Life presents numerous problems and challenging situations for people to handle now and then. Thus, it is evident that they will suffer from stress and anxiety. The same applies to INTP personality type individuals. Hence, recognizing INTP stress triggers & how they cope with stress can help them deal with stress better.
Several factors result in the occurrence of stress among Myers Briggs personality types. They tend to drain out physical and mental energies. INTPs suffer the same when any situation forces them to socialize or seems less significant.
Let us dig into the details to find out various INTP stress triggers and how they can cope with them in the best possible manner –
Factors That Can Cause Stress in INTP Personality Type
An INTP person possesses introverted, intuitive, thinking, and perceiving features in their personality. They stay quiet and reserved and love to spend time alone thinking of theoretical aspects. These people give great value to intelligence over emotion. INTPs focus on being analytical and using logic for making decisions in life.
INTPs are laidback individuals. They are open and respond positively to almost any suggestion if their principles do not get violated. They may become inflexible and outspoken about maintaining them. People with this Myers and Briggs type do not hesitate to correct others for their mistakes. It tells us a lot about their quest to attain perfection in life.
People with INTP personality type create complicated systems of understanding to gather all kinds of principles they have observed in the environment. Their minds always carry complications. Still, they remain active to nurture their thoughts and ideas for implementing them from time to time. They are ready to stretch their minds far and wide. It makes them offer creative solutions to various problems.
An INTP will not follow traditions. They would prefer doing things in their way than following the majority. These people look into conventions and assumptions with a whole lot of suspicion. There is eagerness among these individuals to ideas that others take for granted. When these things go against their wishes, INTPs come under stress.
Several factors trigger stress based on your Myers Briggs personality type. Let us now discuss the INTP stress triggers, which create problems in their personal and professional lives.
1. Regular Interactions with a Large Group of People
We know that INTP individuals are introverts. These people love to spend time alone and keep things private. It allows them to nurture their ideas. Then, they can make concrete plans to convert those ideas into action.
Hence, when situations demand them to interact with a large group of people, INTPs come under stress and tension.
When they must spend time in a gathering where most of them are strangers, it can be overwhelming for the INTP. They would be desperate to leave that place as early as possible. Those circumstances will make them spend quality time with themselves to get their energy back.
2. Offering Verbal Encouragement to Team Members
Encouraging others through words does not come naturally to an INTP. They can play the role of a leader inside a professional environment. It might make them take sessions to give pep talks to other team members. This comes off as a stiff challenge for them.
The thought of carrying out this responsibility in front of a group of people is enough to send shivers down their spine and cause stress. They will treat it as a tiring exercise for them to undertake successfully.
3. Dealing with Hard-core Facts than Abstract Theories
Thinking and intuitive features in their personality make an INTP attract themselves to hypothetical theories. These people try to stay away from facts as much as possible. It is because they do not give them the luxury of trying out various options and possibilities in life.
INTPs enjoy putting their thinking caps on. They can start measuring different options or possible scenarios. Thus, dealing with concrete things in life becomes a reason for stress. The reason is that they need to work with something they do not like out of compulsion.
4. Maintaining Strict Routines
INTPs thrive under those circumstances, which allow them to undertake their responsibilities with complete freedom and explore ideas and options in life. They feel comfortable and at ease. The situation becomes different when life puts them under a strict regime.
Following rules and regulations will not be an INTPs cup of tea. They will start to feel trapped under them and suffer from suffocation. These people can follow some plans necessary for the execution of work. Even then, INTP personality type individuals will test out strict schedules to find sufficient room for flexibility.
5. Explain Things Using Their Emotion
As INTPs resort to logical thinking and make decisions based on logic, explaining things from an emotional angle becomes a cause for concern. It is common for others to notice frustration or tension among people with this Myers Briggs personality.
They arise from their inability to understand how they can deal with emotions. As INTPs prefer going with logic at every step of life, they feel at a loss when life forces them to embrace emotions. As a result of it, they come under unnecessary stress.
6. Analysis Leading to Paralysis
We all know how an INTP personality type individual loves to entertain various kinds of thoughts and ideas in their mind. They even enjoy having options to work with while carrying out responsibilities in the outside world. This fascination of stimulating their brain with more than one option enables them to simultaneously analyze numerous things.
In this process, they tend to overthink, validate their preconceived notions, and refrain from taking concrete actions. It prevents these people from doing what is feasible. Thus, they cannot think on their feet. Hence, they fail to make prudent decisions in life, thus causing unwanted stress.
7. Rejection of Their Proposal
An INTP has Extraverted Feeling (Fe) as their inferior function. Due to this reason, they suffer from the feeling of separateness from every individual in the community. They become convinced that no one in this world loves them. Therefore, even if they express their feelings toward someone, they will not respect them.
Similar sentiments can run through them in their professional life. INTPs feel that their proposals for expanding business might get rejected by higher management. Hence, they may not even send any proposal and come under undue stress just by thinking of it.
8. Making Commitments
The perceiving personality type of INTP suffers from fear of making long-term commitments in their life. It exists more among people with this personality type than those with judging characteristics.
Due to their perceiving nature, INTPs like keeping things simple. They have options open for change. Thus, when any situation demands commitment from these individuals, it fills their minds with extreme stress.
9. Possibility of Death without Fulfilling Ambitions
INTPs always wish to make a positive impact in some way or the other on the world. The inability to live up to their potential, procrastination, or the fear of dying without fulfilling their goals and ambitions can instil stress among these individuals.
It happens because of INTPs’ habit of looking ahead and making plans for meeting them in times to come. They cannot accept the possibility of losing their chance to do something meaningful and substantial in life.
10. Losing a Loved One
The fear of losing a loved one in their life is universally present among people with all personality types. Some often mention that they shudder to think about the loss of spouses or children. In the case of INTPs, they fear losing a single person.
They include the loss of their parents, a trusted friend, or any relative. The terrible thought does not let them lead their lives in peace. INTPs hope for good health and wellness for their near and dear ones.
Ways to Cope with Stress in INTP Personality
Whenever an ENTP faces stressful situations, they tend to portray specific characteristics. They do not conform to their personality type. It would give an impression to others that you are only a shadow of your true self.
When this individual is at their best, they will spend time alone thinking of various ideas and implementing them to meet their objectives. They will not like indulging themselves in group activities or attending parties and gatherings. Unfortunately, these characteristics will no longer exist in their personality once they come under stress.
INTPs would start to behave like extroverted Myers-Briggs personality types. At that time, they will have the dominant function, Extraverted Intuition Ne. They will be curious and become open to enjoying new experiences. These people will gather information about the world by identifying patterns and connections. Seeing INTPs indulge themselves in these activities will come off as a surprise for others.
Stress is quite overwhelming and a cause for great distraction among INTPs. They start doubting their abilities and resort to negative thinking. It will also make them feel as if they are not competent enough to handle life’s challenges and put things back on track.
The lack of confidence in their ability would not allow them to work with freedom. INTPs would always feel what will happen if things go wrong. The thought comes out of their tertiary function, Introverted Sensing (Si) gaining the upper hand. It makes them refer to previous unhealthy experiences.
Their confidence level takes a hit, and as an INTP knows, they will not have someone to fall back on for support and guidance. Then, these people would come under the grip of their inferior function, Extraverted Feeling.
It will make them focus on the feelings, needs, and emotions of others. They will not feel comfortable doing it. Still, they must focus on using this function with their dominant one, Introverted Thinking (Ti). Then they can become a well-balanced and mature version of their personality.
INTPs must adopt a few self-help strategies. They will help them to stay fully conscious of their emotions and feelings.
Let us now discuss some of the ways through which INTPs can cope with stress and restore their exact nature –
1. Write down Your Thoughts
When INTPs express times of stress, they fail to have their thoughts under control. It becomes a severe problem as their general tendency is to keep entertaining various thoughts and feelings in their mind. Unfortunately, the situation does not let them use those to good effect.
Hence, an INTP must write down their thoughts on a piece of paper before speaking them out. Doing this will help them focus on entertaining only feasible options. They can ignore the ones that do not require immediate attention.
2. Adopt Mindfulness Techniques
As an INTP, you can implement mindfulness techniques to stop your brain from seeking various patterns. They include deep breathing exercises and activities to set your intentions right through yoga, journaling, reading books, etc. You must maintain flexibility and invest time to do something you like.
These are ideal ways through which INTPs can divert their minds. Then they can engage them in activities other than the routine work of nurturing various ideas. Several other exercises form part of mindfulness techniques. They include tea-drinking exercises, candle study exercises, and several other methods.
3. Break up Big Projects into Small Segments
Big projects or large tasks can be tough to handle for an INTP. It happens because people with this personality type tend to execute their variety of plans simultaneously. Thus, meeting those responsibilities almost becomes impossible. They feel at a loss thinking of how to complete tasks before moving on to others. It, in turn, leads to stress.
Under this situation, an INTP person can break up their large into manageable pieces. Then they can set priorities and start dealing with the one that requires immediate attention. Gradually, they can take care of other responsibilities based on their importance and urgency. Most importantly, it will help them remain stress-free in life.
4. Respect and Accept People’s Opinions
Life already has plenty of complications in its kitty. Therefore, INTPs must not unnecessarily add them further by contradicting people’s opinions too much. They should rather accept them. Then, they can move forward and follow their ideas to show the desired respect.
It will help them strengthen their bond with others. They can even avoid all kinds of conflicts. Conflicts out of disagreement happen to be one of the major reasons behind stress.
Some Other Coping Skills
We have already mentioned ways that INTP individuals can adopt to relieve stress. They can even develop some other skills and implement them for relaxation.
Those skills are as follows:
- Indulge in doing those extracurricular activities that create interest in their mind.
- INTPs must avoid losing their peace of mind by thinking of stuff they cannot control.
- These people should focus on perceived realities and act in an impulsive manner.
- They can reach out to a few close friends and tell them whatever is troubling you.
To Sum Up
In this article, we have discussed different stress triggers for INTPs. It has also mentioned various ways to cope with stress and find peace. They must find an avenue to spend time with themselves. These people can connect with people of their choice.
It is necessary that these individuals keep things simple. They must not resort to overthinking. Otherwise, it will unnecessarily complicate matters. Finally, adjustment is key to improving their lifestyle. It comes from accepting that not everything will happen to their liking.
