MBTI most likely to be depressed (& how to cope with it)

This blog will look at which code of MBTI is most likely to be depressed. It will start by looking at depression, and MBTI in some detail. Then the research on the association between MBTI and depression will be discussed, followed by some strategies on coping with depression. 

MBTI  most likely to be depressed

Out of all possible MBTI types, INFJs have the highest rates of depression. INFJ stands for introverted, intuitive, feeling, and judging type. They are the rarest personality type and are referred to as the advocate or the idealist. 

What is depression?

Depression is among the most prominent and leading mental illnesses around the globe. It is a persistent and pervasive feeling of sadness that causes clinically significant distress for a period longer than 2 weeks. Depression, like most mental illnesses, causes distress not only to the sufferer, but also those around him/her. 

Signs of mild depression:

• Feeling sad or empty
• Loss of interest in activities
• Irritability or frustration
• Hopelessness 
• Changes in sleep and appetite
• Anxiety
• Lack of energy
• Extreme guilt, or low self esteem

Signs of severe depression:

• Inability to focus or make decisions
• No energy to undertale even daily activities
• Suicidal ideation and thoughts
• Feelings of worthlessness
• Physical pains or gastric issues that have no somatic explanations
• Memory and thinking problems like increased forgetfulness

If you or someone around you is suffering from any such symptoms, or is distressed over the feelings of sadness or frustration that you/ they feel, it is recommended that professional help be sought. 

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The MBTI or Myers- Briggs Type Indicator was developed by KAtherine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers in the year 1923. It is based on the personality typology given by Carl Jung. 

It was intended for the  normal populations and stresses on the value of naturally occurring individual differences. The underlying assumption behind MBTI is that we all construed our world differently and our preferences actually vary depending upon our interests, values, motivations and needs. 

It is widely popular in the business sector, with high applicability in matching personality types with job profiles. 

However, it is often criticised for lack of psychometric properties. It is based on Jung’s theory of dichotomous cognitive functions, which suggests that there are the following two dichotomies within us: 

• The “rational” (judging) functions: thinking and feeling
• The “irrational” (perceiving) functions: sensation and intuition

Jung believed that for every person, each of the functions is expressed primarily in either an introverted or extraverted form.

Myers- Briggs modified this to include the following four dichotomies:

• Introversion v/s extraversion (I/E)
• Intuition v/s sensing (N/S)
• Feeling v/s thinking  (F/T)
• Perceiving v/s judging (P/J)

Thus various combinations of these 8 elements forms 16 personality types according to MBTI. 

These are:

• INFP
• ENFP
• ISFP
• ESFP
• INTP
• ENTP
• INFJ
• ENFJ
• ISTP
• ESTP
• ISTJ
• ESTJ
• ISFJ
• ESFJ
• INTJ
• ENTJ

While introversion and extraversion are attitudes, sending, intuition, thinking and feeling are functions. Judging and perception come under lifetype preferences.

MBTI types and depression:

INFJ: 

Out of all MBTI types INFJs are the most likely to suffer from depression as they are very susceptible to the pain of others as well as their own pain due to their compassionate nature. They can not shut themselves off of pain. 

INFJs can go into a depressive state, if they feel powerless to help others- or if they simply feel overwhelmed by the world around them. Further, they strive for great things, and when they feel they aren’t making progress, it makes them likely to feel depressed. 

They are very conscious about being caring, genuine, complex, nurturing and gentle. They are very sensitive to the world around them. Further, they hesitate in sharing their own sufferings. Because of their compassionate nature, they are unable to tolerate criticism and harsh comments, and have trouble dealing with conflicting relationships. 

What depresses them is tragedy around the world, especially a lack of humanity.

ENFJ:

Most prominent depressive symptom among ENFJs is guilt. They find it difficult to take time to tend to their emotions, and this leads to an increase in depressive feelings. 

The ENFJ will often attempt to work even harder, in hopes of completely ignoring their depressive state. This will lead to a derailment, which might cause the ENFJ to fail to accomplish their usual tasks. 

Feeling like they have become a disappointed to others or feeling secluded might make them feel sad or depressed. 

INFP:

They are naturally sensitive souls, which makes them feel on a deeper level. They cannot disconnect from the pain around them. Sometimes INFPs can suffer from depressed feelings, simply because they do not feel understood by the world around them.

Things like fear of being left alone makes them feel depressive symptoms. 

ENFP:

They are usually happy go lucky people, when they feel depressed, they start disconnecting from the world around them. They do so by lashing out at others around them. This makes them difficult to be around. To feel better, they need to first acknowledge what’s wrong.

