mine; interestingly, many of them studied the humanities (English and History).

Thus, my tentative hypothesis is that a partially resolved Oedipus complex coupled with an inferior function of Fe cause me to search out emotionally warm mother figures in my teachers and attach myself to them, much like a joey finding a nipple in his mother's pouch. However, you all might have better insights into my condition, so fire away. The question, though awfully formal sounding, is as follows:

Given the information above, please explain why I engage in this behavior of attaching myself to emotionally warm women much like a son to a mother, and why the experience of "cuteness" and "closeness" makes me lightheaded and sleepy.

Now, fellows, if you'll excuse me, I need to vomit in disgust at myself.

-Duxwing

 

[cheese]

Oxytocin? Bonding. That's what happens. That's why people get sleepy and cuddly after sex, why mothers (tend to) feel absurdly relaxed and contented while breastfeeding, why staring into the eyes of someone you love can calm you down, etc.

"Oxytocin evokes feelings of contentment, reductions in anxiety, and feelings of calmness and security around the mate."

-wikipedia

I believe that with extra close bonds/extra powerful initiators, the effect is that much stronger and can cause sleepiness. For instance, most people don't fall asleep when they see their friends, they just feel happy and relaxed.

This raises an interesting question - are INTPs perhaps naturally less sensitive to oxytocin, thus leading to an autistic-like inability to understand emotions/social behaviour without resorting to detached, cold game theory? (Which imo leaves out some of the most fundamental and important aspects of actual social behaviour.) Is this part of the cause for low Fe?

And for the INTPs who actually find it hard to deal with the intensity of their emotions, and avoid social contact partly for that reason - perhaps it has something to do with excess sensitivity. Maybe you get flooded and exhausted after each encounter with someone but for some reason aren't getting anything from the reward centre. Perhaps we ignore the positive effects as 'not real' and only accept the feelings of sleepiness from a system unable to handle the flood. Or perhaps the reward signals just aren't getting through for some reason.


Might also help to explain the large percentage of INTPs who get depressed at least once in their lives. Significantly more than most other types. Oxytocin is used to treat depression, apparently. If we don't process it the same way others do - either too much or too little, or perhaps the good effects just aren't felt - that could be relevant. It would explain a lot about us. I suspect oxytocin clamps down on cogitation a little, too.


Bottom line: It sounds like basic human experience, just that ours is exaggerated or we don't recognise it when it happens.



Aaargh. God donut. I can't find the right colour.


*edit
Also, I feel I should add I really know very little about the brain, so the conjecture is just that. But I'm relatively certain about the oxy.

*edit 2
Also, this:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/0...with-the-oxytocin-the-love-hormone/35027.html

And especially this:

Spoiler

“Previously, studies of healthy individuals have shown that intranasal doses of oxytocin reduce activation of brain circuits involved in fear, increase levels of eye contact, and increase both trust and generosity,” MacDonald said. “Interestingly, people given oxytocin don’t report feeling any different, but they act differently.” [Is this the normal font color? I lost it when wikipedia's screwed it up, then went too white, then grey. I hate too white.]

That seems to add a smidge of weight to my idea that we might be overly sensitive to it (and thus avoid too much interaction due to aftereffects of exhaustion), while not being able to feel its positive effects. Or maybe they're idiot INTPs who refuse to accept feeling good.

 

[PhoenixRising]

I've been wondering about this topic lately. I've noticed that when interacting with my significant other, we start out with pretty vibrant energy and then over a couple of hours end up emotionally and physically exhausted. I end up scatterbrained and wanting to fall asleep.. certainly not out of boredom, but because of the exhaustion. This is especially so when expressing "warm and fuzzy" emotions.

I think Cheese may very well have a valid point. I studied the effects of oxytocin a while back when researching how emotions physically manifest. I am not sure whether INTPs are unusually sensitive to the hormone, or not as sensitive, if they have a hard time processing it, or if they just release it in sudden large quantities, and don't release any at other times. This may be an explanation for the phenomenon that Duxwing described, it would be interesting to perform a study to provide some objective answers.

 

[Duxwing]

I hypothesize that the executive part of the brain can temporarily override empathy to varying degree. If so, then INTP's may possess too great a sensitivity to emotional cues, and as such they learn to always override this empathic response in favor of "Logic" or "Truth," which are handled by Si; hence, in addition, their propensity to misanthropy, for continued overriding could lead to the categorical denial of the need to consider others' emotions.

Such a withdrawal from emotions via absolutes (Si vs. Fe), in turn, couples with general intelligence (Ti and Ne) to create the INTP: an emotionally scarred misanthrope with only his theories to comfort him. Obviously, autistic individuals (the alternative case) are directly trapped in their own minds by disease alone. To find out whether this is the case in reality, of course, we need to see if empathic response lies along a bell curve, wherein the INTP lies upon the right tail, for that trait precipitates the rest of the events; indeed, that's how it happened for me.

-Duxwing