How do INTP's handle trauma?

[Taniwha]

I was interested on knowing how INTP's handle trauma such as in psychological trauma from the result of an event or upbringing etc.

Recently I was diagnosed with C-PTSD (complex post traumatic stress disorder) I was wondering how many INTP's also have this (or have anything similar) and how you deal or how you think you would deal with it?

Its a pain in the butt because I have days where I can't go to sleep (because of the nightmares), if something is really bothering me I will sit in my room and think about it for a few days, I won't leave the house or make social contact with those that I know.

I just shut down.

I'm really not sure what to do... so, what would you guys do or are currently doing?

 

[LPolaright]

Re: How do INTP's handle truma?

Oh, trauma - I thought you wrote truma in the title.
In Hebrew it means "Charity" - תרומה.

I had a trauma once, I don't know where it went...
Wait... Or was it truma?

I usually sit in my room and introspect regardless of traumas (or trumot) and I usually don't leave the house either. I doubt it has anything to do with your PTSD - perhaps if you weren't usually introspecting which is quite weird I'd say for an INTP (atleast that's the association that jumps into my head).

I have nightmares aswell but I guess they are not as serious as your trauma (or truma )

 

[Jesse]

Poorly. I usually "clock out" and focus on my own emotions trying to study them. I think it's a defensive mechanism or something and probably not healthy to question emotions as much as I do instead of just feeling them.

 

[SpaceYeti]

I've never had trauma. Or, maybe I have, but I didn't deal with them. For example, my father died a few months ago. I get sad at inopportune moments, but I haven't dealt with it. How do you deal with it? That's possible? I mean... dad's dead... how do you "deal" with that? It's simply true and it sucks. That's all.

 

[SkyWalker]

When totally devastated, i takes only one relaxing hot shower of 1 hour for me (my Ne) to come up with crazy new ideas of opportunity that spur a new plan in me, making me trip and go strong again like riding on an elephant


I think I am not the only INTP like that. We don't get fixated on the past, trauma's dont stick, we reinvent ourselves, we can't get stuck in hopeless situations, too much imagination for that, nothing is a dead-end for an INTP

 

[MacGuffin]

I've known a few INTPs that deal with trauma, and I don't think they've handled it all too well. INTPs seem to repress trauma, which means it never goes away and affects their lives for years. Proper treatment is often not sought until the problems become overwhelming.

I think I am not the only INTP like that. We don't get fixated on the past, trauma's dont stick, we reinvent ourselves, we can't get stuck in hopeless situations, too much imagination for that, nothing is a dead-end for an INTP

I disagree, INTPs are usually quite attached to the past. Most of the time it's good nostalgia, but bad things tend to dwell in their minds long beyond usefulness.

 

[Lobstrich]

I've had what most would call a bad childhood. Heroin addict father, a few slaps, waiting 8 hours in a car for him to get back in from his fix, trying to care of my little brother, accompanying my father for his shoplifting. Etc.
On top of that I was victimized and left out for 90% of my school time. The leftover 10% I was just the odd guy who actually enjoyed history, civics and psychology class. I had opinions in those classes and therefore was seen as a 'loser' anyway. (We only have 0. to 9th grade)
As a result of all this I've been to several forced psychologists because I was a 'troublemaker' spent most of my time in the headmasters office, when I wasn't attending sessions.




I coped. I 'bit the pain' (or however the saying goes) and coped. Whining is no use, it does not make heroin or bullies go away. It would not have given my little brother the ability to take care of himself, and it would not have stopped the slaps from hurting.

So I just 'closed' myself and kind of 'ate' the pain/anger.

EDIT: If you were looking for input specifically from people with the same 'condition' (diagnosed trauma) as you, then I apologized. I just thought I would bring my view on dealing with problems.

 

[OrionzRevenge]

I have been diagnosed with PTSD as well.

The nightmares might require some sorta cathartic dirt digging or maybe a quest (Shades of Silence of the Lambs).

I think MacG was right when he suggested seeking therapeutic help sooner than later.

