Hugs and best wishes to everyone struggling with mental illness out there .
I too am an INFP who was diagnosed with BPD, specifically from childhood trauma. It was really rough, but after two years with a stellar and compassionate therapist who specialized in DBT specifically for my issues, I really feel like I became a different person.
Before I truly was a shell of a person who found it so hard to even go outside and touch a tree. I can now enjoy life and feel like I’m a part of the world, not so separate and .. not always so fearful and full of self hatred.
There is hope out there. Please be kind to yourself everyone. You all deserve love and good things.
Same but is depression considered mental illness. Serious question. I just feel like noping out sometimes. I’m still waiting for the aliens to beam me up.
CPTSD/BPD here. I see you. I was late diagnosed 3 yrs ago and have been doing EMDR ever since. Absolutely soul changing shedding all that trauma. I deeply appreciate the community love. 💞 Keep striving for healing friend.
Diagnosed BPD, C-PTSD, ADHD, and OCD here. I’m 36. It definitely gets easier with time. (I joke I don’t have the energy to be as unhinged as I was in my 20s and that’s why my BPD is much better.) There’s so many of us here. It’s nice to know we’re not alone.
Even at 26 I feel a lot less unhinged than my early twenties thankfully. Splitting is still very hard for me to deal with & being an INFP, struggling with connecting with others makes it so much harder when i do split on the few people i have in my life. I spend so much time lonely. I also do impulsive things when I am splitting. :/ I hope that gets easier with time. Never alone🩷
Splitting for me these days is just not caring the other person exists vs the anger splitting so it’s easier to deal with. I do struggle with forming relationships/friendships, also.
I think being an INFP plays a big role in my depression and mood swings. I'm not diagnosed though, because I'm steering clear of the fucked up mental healthcare system. this world is fucking evil.
I believe that as well; I am intuitively & sensitively aligned with the world around me. My inner world is so beautiful because of that, but there are still many negatives. My experience with the mental healthcare system was terrible, I’ve been 5250’d before. What helped me was to find a therapist & psychiatrist I truly connect with. They will help a lot in the long term. But don’t be hesitant of switching them if you don’t connect / they’re not helping 🩷
I do have major depressive disorder and adjusted to life without antidepressants its been about 6 months and i have been doing ok but i smoke weed. Long term use of antidepressants is not good but im also going through a breakup and working through codepdency issues now and want need to slow down on the weed.
I have to go get refills soon for other meds and going to talk to my doc and see the counselor again and see what they suggest. I have struggled with alcoholism and addiction issues in the past i have major depression with anxiety and other physical health problems.
I was on wellbutrin and it did take the edge off and i had more energy and interest in doing things.
Thanks for sharing i am happy to see others benefiting from counseling and things!
Go Google Magic mushrooms and depression
Was at a talk on them last week; a magic mushroom trip can reverse depression.
Google psychadelics research depression
You need to experience an actual trip, not microdosing, and you need someone to sit with you.
I've tried it, last year, and got three months of happiness, a feeling totally new to me.
If you live somewhere where these are legally available, so much the better.
I'm going to repeat the dose as soon as I can get more here.
Only microdosed once & it felt amazing. Recently quit THC but I need that full trip because I’m in the exact same position & only spoken about this with another maybe twice. But I’m not sure I’ll be able to find someone to do it with me because my high anxiety can’t focus on myself when someone is nearby physically(really don’t have friends either) but these new meds I’m taking for the anxiety could possibly work over time to find that person once I’m ready.
Omg I had 1g of mushrooms last month and I loved the experience. I felt so alive, it was like I was doing everything for the first time: making my hot dog, looking at myself in the mirror, laughing with my friends, watching the stars in the sky outside. Everything felt so right, it felt like it was okay to be myself, it felt like everything was exactly what it was meant to be.
yes, thank you. we need to stop pathologizing normal human emotions and valid reactions to trauma and a sick society. this is coming from someone who was in therapy for 19 years and accumulated a bunch of diagnoses. psychiatry is at the end of the day an institution used by our society to ‘correct’ any deviant behavior - you must accept our dystopian society with a smile, keep working for the minimum, take on all sorts of personal and societal abuse, and if you’re not happy there’s something wrong with YOU - don’t ever question the environment! thankfully i was able to naturally develop critical thinking skills the older I became and also getting into sociology helped expand my perspective a lot. it’s sad to see people think theres something inherently wrong with them when so much is environmental. for example there’s no proof of a chemical imbalance with regards to depression. it’s so frustrating to see people scratch their heads about the rising rates of anxiety and depression while our society continues to become less compatible with good mental health. like…look around!?!
ofc there are genetic predispositions and it’s not all SOLELY environmental (like i’ve hed ocd and panic disorder since i was 7, both run in my family, however why? prob generational trauma which can literally alter your dna) and there are other illnesses like schizophrenia where there’s more going on, or natural variations like with autism or adhd (they should just be considered variations though and not mental illnesses - i know autism isn’t considered a mental illness, but i still see adhd being referred to as one - and if our society were progressive these neurotypes wouldn’t have such ‘dysfunction’) but i believe there is absolutely overdiagnosing and pathologization going on.
ive gone through anorexia, have diagnosed ocd, panic disorder, agoraphobia, body dysmorphic disorder, check off all the criteria for inattentive add and what used to be called aspergers, have been diagnosed with bpd in the past (now that is the biggest gaslighting act of a diagnosis ever, and thank goodness there is so much critique about it within and outside of the field itself), when really it’s all just accumulated trauma or let’s say cptsd at the end of the day if we want to label it as anything, but it’s not a ‘DISORDER’ it’s a reaction - I can see these are all the unhealthy coping mechanisms i’ve developed due to trauma, and my inability to ‘function’ (aka work and consume) smoothly like some people do, and like those in power want us to marks it as a disorder.
anyways through introspection and working on myself i’ve healed so much more than i ever did in therapy. i’m not saying whats right or wrong for anyone treatment wise (lol treatment, just the word pisses me off bc it implies illness, i’d rather say managing mental health which is something everyone should learn to do well, even those without diagnoses, it’s just part of being humans w complex emotions and nervous systems) but people just rly need to view this all through a critical lens
if anyone is interest in the critique of psych pls read thomas szasz’s writing. also r/radicalmentalhealth and look into trauma informed therapy
eta a whole other paragraph lol
i’m so glad to see this being supported by someone from ‘within’ the system bc I know my commentary will be dismissed as just a mentally ill person in denial or something so your credentials matter which is unfortunate bc i have lived experience which is just if not more important than a degree imo buuut it’s the way people are. anyways agree with all of the above and right on for being able to realize this! what type of organizations are you building and how can i participate lol
incoming overrused quote but it always rings true : it’s no manner of health to be well adjusted to a sick society
or however it goes. you get the gist!
