ISFJs and stress

Pages

Your personality type affects the way that you react to stress. There are three main stages.

When you have little or no stress, you find it easy to use the most appropriate behaviours for the situation. Very often, these are behaviours you may have learned at school, on training courses, etc.

As stress increases, 'learned behaviour' tends to give way to the natural style, so the ISFJ will behave more according to type when under greater stress. For example, in a crisis, the ISFJ might find a place of solitude in which to think and work, whilst nevertheless valuing the efforts of others and encourage everyone about how well they are coping. However, you may fail to recognise the need for change, or be unwilling to try new solutions that are better than conventional solutions.

Under extreme stress, fatigue or illness, the ISFJ's shadow may appear - a negative form of ENTP. Example characteristics include making irrational changes to the way things are done, being very intolerant of others who do not act competently, and suggesting impractical ideas. You may also be critical of others, finding fault with almost everything, having a gloomy view of the future, and being uncharacteristically argumentative. The shadow is part of the unconscious that is often visible to others, onto whom the shadow is projected. An ISFJ may therefore readily see these faults in others without recognising it in him/her self.

Next: ISFJ careers