Best of Luck

 

[JarNew]

Edit:misinterpreted thread

I used to punch myself in the leg or stomache repeatedly.
I had times where I would just shut down for days and lay in bed.
Eventually laying in bed led me to forcing myself to cry after reading about how tears release stress hormones. So I'd watch depressing videos on youtube which made me think and cry.
I read the power of now and got into focussing my attention in the now which was pretty much just thought suppression. THis led to me having even more intense periods where I'd shut down but they were a lot darker.
Smoked a ton of weed and did psychedelics a ton of times -- didn't really help but was interesting.

Now I deal with it with a lot of nature, focussing my attention to feelings in the body such as adrenaline being excreted when a certain thought/flashback pops up. (I think it's adrenaline)
I then lift weights after this feeling occurs.

I see a therapist every couple of weeks but that didn't really help me. All the improvements of my problem have come from myself. My therapist has just helped me too fix my own self-created problems from psychs and other unhealthy was of coping.

Spirituality has been the biggest help

Perhaps to counter your nightmares try lucid dreaming.

I used to have terrifying nightmares frequently but getting into lucid dreaming for a while also helped me remember the positive dreams. Eventually I only had positive dreams and after getting more into spirituality and 'psychic' shit my dreams hae turned more symbolic in nature instead of movielike.

goodluck

 

[Stoic Beverage]

Depending on the trauma, I'd just be kind of numb. Staring at walls, completely silent. (which is what I do anyway, from an outside perspective) It lasts anywhere from minutes to weeks depending on what happened. Then I have an "Oh, well. Getting over it." moment, and it leaves my mind for good.

 

[Cavallier]

I sleep a lot.

I make a lot of food because I find it relaxing but I don't eat it because I have stomach cramps all the time.

I go on a lot of walks.

Rinse and repeat.

I haven't had the kind of trauma you are talking about though. For what it's worth I wish you luck.

 

[CoryJames]

I deal with insecurity about letting anybody see the real me. I have been diagnosed by my old counselor as having anger management issues as a result of deep seated, untreated depression stretching back to my childhood, which, as you can imagine, weren't my happiest years.

I have self destructive tendencies that manifest themselves whenever I become overloaded with negative emotions, as I don't generally acknowledge or deal with them in a healthy fashion. My shrink said this became the case as a result of "defense mechanisms" that I developed as a child to deal with my depression and unhappiness then.

Most of the trouble with me is in dealing with people. I didn't have any friends as a young child, and thus I never learned very good social skills. As I grew up, I became insecure in befriending people or even interacting with them. I showed myself through my sports and schoolwork and music. Nowadays, though I have become better with it over the years, I often get overly defensive when dealing with other people and get offended too easily. This, she said, was out of fear of "losing control" and falling back into the lonely place I was in as a child.

What I accomplished over the course of seeing her was to identify whenever I felt these emotions coming on, and validating them. That is to say, be confident enough that, rather than assuming people are being mean or disrespectful to me, I ask them what they meant by that and why they feel that way.


Also, I self medicate a bit with marijuana. This has taught me the very important skill of being able to step back, smile to myself, and acknowledge that some things are simply out of my control, and being okay with it. Don't know if this properly answers the OPs question, but the trauma thing seems relevant.

 

[indigofireflies]

I had a rather difficult childhood -- my father was abusive and I moved once a year across the country. When I was younger, I simply ignored it by filling myself with imagination, stories, and the possibilities. When I grew older, that trick didn't work as well and manifested itself as a deep-seated depression. I pulled away from anything and everyone. I dealt with it by not dealing with it. The pain of what had happened overloaded my underdeveloped Fe. Counselling merely caused me to retreat further within myself and caused self-destructive tendencies

Maturity and a realization of what happened and a broadening perspective of the world was probably what completely pulled me out of it -- also allowing myself to reach out to a select, few people, and even riskier, trust them. Trauma is very difficult for INTPs. We lick our wounds and let them fester till we nearly kill ourselves with it.

 

[CoryJames]

Trauma is very difficult for INTPs. We lick our wounds and let them fester till we nearly kill ourselves with it.

A sad, but accurate statement.

I am not an expert, but in a lot of ways I feel as though my trauma and pain caused me to become an INTP. It occurred at a young enough age, and over a long enough period of time to have pretty significant and long lasting effects.