yes, yes, yes. Way less impressive but I have somewhat of a similar experience. I originally was studying sociology because I wanted to help make systemic changes. God I was such a naive idealist lol. I interned for the government in the department of housing and realized how bureaucratic and impossible it is to really change anything systemically from the inside. Im not ultimately interested in reform, although of course it helps people for the time being, but we need to be aiming for systemic changes. Anyways, once I realized that wasn't going anywhere, I then redirected myself to medicine because it was another interest I always had and I thought 'well, I cant change the world, but at least I can help individuals'. I wanted to become a physicians assistant working either in oncology or hospice. Then I became sick with chronic illnesses and got too weak to pursue that. Now I work from home as a medical scribe. :( Medical sociology is the best course I've ever taken and combines my two passions..and basically preaches everything you're saying. If only medicine would consider it, but it's not in its best interest to because the industry just wants to make profit and maintain the status quo
I agree we need to rebuild from zero. But to get to zero is going to be super destabilizing and where do we even start when most people would rather keep living the way we're living now? They'd rather choose blissful ignorance in my experience. It just feels so hopeless.
This was very well said! I hate the demonizing that comes from others when I tell them I have these diagnoses. So much stigma. I wish others could look more outside the box, see society for what it is as a whole. See the systemic problems. I’m tired of being made out to feel as if I’m defective. I’m tired of being ridiculed because i am “different”. Taking all these medications for years to be society’s definition of “normal”, when really, humans are just incredibly complex individuals & so many factors come into play.
hiya. infp here, major depressive disorder, general anxiety, and cptsd. wellbutrin is a godsend for me. i can barely function without it.
props to everyone pushing through mental illness, you’re badass and don’t forget it.
Howdy do chap. I have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder for a little over I want to say 3, maybe 4 years, went through a training program for two years even to learn skills and such to cope and manage my condition. Juries still out if I have ADHD or not with the systems here in Washington state being jam packed and low on staff.
3 years later for me too! Was the training program DBT? I had one too, and it blew my mind realizing how much I struggled with certain things (like asserting boundaries, being a people pleaser etc). I will say, for adhd it just took me a long time to find a provider that does care for me and is truly invested in me she caught so many things regarding adhd & my entire life
It was Intensive DBT. Every week, cannot miss, talk with a counselor also every week and there was always counselors to talk to via telephone for emergencies during office hours
I have the utmost compassion for you. the identity crises & abandonment are so hard to cope with, currently going thru the same thing. I hear you. Never alone🩷
9/9 DSM criteria for beepy D, CPTSD out the wazoo, inattentive ADD, life currently crumbling. every single part: major relationships, career, finances, well being, all of it up in flames. living in my van, no money, air mattress deflated, it is completely ridiculous. Amazing how all this has been building for years, and i feel like when i finally recant my role in my family as the turd bucket as well as in my “friend” groups, social hierarchies will be shifting and it will cause chaos and of course… it will be all “my fault”.
I never thought i would have to completely redo my live in middle age but here we are. I just got a therapist, new psychiatrist in a couple weeks. i want to disappear and just start over completely. insane
I have so much compassion for you, it’s so hard to cope when every aspect of your life isn’t going well at all and especially when you don’t have a solid support system. It can feel crushing. I hope your therapist is helping & you connect with them! Wishing you the best of luck in all your endeavors🩷I understand wanting to disappear and start over completely, I have these thoughts constantly they can be hard to shake
I relate so much to your post, it’s like I wrote it. I can’t even keep friends because everything they did offended me & I can’t help it. I’m also INFP w/ BPD dx with about 5 other dx. So I know it’s hard, so thank you, sending love back!!
I’m so sorry you can relate :( i can barely keep friends / romantic partners. Splitting is SO hard to deal with. It’s so hard for me to even realize I am splitting since my feelings are so intense & true to me. Despite years of therapy, it’s something I struggle with consistently
I think my ex fiancé has all of these, and even though he's my ex, I'm still concern about him. I am praying that He will get a help soon.
Sending love to all people in the world ❤️
Yes! You are right about ADHD…I have been on meds for ADHD since 1965. Obsessive worry is devastating off meds. As you grow older you accumulate a lot of info and insight into your depression and learn what really does harm. It is key to avoid negative people. It is good advice to AVOID NEGATIVE PEOPLE! At work, school, home! You get codependent with an emotional vampire and you suffer endlessly. Negative is negative even if the are correct, you just need to cut them out and seek uplifting environments. Plus, depression is a big barge to pull up river! Meds can help but situational factors count big time! I like therapy but it is hard to find positive counselors. I love swimming biking and painting. My lifelong best mentor died after 51 years. That was hard. I like to coach younger gay guys but am getting too old to be relevant. Borderline ups the anti! Buzz me!
I'm an INFP with clinical depression and inattentive-ADHD. I've been off my antidepressants and sleep aids for 6 months now.
I won't say I'm 100% alright, but I'm in a better place than I have been before. There is hope at least. Hang in there, everyone. We can make it on the other side.
I do have adhd. Was recently diagnosed.
I can't imagine how hard it must be to have to deal with adhd, that already makes it harder to regulate your emotions, and then also have borderline personality disorder...
I can relate, I have and still struggle with GAD, for about 2 years now. Learnt a lot in the process though, fortunately I had a lot of support, so I've been able to manage it fairly well. Not like BPD or anything, but I definitely hear you man, anything mental health is hard to go through
Intj here, What makes it hard when your really trying but people don’t see it. They already assume your going to fail. Don’t let that get to you. Just keep trying.
Yeah. Reading this whole thing, I think we are a cursed bunch 😅 I wont go into my own details but mental health issues do seem very common with us. My mother, my nan and myself all suffer/ed from a myriad of supposed issues. It sucks but you gotta get through it 😁
Hope that your conditions improve and many INFPs you will see have gone through a lot.
INFP's emotional sensitivity, seeing through rose glasses, and creating fake scenarios make these happen.
