ENFP = ADHD?
I have a theory. I have a theory that people with the personality type of ENFP (Myers-Briggs Extroverted-Intuition-Feeling-Perceiving) are likely to be seen as people with ADHD. For some background, ADD is a sub-group of ADHD, so people with ADD have ADHD, although the people with ADD aren't hyper-active. (Yes, I know it's a but confusing, but that's how it was explained to me) I read somewhere that only 1-2% of the population are ENFP's. It's funny, because when I meet an ENFP, I know they are an ENFP, it is an indescribable bond of likeness that is formed. So, If I am correct and most ENFP's display the symptoms of ADHD, does that mean that ADHD is really a 'disorder', or merely a personality difference of those who categorized the ENFPs as having ADHD? Could it be that we have a different learning style than most, so have been bored by conventional schooling of the average school teacher who tends to be of the same personality type?
The bottom line is: I don't see ADD as a disorder, I see it as a personality difference. Although I may have a harder time remembering tasks or cannot pay attention to that which disinterests me,I have other strengths. I am an out of the box thinker that can cross-pollinate thoughts and once I do become interested in something I take it all the way, to the point of perfection. Though someone may be different than you, don't look at it as a bad thing, look at it as a learning opportunity.
Here are some great resources to help:
Update 11/19/2010
I have been noticing this post have been receiving many hits via search engines. If you have come across this post, please leave a comment and explain what lead you to seek more information! I am very interested to see if other people have been noticing a possible correlation between ENFP and ADHD. Please leave a comment, and a way to get in touch with you! I am interested in hearing more!
My email address is sharon16f@hotmail.com if you with to contact me personally and receive a response, or if you'd like to get updated with more related information/posts as it becomes available. Unless you actually post your email address in your response, there is no way to reach you.
If you are seeking personalized direction, I can help brainstorm solutions and give you insight on tools and resources that you can use to better your life. I've been on a personal quest to find answers, and I'd like to help others do the same. Hopefully my life efforts will save you some time and frustration and give you some insight that you are looking for!
See this page for some additional information on the personality type ENFP: http://www.net2.com/mb/enfp.htm
The ADHD Designer
Other Useful related articles recommended by readers:
https://www.edrevsf.org/resource/3-defining-features-of-adhd-that-everyone-overlooks/
The bottom line is: I don't see ADD as a disorder, I see it as a personality difference. Although I may have a harder time remembering tasks or cannot pay attention to that which disinterests me,I have other strengths. I am an out of the box thinker that can cross-pollinate thoughts and once I do become interested in something I take it all the way, to the point of perfection. Though someone may be different than you, don't look at it as a bad thing, look at it as a learning opportunity.
Here are some great resources to help:
Update 11/19/2010
I have been noticing this post have been receiving many hits via search engines. If you have come across this post, please leave a comment and explain what lead you to seek more information! I am very interested to see if other people have been noticing a possible correlation between ENFP and ADHD. Please leave a comment, and a way to get in touch with you! I am interested in hearing more!
My email address is sharon16f@hotmail.com if you with to contact me personally and receive a response, or if you'd like to get updated with more related information/posts as it becomes available. Unless you actually post your email address in your response, there is no way to reach you.
If you are seeking personalized direction, I can help brainstorm solutions and give you insight on tools and resources that you can use to better your life. I've been on a personal quest to find answers, and I'd like to help others do the same. Hopefully my life efforts will save you some time and frustration and give you some insight that you are looking for!
See this page for some additional information on the personality type ENFP: http://www.net2.com/mb/enfp.htm
The ADHD Designer
Other Useful related articles recommended by readers:
https://www.edrevsf.org/resource/3-defining-features-of-adhd-that-everyone-overlooks/
Comments
he is hyper-nourishing yet can be so callous as well. the adhd throws me off.
maybe i am too sensitive to deal with it--or maybe we are far, far too similar.
all of these personality labels, and diagnoses...just a small pinhole. the truth about anyone is so much vaster! many times it's just spinning around in a circle...
I am 38 year old INFP (who is fairly outgoing) who has recently been diagnosed with ADD innattentive. I am intrigued by the link between personality type and ADD behaviour. I am not sure what the answer is, but I suspect that there is a difference in brain function that leads to a different connection with the world. I prize my creative self and would not swap it for anything, but also find it very difficult to function normally and so i do believe that there is a problem.
That the different brain functioning leads to a consistent personality pattern is amazing to me, but I think it may remain an argument of the chicken and the egg.
After doing a lot of research on ENFP & ENFJ, I am convinced that I truly am ENFP.
I've spent a lot of time in counseling and take medication for ADD. I believe that has had a huge impact on the P vs. J aspect. The coping mechanisms I have learned have helped so much that I am almost neurotic about organization.
But, naturally, without that help, I am most certainly a P.
to keep me inspired.
Well I m getting assured seeing that Im not alone thinking too of a connection in these personality types and adhd.>will follow up this thread
Recently I took an MBTI and lo and behold? I'm ENFP and the descriptions I read of ENFPs couldn't fit me more aptly.
Excellent blog. Thank you.
I do feel there is a correlation between ENFP and ADD and was googling for any sort of 'scientific' proof.
(ps. people might prefer to email you than include their email in a public post.)
I was googling to search for other medical students who are enfp and having those stupid problems with keeping concentration and carrying tasks even small ones to the end ...
And here i am reading these posts which all seem .. To familiar ..
Damn it ..
The problem is i haven't reached final year where we take psychiatry (which is going to be next year .. