When you get sick, do you go down a rabbit trail of symptom searching?
You have a new injury…. a strange skin condition… some stomach troubles… and WebMB has you convinced that you picked up a parasite from your last vacation, or that you have an autoimmune disease, or a tumor of some kind. Regardless of the severity of your initial symptoms, you start actually picturing your own funeral. But how did you get here?
Many different Myers-Briggs types can struggle with body anxiety, so if you aren’t one of these two types discussed in this post, know that your experience is still valid and you are not at all alone. Although many types can face medical and body anxiety, these two almost certainly will: ENFPs and ENTPs. The reason is found in their cognitive function stack.
ENFPs and ENTPs share the same inferior cognitive function: Introverted Sensing (Si). This function is typically concerned with memory, repetition, habits, and physical health. Si is the dominant function for ISFJs and ISTJs. At it’s best, it allows the user to vividly relive past experiences, learn quickly from their mistakes, trust fact over inspiration, pay attention to detail, feel comfortable with tradition, and live resourcefully. As an inferior function, the user will need to work extra hard to develop these things and reap the benefits.
Typically, one’s inferior cognitive function is not developed until midlife. Until then, it’s use will appear occasionally, but come across as sloppy and overexaggerated when it does. When healthy, Si-inferior will look like:
- Engaging positively with routine
- Getting enough sleep every night
- Taking care of the body when sick
- Keeping a relatively clean home space
- Arriving places on time
- Being dependable and loyal
When unhealthy, Si-inferior will look like:
- Overreacting to body aches and pains
- Forgetting about the body’s needs
- Running late for meetings or events
- Keeping a messy space, neglecting chores
- Getting too little sleep each night
- Being flighty and unreliable
But it isn’t just Si-inferior “doing it’s thing” that causes ENFPs and ENTPs to overreact to their body and under-serve it’s physical needs… it’s that working in tandem with their dominant function: Extroverted Intuition (Ne).
Extroverted Intuition is all about pattern recognition, idea-generation, and brainstorming. Ne-users are constantly scanning their environment for connections and patterns… and their own body is no different. “Oh, that headache I felt yesterday? I wonder if that could be connected to when I fell two weeks ago? And I did forget my own aunt’s name on Monday? Could it all be connected?” This dangerous, cyclical loop of anxiety is all too natural for ENFPs and ENTPs.
So, what can be done about it? Waiting until you’re past midlife is always an option… (when Si is a little more mature and your health habits actually stick), but here are a few tips that you can implement in the meantime to help break the pattern:
- Assume you fall in the majority. Does that illness you’re reading about and have “all the symptoms for” only afflict 2% of the world population? Instead of assuming you’re in the 2%, assume that you’re in the 98% of people who don’t have it.
- Check with a doctor. Concerned about something for an extended period of time? Find a doctor who knows you well and who you can trust. If they’re not concerned about it, trust that you shouldn’t be either.
- Avoid Googling. Maybe it gives you comfort some times… but give yourself a rule to not hop down the rabbit hole too far. Two YouTube videos and two blog posts per day is quite enough. Get the information you need, and then take a well-needed breather to allow your body time to heal and your brain time to relax.
- Give it a week (or two). There are instances of medical emergencies… so please use your best judgement and the advice of close family and friends to make a judgement call on when you need to go to the doctor or the emergency room…. but if you’re getting checked out constantly, before your body even has time to heal, then you’re adding more stress on to your plate then you need. Give yourself a timeline that you feel comfortable with to just rest, nourish, and care for your body. If that time passes and nothing changes, then it might be wise to get a second, professional opinion.
- Know that you’re not alone. The old idiom that “misery loves company” is actually very true! Humans need to know that they are not alone in their afflictions. Remember that while you’re going through something with your body, thousands of people are almost certainly going through the same exact same thing right now. Every ENFP and ENTP will struggle with body-related anxiety at some point in their lives, it’s natural, it’s normal, and you’re going to be okay.
What about you? If you’re an ENFP/ENTP, what are some tips for handling body anxiety or some ways you’ve helped develop inferior Si? If you’re reading this as another Myers-Briggs type, what are some ways you’ve dealt with your own body/medical anxiety (if you experience it)? Are there patterns you recognize within your cognitive functions that get you to a place of worry? Feel free to share below!
Personality City 