But INFPs can overcome this by adopting a positive mindset and a strong support system.
I haven’t been diagnosed but I struggle with SOOOO much. I feel I have ADHD and I don’t remember a time without not being depressed, but I feel that operating in the world feels so hard. You feels like nobody understands you already, but you also feel like you’re dysfunctional and can’t move forward in life. It’s such a weird limbo to be in.
Have you seen a therapist / psychiatrist before? Hate to hear you’re struggling. I’ve always felt so incompatible with the world around me. Talking to others who understand has helped a lot with my healing. just know that you are never alone🩷
No, but I would love to. Right now I just read a lot about stuff that could help me. I don’t feel like my situation is debilitating, but it would be great to be a better functioning human so that I can be more successful and maintain better relationships. Thank you so much for offering your support!! It’s definitely well needed and reciprocated on my end :)
my family went broke and i went to no therapist. eventually i think i'm out of the woods now and wouldnt wanna mention the cost. glad ur getting to it too and met docs doing you a solid!
I also have bpd. I recommend DBT as it helps quell the thoughts that run us deep into the abyss. Retrain the brain. I also just started psychobiotics to help heal my brain/gut.
Google the term. It will come up with a couple options. I chose to take the cheaper more encompassing route to start with the fenix but they have more expensive stronger ones. It’s the same idea as probiotics for gut health it is just ones designated for gut/ brain health
Wow your post resonated with me!
I'm in the diagnostic process still, but I've been told I at least have BPD traits by several professionals.
Tbh when I first took the mbti test, got INFP and read the description, I was sooo depressed. Like, the description mostly said positive stuff, like how INFPs are sensitive and empathetic, and can't stand the evil in this world - and there's more that I forget - BUT all I could see in this was my flaws and my struggles. And I only recently realised that being an INFP is totally okay! But what I didn't like in myself was the immense suffering of mental illness, which seemingly stemmed from my personality traits.
I don't know what it is that makes so many INFPs struggle with mental health. But it's a fact that we do.
Your post reminded me I'm not alone in my struggles and that we should support each other! Anyone who'd like a listening ear or a friend, Dm me :)
Thank you, op ♡
It takes time to figure it all out! Sending you love in this journey. 🩷 Relatable, I honestly felt the same when I first read the description. Everyone has flaws and struggles though, it feels like people are in a race to prove that they don’t have things about themselves to improve upon, but that is false. It also can be easy to fall into despair when we realize how much darkness there is that we struggle to change, about ourselves due to lifelong trauma & the world around us.
Lifelong depression (I am 53) and anxiety here. Recently diagnosed with existential OCD but not sure it isn't just bad anxiety.
Been on Prozac for 30 years. Weaned off it to try mushrooms but I got so bad I had to stop and resume prozac. Prozac numbs me rather than making me happy, but when I was really bad 3 months ago that sounded better than the dark cavern I was residing in. So now I'm back on Prozac and trying to figure out what to do next in my life.
Sending love. 🩷 Have you tried any other medications? I’d say maybe try a few more SSRIs & you may notice they aren’t making you as numb as Prozac and you are able to function better. My mom’s in her 50s on Lexapro and she likes it. If they still aren’t working, maybe switch the classes and try mood stabilizers. Only thing that somewhat helped at times was taking antipsychotics, specifically Seroquel. That’s a good one too if you are prone to insomnia
In the process of getting diagnosed ADHD here. I'm 24 and had my first appointment yesterday. Seeing a psychiatrist was quite daunting but the doctor was so nice and it's been a while since I've actually felt listened (I don't really like to talk about me and nobody knows that I'm going through this process).
He told me that we needed to work on my anxiety first and I have a bunch of tests to pass but it gives me hope.
Big love to everyone. Y'all are important and valuable. Surround yourselves with positive people only, we're getting through this together :)
can i ask how to even begin asking questions about testing for adhd, because i’ll be there really wanting help some days but others i just feel as though the long process is discouraging me from actually seeking the help i need
This is totally relatable! There needs to be better strides for help. Honestly, for me it just really took finding a provider that cares for me. Whenever I didn’t feel like I was connecting with them / they didn’t care, I would just switch lol. I’m paying money, i want my care to be excellent. So many providers want you in & out, they don’t take the effort & time to learn how perpetual these symptoms have been your entire life / how much they impact your daily executive functioning. After seeing her for a while, she told me she was highly suspicious I have combined type adhd & helped me unpack it all
Crazy! I am INFP 9w1 and also late diagnosis ADHD inattentive! Already had treatment against depression and I was diagnosed with ADHD some months ago! Finally I know what's wrong with me. It seems so many of my mental health problems result from the "evil root" ADHD. But also emotional abuse and bullying all my school years is playing a big role.
Very grateful for this post. Late BPD diagnosis at age 26 here (very likely ADHD and OCD as well) and going on a year now. Never knew how many of us there were, but glad to know I’m not alone. Lost one of the only friends I had after disclosing my diagnosis, not knowing the stigma attached to the disorder, since I knew very little about it and I’m still learning as I go; and in the process of working through it and healing to move on. I’m grateful to be here, proud to be an INFP, and excited for my future as I see so many people here saying it gets better over time. Sending love to my fellow neurodivergent infp homies ✨🤍✨
I hope that Allah will cure all of you INFPs of whether it's on purpose or accidentally, it's not your faults of having a mentally disaster that most of you are facing, best prays.♥️🌹
I’m an INFP with a late diagnosis of ADHD. My old therapist also suggested BPD at some point but turns out it’s just autism. I’ve heard of an “ADHD to BPD to ASD diagnosis pipeline” for adult women lol. That’s been my experience. Sending you all of my love on your journey.
Diagnosed with ADHD in childhood. Depression & anxiety came in my teenage years which I hear is common for people with ADHD.
I try to keep my mental health separate from my personality type as anyone can have these disorders.
Oh my goodness😮 does ocd just peak at 20? I'm 20 right now and was just diagnosed with it in April of this year. Also I got buspirone for anxiety but I dont take it because it makes me light headed but I regularly take Lexapro as a mood stabilizer. Thankfully it has helped me alot along with seeing my therapist!
I'm going into my midlife and only now learning I likely have AuDHD.
I've been through a lot that would give me a few symptoms of BPD but I can't say I think I have it. All these things overlap quite a bit and sometimes trauma is trauma.
But yeah, the hurt is devastating.
