In my last post I made a joke that INTPs are crap at holding grudges, and the more I thought about it, the more it piqued my curiosity. I’d like to analyze anger in INTPs with y’all, if you don’t mind. When I researched, most of what I found was written subjectively or by someone, well, unwilling to acknowledge they suffered from an anger management disorder.
First, I do understand that a person’s ability to harbor a grudge is greatly affected by their mental health, so I’ll stipulate that I’m looking at your average healthy INTP (if you’d like to discuss anger in unhealthy INTPs, please do so). INTPs are slow to experience any emotion, especially anger, which we are quick to realize will cause irrationality on our part. But of course there are times when you just can’t avoid it.
For INTPs there seems to be two basic types of anger: that affected by an Fe grip, and that which is not. Anger uninfluenced by a grip is generally a sort of righteous anger. The INTP’s values or principles usually have been compromised in an inexcusable way, and they will use all their functions to rectify this. Things that would instigate this (probably healthy) anger might be the willful spread of misinformation or deceit of others, manipulation or betrayal, and abuse or cruelty. Using their anger, which is still of course a very strong emotion, the INTP will quickly and effectively resolve the root cause of the problem if they can, using all their functions. It takes a lot for an INTP to be angered in any way; anger, like most emotions, is pushed to the side because it affects our rationality and judgment.
Then there is the unhealthy anger, or that influenced by an Fe grip, and this is much more personal and subjective. The anger might be the root or result of the grip, but in either case, it will be explosive and harmful, perhaps to the INTP, perhaps to others. From personal experience, anger paired with an Fe grip occurs when I feel threatened and insecure. I was a victim of abuse in the past, and with any indication that someone is attempting something similar, I can be prone to lash out in a highly emotional Fe grip. This is the kind of anger that leads to things being thrown, absolutely cutting words being yelled, etc. INTPs can use Fe to absolutely destroy you if they want to, using just the right words to tear your soul to shreds. (That’s a horrible way to deal with anger, and I’m not at all proud of it.)
I don’t have much experience with Fe grip anger, but I do know it doesn’t last very long. If the INTP can be removed from the situations, chances are they’ve released all the emotional energy they’re capable of, will shut down, and recuperate accordingly. There’s also good chance the INTP can be brought down from the anger and the grip in twenty minutes or less, but the trick is removing them from the situation.
These are examples of extreme anger; I wasn’t talking about your day-to-day irritation or annoyance. After experiencing any emotion so strongly, the INTP will need time away from people any sort of stimulation, mental or emotional. Afterwards they’ll probably want a person they know very well and trust to provide them with a sense of emotional stability, to do mundane things with them like cook a meal or watch cartoons. After a day, max., all traces of the anger will most likely have vanished (again, so long as the situation is resolved/the INTP is removed from it). We are crap at holding grudges, but that’s not a bad thing; we don’t see the need to waste our emotions on it. Worst case scenario, we’ll ignore you on a somewhat permanent basis.
Well, that’s my little mini-analysis. It was kinda tricky because writing about an emotion you don’t experience often is tough. Please feel free to add whatever you like–I won’t get angry, lol. I’d actually like y’all’s opinions. Floor is open!
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