A lack of purpose in their lives may make them feel sad. 

INTJ:

Because they are logic minded, depression can be hard for them as it is often irrational. When an INTJ feels overwhelmed by their feelings of depression, they will often attempt to search for things that can quell this problem. They might try diving into things that have helped them feel happy before, but some of these things are not the mostly healthy outlets.

What makes them sad is having their work, and time go unappreciated or ignored. 

ENTJ: 

When they are depressed, they start to feel useless, and feel like their skills aren’t fully being utilised. They are very good at keeping their symptoms hidden, as they don’t want to seem weak or vulnerable to people around them. 

Feeling like they do not have control or freedom of the direction of their lives makes them likely to feel depressed. 

INTP:

An INTP who is extremely depressed, will have emotional outbursts, and this can be extremely surprising to those around them- since the INTP is normally so reserved with their emotions. If they are feeling pressured from those closest to them, it might result in them snapping at those people.

Feeling like life is meaningless makes them go through depressive symptoms. 

ENTP:

Common cause for ENTPs to feel depressed is if they feel trapped in their situation. It is thus important for them to set goals that actually motivate them instead of staying tuck in a monotony. 

Falling behind on their responsibilities makes them likley to feel depressed. 

ISTJ:

When they feel depressed, they tend to dive harder into their work, and seclude themselves from those around them. 

They seem less enthusiastic about spending time with their loved ones, or those around them.

What makes them sad is a lack of structure or function in their lives.  

ESTJ:

They feel down or depressed if they feel like things in their life rent going the way they want them to. To cope, they may go through bouts of manic behaviour. They end up feeling overwhelmed

A lack of success and respect in their lives makes them likely to feel sad or depressed. 

ISFJ:

they are usually highly involved with people around them, but when they feel depressed, they tend to be closed off to the world around them. They end up failing to socialise with their normal group of support system. 

Feeling like they aren’t required makes them sad. 

ESFJ:

When they feel depressed they tend to overcompensate for their feelings, and hardly express their sadness, and in fact feel guilty for their feelings of sadness. It is very important to understand and accept their feelings. 

Feeling alone and not having a strong support system makes them sadder. 

ISFP:

They hold their values and beliefs very strongly, if these are challenged they may experience conflict and depressive symptoms. 

Feeling cut off from the nature and aesthetic around them makes them feel depressive symptoms. 

ESFP:

 ESFPs love aesthetics, so anything beautiful will lift them up for the time being. These things of course do not last, which might cause the ESFP to dip into a depressive state where they seem much more down than usual.

Feeling left behind and like they are missing out on life might make them more likely to feel depressed. 

ISTP:

ISTPs often will not notice that they are depressed for a long time, since they don’t usually focus on their own emotions easily. This can cause them to push others away, in hopes of figuring out what is actually going on.

ESTP:

When they experience depression, they tend to make themselves busy and stay active to distract themselves. When left alone, they feel at their worst. 

Coping with depression

Strategies to cope with depression:

• Setting tasks and to do lists for yourself & going through with them. 
• Following sleep hygiene and trying to maintain a healthy sleep cycle
• Getting enough exercise and eating right
• Indulging in self care activities
• Reaching out & having a support system

BetterHelp: A Better Alternative

Those who are seeking therapy online may also be interested in BetterHelp. BetterHelp offers plenty of formats of therapy, ranging from live chats, live audio sessions and live video sessions. In addition, unlimited messaging through texting, audio messages and even video messages are available here.

BetterHelp also offers couples therapy and therapy for teenagers in its platform. Furthermore, group sessions can also be found in this platform, covering more than twenty different topics related to mental health and mental illness. The pricing of BetterHelp is also pretty cost-effective, especially considering the fact that the platform offers financial aid to most users.

Conclusion

In this blog we looked at the most likely MBTI type to feel depressed, first looking at what depression is, a little about MBTI, and how different MBTI types experience depression. We ended this article by looking at some coping strategies for depression. 

If you’ve enjoyed the ”MBTI Compatibility Chart” mentioned above, I would recommend you to take a look at ”MBTI most likely to be depressed” too.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs): MBTI most likely to be depressed

References

[1]. Moodle K., (2017) How each Myers- briggs Type deals with depression. Personality growth.

[2]. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (n.d.) Depression and related conditions. 

[3]. Cherry K., (2020) INFJ: The advocate (introverted, intuitive, feeling, judging). 

[4]. Jhoon (2018) What each MBTI type is likely to get depressed about. Astroligion.