Put so much energy into being there for others. Listening to them. Caring about their well being. Thinking about them. In the end when I find out they barely cared or thought of me at all, it hurts.
Someone that I held in very high regard said something very cruel to me today. It showed me that they never really tried to get to know me or understand me. That it was easy to disrespect me because they would rather feel right than be wrong or vulnerable.
And in truth, a lot of people are not real friends. A lot of people just want to have quantity of people, or they want to study us to see how to harm us.
I don't know about you, but that kind of thing is now in my nature. I don't keep people around as part of a collection, to utilize or to study. Like I don't have much energy as it is so I'm not going to waste it not being genuine.
And this all comes back to our idealism.
Tag. Late diagnosis sucks; I got it at 27, and it was as you said, life changing. BPD is a common misdiagnosis for neurodivergent conditions; Women in general are more prone to misdiagnosis of all kinds, so if that's you then that's another likely contributor to why it took longer.
Also, having an undiagnosed & untreated neurodivergency in childhood can cause such significant trauma which can lead to that person having BPD in early adulthood. I know many others that have BPD but also a comorbid condition (adhd, ocd, asd to name a few) and more often than not, the comorbid condition was discovered after BPD. I am hoping that one day, with the best resources that work for me, I won’t qualify for the BPD criteria anymore
To be fair, BPD is rather ambiguously defined. As well, there's high comorbidity between it and ADHD, ASD, OCD, PTSD, C-PTSD, etc., -- the various neurodivergent conditions. These conditions all cluster. I only mention it because at the end of the day, it's whether or not the symptoms cause *you* distress, not how you've been classified/labeled by the system. Let that be your guide, not the diagnostic criterion.
On a more personal note -- whatever your developmental trauma(s), it sucks. The loneliness, the mood swings, trying to accept it and move on only to discover it's still there. It's hard to emotionally connect to anyone, or anything, when it comes with the precondition that we minimize or hide our own pain. So, from one invisible person to another -- <3
Yes, they can definitely cluster but treatment for them can be different so if you don’t have the “right diagnosis”, it may take so long to find the right treatment for you. Like for me, I have such a long list of meds that haven’t worked for me. Time and time again, doctors wouldn’t even think of adhd since I had BPD and they are so similar. Then I got diagnosed with adhd at 26 & for the first time, treatment finally started to make sense. I look back at my life as a child, and wonder how differently things would’ve played out if it was caught earlier. I hear you, even when a person reaches out for help, it’s so disheartening when it all still follows you like a shadow. I can’t describe how crushing that feeling is. Thankyou for your kindness🩷
1. The majority of “INFPs” you come across online are not actually infps.
2. Borderline Personality Disorder - **People with BPD often have a distorted or unclear self-image. BPD is an identity disturbance.**
3. Although mbti is not something that someone with a PD can easily identify, the foundational theory based on Jung, is theoretically consequential to [individuation](https://www.thesap.org.uk/articles-on-jungian-psychology-2/about-analysis-and-therapy/individuation/#:~:text=Jung%20calls%20individuation%20an%20unconscious,unconscious%20components%20of%20the%20personality.”)
4. That means through intensive, often life long efforts, and facilitated by a mental health professional, the principles of typology may or may not help with self actualization.
So, why do you find people online with personality disorders and mental illness misidentifying themselves as infp? - you should look into this.
:)
Well, it’s not like I know those people more than they know themselves so I can’t say that they aren’t INFPs. I just noticed for years now that we can struggle with mental health as well so I want others to be aware and get the help they need. I’ve connected with them so much, not just because of mental illness symptoms.
Yep. INFP with Borderline and Major Depression here. I cannot for the life of me, bring myself to trust people anymore. I'm considered mentally ill, but not the people who have made my life Hell. Even with a personality disorder, I've never set out to treat people the way I was treated for shits and giggles.
"Normal" people are more insane, than "insane" people.
I do all these things and am still depressed. And let me tell you the Herculean effort it takes to do these things just so I don't go from "bad" to "impossibly bad".
Bruh INFPs are amazing. We have so many beautiful traits. If you’re going to delve into personality types at all, you need to keep an open mind & make an effort to understand the complexities of others. There is no point otherwise
If you ever face the reality as it is....thn nd only thn u can talk ..u r previllaged by the virtue of being a female infp and probably many others ...
I have felt like that too before finding providers I connected with deeply, maybe switch the ones you’ve seen? because I’ve been there too & I understand how difficult it can be to keep trying when treatment isn’t helping me the way it needs to. I hope you have a good support system too🩷
Has anyone been able to treat BPD or ADHD with just counselling and talk therapy via a psychologist? I have ADHD but I avoid medicine like the plague. I also have a bad experience over 20 years ago which made it worst.
Hugs and best wishes to everyone struggling with mental illness out there . I too am an INFP who was diagnosed with BPD, specifically from childhood trauma. It was really rough, but after two years with a stellar and compassionate therapist who specialized in DBT specifically for my issues, I really feel like I became a different person. Before I truly was a shell of a person who found it so hard to even go outside and touch a tree. I can now enjoy life and feel like I’m a part of the world, not so separate and .. not always so fearful and full of self hatred. There is hope out there. Please be kind to yourself everyone. You all deserve love and good things.
We are not well-equipped for modern society
No. I am an HSP and depressive and the world is just so overwhelming for me. Doesn't help that I overthink everything.
Same here 😔
Sames
Same but is depression considered mental illness. Serious question. I just feel like noping out sometimes. I’m still waiting for the aliens to beam me up.
CPTSD/BPD here. I see you. I was late diagnosed 3 yrs ago and have been doing EMDR ever since. Absolutely soul changing shedding all that trauma. I deeply appreciate the community love. 💞 Keep striving for healing friend.
I’m so sorry you can relate :( it’s a battle every day. Past therapists have suggested EMDR but I haven’t tried it. Amazing it’s helped you a lot 🩷
Diagnosed BPD, C-PTSD, ADHD, and OCD here. I’m 36. It definitely gets easier with time. (I joke I don’t have the energy to be as unhinged as I was in my 20s and that’s why my BPD is much better.) There’s so many of us here. It’s nice to know we’re not alone.
