How You Respond to Sickness, Based On Your Myers-Briggs® Personality Type

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

The ENFP

You try to ignore the fact that you have a body and consider yourself a walking and talking imagination. You go about your day, occasionally puzzling over why you’re not in the greatest mood or ideas seem more out of reach than usual. Eventually you pass out on the couch while watching random YouTube videos.

The ENTP

“Mind over matter.” That’s your mantra when you’re sick – or really, any time at all. You try to distract yourself from your misery by doing what you do best: Brainstorming. How can you turn being sick into a GOOD thing? Are there any resourceful uses for vomit? How can you transcend your physical weaknesses? Eventually, you’ll find yourself burned out and worried that this time you are ACTUALLY dying. You’ll go to the store and buy 2 dozen herbal supplements, Gatorade, and a random collection of comic books and science journals. When you get home you write out your will in case the worst happens.

The INFP

Sickness gives you the opportunity to indulge in all your hermit fantasies. You pack your room with books, movies, CDs, and your favorite herbal teas. You shut the door, silence your phone, stack up your boxes of tissues, and get ready for a book and/or movie marathon of your favorite series (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Studio Ghibli, or all of them). You may feel like you’ve been run over by a train, but you’re not going to let this chance to indulge in all your introverted luxuries pass you by.

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The INTP

After self-diagnosing your illness, you end up lost on a series of random Google searches that have little relevance to your immediate day-to-day life.  This is your time to indulge your curiosity – you will research alien life forms, the afterlife, obscure vacation spots, and Game of Thrones fan fiction. Between researching and playing games on your iPhone, you’ll try not to drown in the ever-increasing sea of tissues that are collecting around you.

The ENFJ

Selflessness is next to Godliness, right? Or was that cleanliness? Either way, you’ve got plenty of giving and cleaning to do while you’re under the weather. You’ll meet your obligations, while being careful to cough into your elbow and sanitize every surface you touch. People will keep looking at you quizzically and telling you to “please go home and rest,” but you’ll just smile, sneeze, and gasp emphatically that it’s “nothing.”

The ENTJ

You think that giving into sickness is a form of weakness, but you’re also logical enough to know that a nap (even if it’s a 10-minute power-nap) is vital. You drink a green smoothie, battle away at your to-do list, and pretend you don’t feel that migraine throbbing right behind your eyes. Like Maximus the gladiator, you fight a war between your body and your psyche. You are determined that your mind will win against fatigue, infection, and pain. You alter your perspective on this experience as a test of your strength and willpower. You will overcome!

The INFJ

Being sick gives you the opportunity to block out all the noise of the external world and take care of yourself…..after you’ve taken care of everyone else, of course. You apologize to everyone you might have inadvertently infected, hand out blankets and hot drinks to everyone in your immediate vicinity, and then you collapse in your room. At this point, you’re too exhausted to read all the books you imagined reading and watch all the movies you imagined watching. You crawl to your bed, pull a blanket over your head, and try to turn off your brain so you can get some shut-eye.

Read This Next: 10 Signs of an Unhealthy INFJ

The INTJ

When it comes to illness, you believe in “toughing it out” as independently as possible. Not one to cry to your friends, you’re likely to bring as much work home as possible, shut out the outside world, and revel in the extra solitude. You just have to make sure you’re not doing too much while you’re sick – prioritizing your physical comfort isn’t something you tend to do naturally.

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The ESFP

Energetic and social, sickness can majorly depress you…but only if you let it. As a master of your own fate, you concoct a way to get your social needs met while still tending to self-care. You remember that popsicles are good for a sore throat, so you stock up your freezer and invite all your sick friends to join you. You pass Tylenol shots, watch the funniest comedies you can find, and compete at making the most comfortable blanket forts imaginable.

The ESTP

You pop a couple Mucinex and continue your snowboarding adventure. Nothing’s gonna slow you down. This is just another opportunity to demonstrate your strength against opposition. Unfortunately, you sneeze in the middle of performing a backflip, fall, and break your neck.

The ISFP

Netflix, cozy blankets, and your favorite hot drinks. These three things are essential for you when you’re under the weather. You close your door on the outside world and comfort yourself with as many body-pampering rituals as you can find. Hot baths, essential oils, and a “FRIENDS” marathon, anyone?

The ISTP

Not one to be slowed down by a pesky virus, you run to the store and stock up on your favorite snacks, drinks, and video games. You may feel like death, but in a video game you can still clobber enemies, scale mountains, and harness the most complex weapons imaginable. You let your fantasy self do the tough work while you give your body some much needed R & R.

The ESFJ

You go into full quarantine mode so that you won’t get anyone else sick. You cook chicken noodle soup, steep herbal tea, and listen to soothing classical music while chatting with your friends on social media. You do whatever you can to get better as quickly as possible so that you can take care of whoever else is under-the-weather.

The ESTJ

You bring your work home, lock up the house, and still manage to be more productive than 90% of the population.

The ISFJ

You laugh off offers of help, assuring everyone that you’ll be “just fine.” Then you cocoon yourself in blankets and pillows while re-watching your favorite childhood movies and television shows. Secretly you wish someone would show up with hot soup or medicine just to show that they care.

Read This Next: Confessions of an Unhealthy ISFJ

The ISTJ

The picture of responsibility, you stay home from work, but still manage to get as much work done as possible while cooped up. You sanitize every surface, wash your hands for exactly 20 seconds after each sneeze, and get stressed about all the work you’re not getting done. Then you realize this is the perfect opportunity to delve into the interests and hobbies you’re always putting off because of other responsibilities.

Read This Next: 21 Hobbies that ISTJs Love

What are your thoughts?

What do you do when you’re sick? Do you have any tips for other people with your personality type? Let us know in the comments!

Find out more about your personality type in our eBooks, Discovering You: Unlocking the Power of Personality Type,  The INFJ – Understanding the Mystic, and The INFP – Understanding the Dreamer. You can also connect with me via Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter!

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