All Posts By

Lauren Sapala

INFJ and INFP Depression

One of the biggest (yet also most hidden) causes of depression for INFJ personality types (and INFP personality types) is blocked creativity. Many INFJ personality types do not even realize that the reason they feel low-grade depression constantly throughout their life is because they have cut themselves off from a vital need of their personality, and that need is the call to be creative.

Creativity is an unstable energy by nature, and because of its instability it can feel difficult for INFJ personality types to trust it. An INFJ who has experienced trauma in their past will most likely have control issues, and they will feel very uncertain about allowing creativity into their lives because the energy of creativity cannot be predicted, and it cannot be controlled. Surrendering to their own creativity can feel scary, and the INFJ personality type also doesn’t want to get hurt. So, they mentally protect themselves from feeling out of control by suppressing their own creativity. Continue Reading

Is There Such a Thing as a Non-Intuitive INFJ?

INFJ personality types are known for being one of the most highly intuitive personality types across the MBTI personality system spectrum. However, there are many INFJ personality types who struggle with intuition, whether that’s because they don’t know how to access it in everyday life, or once they do access it, they struggle to trust it. When an INFJ severely struggles with accessing or trusting their intuition, they may consider themselves “non-intuitive,” and feel cut off from that part of themselves. Continue Reading

Why INFJs Never Feel Seen

One of the biggest sources of distress for INFJ personality types in their lives is the feeling that they are never seen. This also happens frequently for INFP personality types. Both types report that they feel that they are not seen or accepted by family members, and that it is rare for them to find a friend who they feel truly sees them either. This causes such psychological distress for INFJs and INFPs because both types crave being seen, and also crave being accepted for who they truly are. It’s very important to INFJs and INFPs to feel authentic in their identity and expression with others, but this becomes difficult when we feel that others don’t actually understand who we are, or the way we operate as people. Continue Reading

INFJs and Money Problems

Money can be a challenging topic for INFJ and INFP personality types. Many introverted intuitive personality types suffer from money ambivalence, which means they experience conflicting thoughts about money. INFJs and INFPs do need and want money, just like anyone else, but we don’t usually want money in order to acquire more material things. Instead, we want money because we want increased freedom. We want the resources to pursue the rich experiences that help us thrive in life. Continue Reading

Why INFJs Feel Rejected by Society

INFJ personality types have a hard time fitting into the mainstream, and this starts from a young age. Many INFJ personality types do not fit into their peer group in school when they are growing up, and they don’t fit into the workplace when they go into regular employment as an adult. It’s no surprise to many INFJs that they don’t fit into the mainstream, as this is something we have usually already noticed ourselves. However, it still makes us feel badly about ourselves.

INFJs are one of the types who are most focused on harmony within groups, so when we sense that our presence in a group is causing a misalignment in any way, we tend to internalize that and it causes us to feel shame. We feel that we are the problem, and that if we could only make ourselves more “normal,” then everything would be better. This is why many INFJs adopt an identity that is not actually reflective of their authentic self and personality, but instead is a shield and a front to be used in groups so that they will feel that they better fit in with the group dynamic and the group structure. Continue Reading