I'm not sure if I've ever really felt depression. Anxiety yes. But not depression. People will read about their types but it won't ever really click because you can't force the unconscious to become conscious. If you're experiencing depression and/or anxiety, there is something beneath the surface generating that. (Of course, some are more prone towards certain coping mechanisms than others). Some types towards depression, others towards suppression which manifests in as anxiety.
I think it's obvious infjs are sensitive and I would go as far as intuitives generally speaking are more sensitive to the insults of the world towards their inner person (as children, and like wise, as adults). Only that, as children we need to learn to cope and find our place in the world around us. If you've a home that's supporting and loving, your still going to withstand psychological fractures. You have your heart set on some toy and it's denied and you have feelings of anger. You are taught to cope and your mind (that of a child) rationalizes and makes sense of the experience. Even as adults we may reevaluate our assessments and put them in a more appropriate perspective. But this doesn't mean we feel them and depending on the events. It is necessary to do so or the pattern will manifest over and over until you do. And if people don't truly love you, relationships won't withstand. Yet, chances are, they have their patterns to resolve as well.
We are all born smooth and soft and with life, experience happens. Depression and anxiety are buzz words to describe an accumulation of feelings under the surface. Wrinkles in our bed sheets created over time. Possibly some dirt from the time you crawled in at 2 in the morning trashed some odd number of years ago. Events you can barely recall. Or maybe crackers from when you were a child and hungry and so ate them forgetting the fact you'll be uncomfortable later. Only uncomfortable we are. Coping. And society dictates we "behave". Here. Take some meds to alleviate your depression or anxiety. Get back in line. Only when your soul is stubborn and crashes against stress with full force with passionate tenacity, seizing struggles, as opportunities, do we understand the point.
To make our beds. .. we all make our beds we lay in. And quite often, we learn as we go, collecting a nail or two. And we cause ourselves pain. Making life harder than it has to be. Because without the friction, there is no healing. And bed sheets smooth over time, with heat applied. It's a process. We often find we've overcome something, only to realize we've burnt a corner. The iron was too hot. We've forgot, slipped back in all of those spaces not meant to be occupied. So very few people I've met have I've looked into and saw, courage to conquer. Not overcome. To go through, not around. Again and again. Sometimes we take a break and rest in our current stupidity. And that's okay.
Depression and anxiety exists in all MBTI types. The struggle may just be more felt and thus, harder, for intuitive than not. But this may not be so. These conditions along with the intricate variables and variances are innately human. And they're only looked to as deficits for those to afraid to conquer the demons in their own souls. Studies over and over concur this is common place in the ground work of coping. Just as the severe homophobic is homosexual or has some sexual idiosyncrasies, the critical person against those weak, are doing so to prevent themselves from feeling weak themselves. And that's okay. Because they too, are human. And we are all doing the best we can, with what we've got, at any given point in time.
The only thing I can say is that for anyone who has anxiety or depression, to consider learning. Understanding. Take your time doing so. Then practice what we know. Again. Again. And again. Don't frivolously take meds to shut your somatic system up. If you can't focus, or can't sleep, or can't smile...it is your body speaking to you. Pain is your body telling asking you to help. And likewise for your mind. Try is all anyone can ever ask of anyone. This is a reasonable expectation. Avoiding or running in circles is treading a space full of nails. Waiting to plunge itself in your future. So while we might be rejected, experience loss, or look crazy ... it's worth it if you're trying. And that, is what doing the best you can is all about.
It's not the fall from Eden that's bad. There is no bad. It's apart of our human experience. the fall from Eden that brought us to life. Because it provides an opportunity, of choice. To get up. All of life, is catching on to your game. Your mind tricks and traps outdated hard wiring. Little by little, over the years, we learn to smell our own bullshit. And only then, will we be free to make better choices.