Before I really began to face the cruelty of my peers and become an isolated, sad little boy, I wasn't at all like I am today. I was, as I somewhat recall and my mother continually reminds me when she is disappointed with my behavior now, a bubbly, happy, outspoken, curious little kid who loved life and loved people and was genuinely nice, kind hearted, and open.

Now...not so much. I understand that changed happen naturally over time, but I honestly feel as though the isolation I faced almost constantly between the 3rd and 8th grade turned me into the introvert I am today, and the blocking of emotions made me less in tune with them and more with the power of my mind.

 

[indigofireflies]

Before I really began to face the cruelty of my peers and become an isolated, sad little boy, I wasn't at all like I am today. I was, as I somewhat recall and my mother continually reminds me when she is disappointed with my behavior now, a bubbly, happy, outspoken, curious little kid who loved life and loved people and was genuinely nice, kind hearted, and open.

Now...not so much. I understand that changed happen naturally over time, but I honestly feel as though the isolation I faced almost constantly between the 3rd and 8th grade turned me into the introvert I am today, and the blocking of emotions made me less in tune with them and more with the power of my mind.

Full agreed. I probably would've been an ISFP if certain events in my life hadn't happened. I'd hypothesize that most INTPs are not simply born -- they're more-so created. It appears that most INTPs have gone through some variation of isolation, abuse, or depression in their life, contrary to other types. So you could conclude that INTPs could have been predisposed to a different personality type before they were faced with that trauma.

Food for thought?

 

[echoplex]

I don't deal with things very well, despite my rather idealistic ideas of how I'd like to.

I'm cursed in how I won't let myself give up on anything. I can't sleep, or sometimes even rest or eat, if something is bothering me. I also can't sleep if anything stressful awaits me the next day. I usually just end up passing out the next day. Sleep is a problem for me. I usually like to be alone, but I also realize how lonely I am and how much I've been craving human contact -- which usually takes me months to actually realize. I dunno, like others I can relate to being isolated during my childhood (esp. middle and high school -- I was quite social before then) and my parents were not prepared to raise kids. They weren't always bad, but they were still sometimes violent and abusive, although it took me years to truly realize that.

One thing that comes to mind is that I occasionally had night terrors when I was little, which might possibly explain my anxiety and trouble sleeping later in life. I also have that thing (don't know what it's called) where if I walk down a hallway I get the sensation that someone is following me and I have to either look back or hasten my pace.

I don't if I could say I've really suffered trauma though. It's quite possible I'm just a highly sensitive person.

 

[CoryJames]

Speaking of food. I open a capsule of addy and crush the amphetamine salt balls into powder....

I really need to do this fucking paper.

 

[indigofireflies]

Speaking of food. I open a capsule of addy and crush the amphetamine salt balls into powder....

I really need to do this fucking paper.

I need to do this fucking chemistry but I've been on this forum all night and praying for a snow day. Aghhh.

 

[gephura]

Is this somehow linked to trauma? I am a semi-regular user of recreative drugs for introspection and enjoyment, but I try not to link it with trauma or study, as it would lose its meaning to me, I suppose.

 

[CoryJames]

I smoke pot. Adderall is a rare thing for me, only when I absolutely need to pull and all nighter. I am running literally on caffeine and amphetamines right now, I am at work, and even though I know I need to eat and haven't had a thing today except for a salad and a few hardboiled eggs, I cannot force myself to eat anything. Fucking addy.

 

[gephura]

Lovely. Adderall is even freely on the market in the US, wikipedia tells me.

I never know about these psychostimulants. When short of time, they clearly have their value, but the crash the day after (when you pull an all nighter) is not fully worth it in many cases.

Also, I think that weed is severely overrated.

 

[CoryJames]

Well you must not be smoking very good weed. Before you get any ideas of me as some lazy pothead bum, I encourage you to poke around and learn a bit more about me, read some of my posts. Weed does not have to be a negative. It serves as a relaxing and stress reliever, as well as releases endorphins and dopamine, which is a bit of self medication for my depression. (My parents don't believe in psycho-pharmaceuticals, or medication at all, generally. Which is odd, as my mom works in a hospital. But I gotta do what I can for myself haha.