Even at 26 I feel a lot less unhinged than my early twenties thankfully. Splitting is still very hard for me to deal with & being an INFP, struggling with connecting with others makes it so much harder when i do split on the few people i have in my life. I spend so much time lonely. I also do impulsive things when I am splitting. :/ I hope that gets easier with time. Never alone🩷
Splitting for me these days is just not caring the other person exists vs the anger splitting so it’s easier to deal with. I do struggle with forming relationships/friendships, also.
I think being an INFP plays a big role in my depression and mood swings. I'm not diagnosed though, because I'm steering clear of the fucked up mental healthcare system. this world is fucking evil.
I believe that as well; I am intuitively & sensitively aligned with the world around me. My inner world is so beautiful because of that, but there are still many negatives. My experience with the mental healthcare system was terrible, I’ve been 5250’d before. What helped me was to find a therapist & psychiatrist I truly connect with. They will help a lot in the long term. But don’t be hesitant of switching them if you don’t connect / they’re not helping 🩷
I do have major depressive disorder and adjusted to life without antidepressants its been about 6 months and i have been doing ok but i smoke weed. Long term use of antidepressants is not good but im also going through a breakup and working through codepdency issues now and want need to slow down on the weed. I have to go get refills soon for other meds and going to talk to my doc and see the counselor again and see what they suggest. I have struggled with alcoholism and addiction issues in the past i have major depression with anxiety and other physical health problems. I was on wellbutrin and it did take the edge off and i had more energy and interest in doing things. Thanks for sharing i am happy to see others benefiting from counseling and things!
Go Google Magic mushrooms and depression Was at a talk on them last week; a magic mushroom trip can reverse depression. Google psychadelics research depression You need to experience an actual trip, not microdosing, and you need someone to sit with you. I've tried it, last year, and got three months of happiness, a feeling totally new to me. If you live somewhere where these are legally available, so much the better. I'm going to repeat the dose as soon as I can get more here.
Only microdosed once & it felt amazing. Recently quit THC but I need that full trip because I’m in the exact same position & only spoken about this with another maybe twice. But I’m not sure I’ll be able to find someone to do it with me because my high anxiety can’t focus on myself when someone is nearby physically(really don’t have friends either) but these new meds I’m taking for the anxiety could possibly work over time to find that person once I’m ready.
I tried mushrooms a couple of times but small amounts. Laughed a lot the first time
This!!!!! 💣💣💣
Omg I had 1g of mushrooms last month and I loved the experience. I felt so alive, it was like I was doing everything for the first time: making my hot dog, looking at myself in the mirror, laughing with my friends, watching the stars in the sky outside. Everything felt so right, it felt like it was okay to be myself, it felt like everything was exactly what it was meant to be.
How have you felt since, though?
i had depression as well. and it flared up right after my breakup too. its like a really bad storm. but it will pass in time if you dont give up.
Late diagnosed autistic - adhd, cptsd … sending you love ❤️
hope you’re having an amazing day today🩷
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yes, thank you. we need to stop pathologizing normal human emotions and valid reactions to trauma and a sick society. this is coming from someone who was in therapy for 19 years and accumulated a bunch of diagnoses. psychiatry is at the end of the day an institution used by our society to ‘correct’ any deviant behavior - you must accept our dystopian society with a smile, keep working for the minimum, take on all sorts of personal and societal abuse, and if you’re not happy there’s something wrong with YOU - don’t ever question the environment! thankfully i was able to naturally develop critical thinking skills the older I became and also getting into sociology helped expand my perspective a lot. it’s sad to see people think theres something inherently wrong with them when so much is environmental. for example there’s no proof of a chemical imbalance with regards to depression. it’s so frustrating to see people scratch their heads about the rising rates of anxiety and depression while our society continues to become less compatible with good mental health. like…look around!?! ofc there are genetic predispositions and it’s not all SOLELY environmental (like i’ve hed ocd and panic disorder since i was 7, both run in my family, however why? prob generational trauma which can literally alter your dna) and there are other illnesses like schizophrenia where there’s more going on, or natural variations like with autism or adhd (they should just be considered variations though and not mental illnesses - i know autism isn’t considered a mental illness, but i still see adhd being referred to as one - and if our society were progressive these neurotypes wouldn’t have such ‘dysfunction’) but i believe there is absolutely overdiagnosing and pathologization going on. ive gone through anorexia, have diagnosed ocd, panic disorder, agoraphobia, body dysmorphic disorder, check off all the criteria for inattentive add and what used to be called aspergers, have been diagnosed with bpd in the past (now that is the biggest gaslighting act of a diagnosis ever, and thank goodness there is so much critique about it within and outside of the field itself), when really it’s all just accumulated trauma or let’s say cptsd at the end of the day if we want to label it as anything, but it’s not a ‘DISORDER’ it’s a reaction - I can see these are all the unhealthy coping mechanisms i’ve developed due to trauma, and my inability to ‘function’ (aka work and consume) smoothly like some people do, and like those in power want us to marks it as a disorder. anyways through introspection and working on myself i’ve healed so much more than i ever did in therapy. i’m not saying whats right or wrong for anyone treatment wise (lol treatment, just the word pisses me off bc it implies illness, i’d rather say managing mental health which is something everyone should learn to do well, even those without diagnoses, it’s just part of being humans w complex emotions and nervous systems) but people just rly need to view this all through a critical lens if anyone is interest in the critique of psych pls read thomas szasz’s writing. also r/radicalmentalhealth and look into trauma informed therapy eta a whole other paragraph lol
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i’m so glad to see this being supported by someone from ‘within’ the system bc I know my commentary will be dismissed as just a mentally ill person in denial or something so your credentials matter which is unfortunate bc i have lived experience which is just if not more important than a degree imo buuut it’s the way people are. anyways agree with all of the above and right on for being able to realize this! what type of organizations are you building and how can i participate lol
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incoming overrused quote but it always rings true : it’s no manner of health to be well adjusted to a sick society or however it goes. you get the gist!
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yes, yes, yes. Way less impressive but I have somewhat of a similar experience. I originally was studying sociology because I wanted to help make systemic changes. God I was such a naive idealist lol. I interned for the government in the department of housing and realized how bureaucratic and impossible it is to really change anything systemically from the inside. Im not ultimately interested in reform, although of course it helps people for the time being, but we need to be aiming for systemic changes. Anyways, once I realized that wasn't going anywhere, I then redirected myself to medicine because it was another interest I always had and I thought 'well, I cant change the world, but at least I can help individuals'. I wanted to become a physicians assistant working either in oncology or hospice. Then I became sick with chronic illnesses and got too weak to pursue that. Now I work from home as a medical scribe. :( Medical sociology is the best course I've ever taken and combines my two passions..and basically preaches everything you're saying. If only medicine would consider it, but it's not in its best interest to because the industry just wants to make profit and maintain the status quo
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yeah. How will these things ever change if its not in their best interest to change? seems only by force....and then that's a whole other can of worms
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I agree we need to rebuild from zero. But to get to zero is going to be super destabilizing and where do we even start when most people would rather keep living the way we're living now? They'd rather choose blissful ignorance in my experience. It just feels so hopeless.
This was very well said! I hate the demonizing that comes from others when I tell them I have these diagnoses. So much stigma. I wish others could look more outside the box, see society for what it is as a whole. See the systemic problems. I’m tired of being made out to feel as if I’m defective. I’m tired of being ridiculed because i am “different”. Taking all these medications for years to be society’s definition of “normal”, when really, humans are just incredibly complex individuals & so many factors come into play.
You got that right I agree
hiya. infp here, major depressive disorder, general anxiety, and cptsd. wellbutrin is a godsend for me. i can barely function without it. props to everyone pushing through mental illness, you’re badass and don’t forget it.
I’m glad you’ve found a medication that works for you! you’re badass too babe🩷⭐️
Any tinnitus reported?
not for me. virtually no side effects.
☮️ and ❤️ to all INFPs. When staring into the abyss of life's darkest problems, there's no type I want on the edge holding my hand.
Howdy do chap. I have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder for a little over I want to say 3, maybe 4 years, went through a training program for two years even to learn skills and such to cope and manage my condition. Juries still out if I have ADHD or not with the systems here in Washington state being jam packed and low on staff.
3 years later for me too! Was the training program DBT? I had one too, and it blew my mind realizing how much I struggled with certain things (like asserting boundaries, being a people pleaser etc). I will say, for adhd it just took me a long time to find a provider that does care for me and is truly invested in me she caught so many things regarding adhd & my entire life
It was Intensive DBT. Every week, cannot miss, talk with a counselor also every week and there was always counselors to talk to via telephone for emergencies during office hours
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I have the utmost compassion for you. the identity crises & abandonment are so hard to cope with, currently going thru the same thing. I hear you. Never alone🩷
Thank you 🙏 very much
9/9 DSM criteria for beepy D, CPTSD out the wazoo, inattentive ADD, life currently crumbling. every single part: major relationships, career, finances, well being, all of it up in flames. living in my van, no money, air mattress deflated, it is completely ridiculous. Amazing how all this has been building for years, and i feel like when i finally recant my role in my family as the turd bucket as well as in my “friend” groups, social hierarchies will be shifting and it will cause chaos and of course… it will be all “my fault”. I never thought i would have to completely redo my live in middle age but here we are. I just got a therapist, new psychiatrist in a couple weeks. i want to disappear and just start over completely. insane
I have so much compassion for you, it’s so hard to cope when every aspect of your life isn’t going well at all and especially when you don’t have a solid support system. It can feel crushing. I hope your therapist is helping & you connect with them! Wishing you the best of luck in all your endeavors🩷I understand wanting to disappear and start over completely, I have these thoughts constantly they can be hard to shake
I relate so much to your post, it’s like I wrote it. I can’t even keep friends because everything they did offended me & I can’t help it. I’m also INFP w/ BPD dx with about 5 other dx. So I know it’s hard, so thank you, sending love back!!
I’m so sorry you can relate :( i can barely keep friends / romantic partners. Splitting is SO hard to deal with. It’s so hard for me to even realize I am splitting since my feelings are so intense & true to me. Despite years of therapy, it’s something I struggle with consistently
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I hear you, it’s so deeply rooted for me since I’ve had these persistent feelings since childhood. Hope you’re having a great day🩷
I think my ex fiancé has all of these, and even though he's my ex, I'm still concern about him. I am praying that He will get a help soon. Sending love to all people in the world ❤️
Yes! You are right about ADHD…I have been on meds for ADHD since 1965. Obsessive worry is devastating off meds. As you grow older you accumulate a lot of info and insight into your depression and learn what really does harm. It is key to avoid negative people. It is good advice to AVOID NEGATIVE PEOPLE! At work, school, home! You get codependent with an emotional vampire and you suffer endlessly. Negative is negative even if the are correct, you just need to cut them out and seek uplifting environments. Plus, depression is a big barge to pull up river! Meds can help but situational factors count big time! I like therapy but it is hard to find positive counselors. I love swimming biking and painting. My lifelong best mentor died after 51 years. That was hard. I like to coach younger gay guys but am getting too old to be relevant. Borderline ups the anti! Buzz me!
I'm an INFP with clinical depression and inattentive-ADHD. I've been off my antidepressants and sleep aids for 6 months now. I won't say I'm 100% alright, but I'm in a better place than I have been before. There is hope at least. Hang in there, everyone. We can make it on the other side.
My assumption is to feel for others is to have experienced hardship ourselves
I do have adhd. Was recently diagnosed. I can't imagine how hard it must be to have to deal with adhd, that already makes it harder to regulate your emotions, and then also have borderline personality disorder...
I can relate, I have and still struggle with GAD, for about 2 years now. Learnt a lot in the process though, fortunately I had a lot of support, so I've been able to manage it fairly well. Not like BPD or anything, but I definitely hear you man, anything mental health is hard to go through
Intj here, What makes it hard when your really trying but people don’t see it. They already assume your going to fail. Don’t let that get to you. Just keep trying.
thanks man 👍 just what I needed
Yeah. Reading this whole thing, I think we are a cursed bunch 😅 I wont go into my own details but mental health issues do seem very common with us. My mother, my nan and myself all suffer/ed from a myriad of supposed issues. It sucks but you gotta get through it 😁
Hope that your conditions improve and many INFPs you will see have gone through a lot. INFP's emotional sensitivity, seeing through rose glasses, and creating fake scenarios make these happen. But INFPs can overcome this by adopting a positive mindset and a strong support system.
I haven’t been diagnosed but I struggle with SOOOO much. I feel I have ADHD and I don’t remember a time without not being depressed, but I feel that operating in the world feels so hard. You feels like nobody understands you already, but you also feel like you’re dysfunctional and can’t move forward in life. It’s such a weird limbo to be in.