 

[gephura]

But weed often just makes people laugh for a bit, like they had to much alcohol (at least in my experience). It is true that I have only tried weed in very small portions and it never did anything for me.
But when you can have stuff like 2C-E and the like (some of which are even legal, at least in Europe), I really don't see the need for pot. But you might primarily be after the feeling of euphoria?

I will look into your posts, but rest assured, I don't have stereotypical views about drugs or users.

 

[CoryJames]

Weed, once you become accustomed to it, provides an overwhelming sense of relaxation, release, euphoria. As nice as this is, I am not really the type to do things for myself because they are nice or comfortable. I like the shifted perspective it gives you. That is what interests and intrigues me and keeps me coming back.

 

[gephura]

Weed, once you become accustomed to it, provides an overwhelming sense of relaxation, release, euphoria. As nice as this is, I am not really the type to do things for myself because they are nice or comfortable. I like the shifted perspective it gives you. That is what interests and intrigues me and keeps me coming back.

Then you definitely should try 2C-E, 2C-I.

Whenever you want to experience what talkative, emotional people are like: methylone.

OK, I didn't want to come across as a junkie, I do still have a normal life. Oh well.

 

[CoryJames]

That shit sounds like some chemical, artificially produced bullshit. Though I don't put much weight in the pothead argument that "weed is natural, its not a drug", I feel a lot better about ingesting something known as "weed, grass, green, and nug" than I do about trying something named after R2D2's and C3PO's cousins.

 

[gephura]

That shit sounds like some chemical, artificially produced bullshit.

It's indeed synthetic, ergo less dangerous

Though I don't put much weight in the pothead argument that "weed is natural, its not a drug", I feel a lot better about ingesting something known as "weed, grass, green, and nug" than I do about trying something named after R2D2's and C3PO's cousins.

I like the fact that synthetic drugs have no lasting impact on my brain, and are not addictive when used normally. Also, I don't like smoking things.

 

[CoryJames]

To each his/her own

edit:also, saying ergo makes you sound like you're trying to be "coolguy jones" if you know what I mean.


edit2:Or trying to be me. Either or.

 

[gephura]

No, it shows I majored in Latin.

I was just about to respond with cuique suum, which is Latin for to each his own. Would that be considered coolguy jones or just pedantic?

 

[CoryJames]

I would be too busy dusting off the old declension chart stuck somewhere between my limbic system and the cowlick on the left side of my scalp. Someone dropped it there after I quit taking latin.

 

[CoryJames]

Or I would just bust out the old "qui servire est regnare" to keep you busy for a while in order to cover up my own inability to decipher the old language of the empire.

 

[Methuselah]

It takes time, angst, and over-thinking. Time is what matters the most, but the other stuff helps it pass. MJ is also very helpful, as the chemical and analytical processes involved help people disassociate and examine their problems more fully while at the same time making them more comfortable with themselves. It has proven itself to be very helpful when used to treat PTSD, according to the papers I have read.

 

[gephura]

Or I would just bust out the old "qui servire est regnare" to keep you busy for a while in order to cover up my own inability to decipher the old language of the empire.

Could it be that you meant cui instead of qui? The sentence does not make grammatical sense otherwise. It then reads, 'to him/her, serving is ruling'.

I did four years of Latin at university, hated it, graduated and did something else. That is where I am today: European studies, good times.

 

[CoryJames]

Yes, after my actual education in Latin, I would often stare at my school's motto and go hmm. They tell us it means THIS in english, but, according to my latin education, it DOESN'T MAKE FUCKING SENSE AKJHDLDJFHKDSJHDSFK and then I would proceed to tear down the alabaster busts of old headmasters and cause all sorts of rumpus in the schoolroom. And then I would settle down and go fine, fuck the latin, To Serve is to Rule or, a popular retranslation, He Who Serves, Rules

They somewhat make sense no?

 

[gephura]

Dr Google learned me that it is in face "cui servire est regnare" and not qui. Phew. I can sleep again at night.

Also the "he" in fact is God and it's from the Anglican book of prayer. Random fact of the day.

 

[CoryJames]

Well, I got kicked out of there ...4 years ago now, I can get a letter of the motto wrong, sue me.

 

[pjoa09]

funny sometimes,

i dont even realize that i am traumatized at the incidence.

it could just find its way to light years later when i confront a similar experience.