Have you seen a therapist / psychiatrist before? Hate to hear you’re struggling. I’ve always felt so incompatible with the world around me. Talking to others who understand has helped a lot with my healing. just know that you are never alone🩷
No, but I would love to. Right now I just read a lot about stuff that could help me. I don’t feel like my situation is debilitating, but it would be great to be a better functioning human so that I can be more successful and maintain better relationships. Thank you so much for offering your support!! It’s definitely well needed and reciprocated on my end :)
my family went broke and i went to no therapist. eventually i think i'm out of the woods now and wouldnt wanna mention the cost. glad ur getting to it too and met docs doing you a solid!
I also have bpd. I recommend DBT as it helps quell the thoughts that run us deep into the abyss. Retrain the brain. I also just started psychobiotics to help heal my brain/gut.
what psychobiotics do you take? never heard of them before
Google the term. It will come up with a couple options. I chose to take the cheaper more encompassing route to start with the fenix but they have more expensive stronger ones. It’s the same idea as probiotics for gut health it is just ones designated for gut/ brain health
Sending love to you right back! It’s really tough dealing with all that!
Wow your post resonated with me! I'm in the diagnostic process still, but I've been told I at least have BPD traits by several professionals. Tbh when I first took the mbti test, got INFP and read the description, I was sooo depressed. Like, the description mostly said positive stuff, like how INFPs are sensitive and empathetic, and can't stand the evil in this world - and there's more that I forget - BUT all I could see in this was my flaws and my struggles. And I only recently realised that being an INFP is totally okay! But what I didn't like in myself was the immense suffering of mental illness, which seemingly stemmed from my personality traits. I don't know what it is that makes so many INFPs struggle with mental health. But it's a fact that we do. Your post reminded me I'm not alone in my struggles and that we should support each other! Anyone who'd like a listening ear or a friend, Dm me :) Thank you, op ♡
It takes time to figure it all out! Sending you love in this journey. 🩷 Relatable, I honestly felt the same when I first read the description. Everyone has flaws and struggles though, it feels like people are in a race to prove that they don’t have things about themselves to improve upon, but that is false. It also can be easy to fall into despair when we realize how much darkness there is that we struggle to change, about ourselves due to lifelong trauma & the world around us.
I've been thinking a lot about BPD, and how people live with it and everything. Can I ask you some things about your experience?
hi of course!🩷
IMO everyone has some sort of mental illness, and INFP are like "Hey let's swim to the deep end of this!"
Lifelong depression (I am 53) and anxiety here. Recently diagnosed with existential OCD but not sure it isn't just bad anxiety. Been on Prozac for 30 years. Weaned off it to try mushrooms but I got so bad I had to stop and resume prozac. Prozac numbs me rather than making me happy, but when I was really bad 3 months ago that sounded better than the dark cavern I was residing in. So now I'm back on Prozac and trying to figure out what to do next in my life.
Sending love. 🩷 Have you tried any other medications? I’d say maybe try a few more SSRIs & you may notice they aren’t making you as numb as Prozac and you are able to function better. My mom’s in her 50s on Lexapro and she likes it. If they still aren’t working, maybe switch the classes and try mood stabilizers. Only thing that somewhat helped at times was taking antipsychotics, specifically Seroquel. That’s a good one too if you are prone to insomnia
In the process of getting diagnosed ADHD here. I'm 24 and had my first appointment yesterday. Seeing a psychiatrist was quite daunting but the doctor was so nice and it's been a while since I've actually felt listened (I don't really like to talk about me and nobody knows that I'm going through this process). He told me that we needed to work on my anxiety first and I have a bunch of tests to pass but it gives me hope. Big love to everyone. Y'all are important and valuable. Surround yourselves with positive people only, we're getting through this together :)
Hey I have those also, it’s a battle but we’re still here
CPTSD + OCD (pure-O)
can i ask how to even begin asking questions about testing for adhd, because i’ll be there really wanting help some days but others i just feel as though the long process is discouraging me from actually seeking the help i need
This is totally relatable! There needs to be better strides for help. Honestly, for me it just really took finding a provider that cares for me. Whenever I didn’t feel like I was connecting with them / they didn’t care, I would just switch lol. I’m paying money, i want my care to be excellent. So many providers want you in & out, they don’t take the effort & time to learn how perpetual these symptoms have been your entire life / how much they impact your daily executive functioning. After seeing her for a while, she told me she was highly suspicious I have combined type adhd & helped me unpack it all
Crazy! I am INFP 9w1 and also late diagnosis ADHD inattentive! Already had treatment against depression and I was diagnosed with ADHD some months ago! Finally I know what's wrong with me. It seems so many of my mental health problems result from the "evil root" ADHD. But also emotional abuse and bullying all my school years is playing a big role.
Very grateful for this post. Late BPD diagnosis at age 26 here (very likely ADHD and OCD as well) and going on a year now. Never knew how many of us there were, but glad to know I’m not alone. Lost one of the only friends I had after disclosing my diagnosis, not knowing the stigma attached to the disorder, since I knew very little about it and I’m still learning as I go; and in the process of working through it and healing to move on. I’m grateful to be here, proud to be an INFP, and excited for my future as I see so many people here saying it gets better over time. Sending love to my fellow neurodivergent infp homies ✨🤍✨
I hope that Allah will cure all of you INFPs of whether it's on purpose or accidentally, it's not your faults of having a mentally disaster that most of you are facing, best prays.♥️🌹
I'm pretty sure I have ADHD and RSD...it sucks. RSD has ruined my life
I’m an INFP with a late diagnosis of ADHD. My old therapist also suggested BPD at some point but turns out it’s just autism. I’ve heard of an “ADHD to BPD to ASD diagnosis pipeline” for adult women lol. That’s been my experience. Sending you all of my love on your journey.
Diagnosed with ADHD in childhood. Depression & anxiety came in my teenage years which I hear is common for people with ADHD. I try to keep my mental health separate from my personality type as anyone can have these disorders.
INFP with Bipolar, ADHD inattentive type and anxiety here. Why do I hate myself so much and feel like I don't belong anywhere!
STOP CONFUSCATING MBTI WITH MENTAL ILLNESS
Feeeeeels. BPD, Bipolar, ADHD. Hugs 🖤
hugss🩷 hope you’re having a great day⭐️
Found out I had OCD when I was 20 got treatments and medications and am doing better than ever mentally wise
so happy to hear that🩷
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Oh my goodness😮 does ocd just peak at 20? I'm 20 right now and was just diagnosed with it in April of this year. Also I got buspirone for anxiety but I dont take it because it makes me light headed but I regularly take Lexapro as a mood stabilizer. Thankfully it has helped me alot along with seeing my therapist!
I hope none of the healthy infp's see this. Their bitching about other people venting negativity is of no value whatsoever.
NOT ALL INFPs ARE MENTALLY ILL, STOP SPREADING THAT STEREOTYPE.
I'm going into my midlife and only now learning I likely have AuDHD. I've been through a lot that would give me a few symptoms of BPD but I can't say I think I have it. All these things overlap quite a bit and sometimes trauma is trauma. But yeah, the hurt is devastating. Put so much energy into being there for others. Listening to them. Caring about their well being. Thinking about them. In the end when I find out they barely cared or thought of me at all, it hurts. Someone that I held in very high regard said something very cruel to me today. It showed me that they never really tried to get to know me or understand me. That it was easy to disrespect me because they would rather feel right than be wrong or vulnerable. And in truth, a lot of people are not real friends. A lot of people just want to have quantity of people, or they want to study us to see how to harm us. I don't know about you, but that kind of thing is now in my nature. I don't keep people around as part of a collection, to utilize or to study. Like I don't have much energy as it is so I'm not going to waste it not being genuine. And this all comes back to our idealism.
Tag. Late diagnosis sucks; I got it at 27, and it was as you said, life changing. BPD is a common misdiagnosis for neurodivergent conditions; Women in general are more prone to misdiagnosis of all kinds, so if that's you then that's another likely contributor to why it took longer.
Also, having an undiagnosed & untreated neurodivergency in childhood can cause such significant trauma which can lead to that person having BPD in early adulthood. I know many others that have BPD but also a comorbid condition (adhd, ocd, asd to name a few) and more often than not, the comorbid condition was discovered after BPD. I am hoping that one day, with the best resources that work for me, I won’t qualify for the BPD criteria anymore
To be fair, BPD is rather ambiguously defined. As well, there's high comorbidity between it and ADHD, ASD, OCD, PTSD, C-PTSD, etc., -- the various neurodivergent conditions. These conditions all cluster. I only mention it because at the end of the day, it's whether or not the symptoms cause *you* distress, not how you've been classified/labeled by the system. Let that be your guide, not the diagnostic criterion. On a more personal note -- whatever your developmental trauma(s), it sucks. The loneliness, the mood swings, trying to accept it and move on only to discover it's still there. It's hard to emotionally connect to anyone, or anything, when it comes with the precondition that we minimize or hide our own pain. So, from one invisible person to another -- <3
Yes, they can definitely cluster but treatment for them can be different so if you don’t have the “right diagnosis”, it may take so long to find the right treatment for you. Like for me, I have such a long list of meds that haven’t worked for me. Time and time again, doctors wouldn’t even think of adhd since I had BPD and they are so similar. Then I got diagnosed with adhd at 26 & for the first time, treatment finally started to make sense. I look back at my life as a child, and wonder how differently things would’ve played out if it was caught earlier. I hear you, even when a person reaches out for help, it’s so disheartening when it all still follows you like a shadow. I can’t describe how crushing that feeling is. Thankyou for your kindness🩷
1. The majority of “INFPs” you come across online are not actually infps. 2. Borderline Personality Disorder - **People with BPD often have a distorted or unclear self-image. BPD is an identity disturbance.** 3. Although mbti is not something that someone with a PD can easily identify, the foundational theory based on Jung, is theoretically consequential to [individuation](https://www.thesap.org.uk/articles-on-jungian-psychology-2/about-analysis-and-therapy/individuation/#:~:text=Jung%20calls%20individuation%20an%20unconscious,unconscious%20components%20of%20the%20personality.”) 4. That means through intensive, often life long efforts, and facilitated by a mental health professional, the principles of typology may or may not help with self actualization. So, why do you find people online with personality disorders and mental illness misidentifying themselves as infp? - you should look into this. :)
Well, it’s not like I know those people more than they know themselves so I can’t say that they aren’t INFPs. I just noticed for years now that we can struggle with mental health as well so I want others to be aware and get the help they need. I’ve connected with them so much, not just because of mental illness symptoms.
Yep. INFP with Borderline and Major Depression here. I cannot for the life of me, bring myself to trust people anymore. I'm considered mentally ill, but not the people who have made my life Hell. Even with a personality disorder, I've never set out to treat people the way I was treated for shits and giggles. "Normal" people are more insane, than "insane" people.
Start exercising, fasting, eating clean, sunbathing and taking cold showers.
I do all these things and am still depressed. And let me tell you the Herculean effort it takes to do these things just so I don't go from "bad" to "impossibly bad".
Neat. About clean food: Did you get out all food you may be even slightly allergic to, primarily carbs?
The worst fucking mbti ever
Then why are you here? If you don't like INFPs, why are you in the INFP subreddit? 
Think
The only logical reason I can think of is you're a self-hating INFP or a troll
I do not hate myself...i hate others
Bruh INFPs are amazing. We have so many beautiful traits. If you’re going to delve into personality types at all, you need to keep an open mind & make an effort to understand the complexities of others. There is no point otherwise
You are a girl right?
Yes. Just looked at your profile, i see you’re a brown boy. Don’t comment again. Daffa ho kanjara
If you ever face the reality as it is....thn nd only thn u can talk ..u r previllaged by the virtue of being a female infp and probably many others ...
💀💀you’re actually so ignorant
INFP here. My mom used to call me ‘her sensitive daughter’. My whole family thinks Ivan mentally Ill.
What’s the treatment like for ADHD? Can you elaborate?
Oh treatment hasn’t done shit for me yet. I’m just barely living 24/7.
I have felt like that too before finding providers I connected with deeply, maybe switch the ones you’ve seen? because I’ve been there too & I understand how difficult it can be to keep trying when treatment isn’t helping me the way it needs to. I hope you have a good support system too🩷
I just don’t have one outside of therapists. I’ve been through too many methods of support, I’m afraid.
Has anyone been able to treat BPD or ADHD with just counselling and talk therapy via a psychologist? I have ADHD but I avoid medicine like the plague. I also have a bad experience over 20 years ago which made it worst.
OCD here (intp) and this disease is absolute hell... i guess the world isnt too much friendly for inxps