 

[CoryJames]

Not to say you are wrong about your own feelings, but don't you think is more likely that you just suppress it at the time?

 

[Reluctantly]

I used to handle it badly. But then for some reason I let go of thinking I deserve any kind of decency from anyone/anything in life. I probably would legitimately be diagnosed with SPD if anyone knew how I handled and viewed my life. Now I'm kind of insane. I've lost most of my inhibitions from fear. Life is like a circle of life game to me now, and the harder it is, the crazier I laugh inside. Sometimes I wonder if I am turning into some kind of nurtured psychopath, but then I remember that just because I have almost no scruples about hurting another person to get what I need, I do want to avoid it if I can and it does hurt, even if I can dissociate from it quite easily.

Well whatever...

How many members on this site are insane? Yeah, I know, your thinking "define insane". Yeah, yeah, just answer the question, silly .

 

[Awaken]

^^^^^^
I would imagine most on here are any of the "schizo" disorder spectrum, with schizoid personality disorder being the most common.


Internally and very analytical. Probably not the most healthy way as I imagine it is a means of suppression. As was already stated, weed helps. Self diagnosed ADD with self medicated MJ.

 

[Solitaire U.]

The only trauma I've ever experienced was due to massive blood-loss, and it wasn't even my blood, but that of my then-9 year old son who had just plunged his hand into a sink full of sudsy water and grabbed the business end of a very sharp kitchen knife. He'd been clutching his sliced hand to his chest as he came down the hall to my room and proceeded to collapse on the floor. All I saw was a huge bloodstain on his t-shirt right about at heart-level, and thus immediately pronounced him dead. But upon closer inspection I saw his hand and realized what had happened. The few seconds of sheer despair was definitely the most traumatic experience of my life, and I swore on my life to him that I would kill him if he ever did such a thing again.

No nightmares though, or staring at the wall for days or anything like that. I wish I had time for that sort of fucking around and there have been many times I've felt of a mind to do it, but like I said time constraints force me to just do a big nasty speed rail and haul my ass out of the isolation of my room whether I'm in the isolation of my head or not.

If you go the chemical route, my advice is to leave the weed, Adderall, and prescrips to the amateurs and reach for something that'll smack you out of that funk the first time...speed, shabu, meth, crank, whatever. It's all essentially the same shit anyway...

On second thought, probably a better idea to play Silent Hill while listening to A Perfect Circle through headphones.

Good luck.

 

[tziporah]

I analyze myself--why i'm thinking this, feeling this, doing this. I spend days inside myself analyzing these things. Then i spend a few days fixing it. Then i take what i can from the knowledge and seldom look back.

 

[gephura]

Well, I got kicked out of there ...4 years ago now, I can get a letter of the motto wrong, sue me.

Why did they kick you out?

 

[CoryJames]

Haha. Long story.

Short version, they wanted me gone, couldn't prove I broke a rule (gotta love that INTP ability for objective argument) so they ended up searching through all of my emails to find a reason to kick me out.

 

[Humbug]

I have not experienced PTSD or anything as serious, but I have gone through times where I was pretty depressed due to events in my life that I could not find a way put of. During these times, I become very anxious. My mother had OCD, and I do wonder if I get some of it from her. I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about the problem. I'd sometimes have panic attacks where I struggled to breath and had to go sit in the bathroom and try to control it. I'd have the sudden urge to cry at random times. I'd wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it. The problem is, with most situations, I can think my way out of it, but at these times, when there is no fix, I just get locked into a cycle of thoughts that would go around and around and around. So when they wake me up at 2:30 in the morning, the cycle would start again and the only way to fix it was to get out of bed and start the day. Sometimes I just wouldn't bother sleeping at all. I'm not big on sharing personal problems, especially emotional ones, and especially when I'm still dealing with them, so no one really gets in on it. I might tell a friend " I'm pretty stressed today" or "I woke up this morning and couldn't go back to sleep" but that's all. Sometimes all I need to snap out if it is to just take a day off. Go to the gym or catch up on a book or just lay around. Something where I don't have to interact with people or put up facades. If i'm caught in a cycle then I'll try to get out of the house and maybe do something with people that I want to be around, as long as there's not to much commitment required. Something that keeps me from thinking to much and falling into the cycle again.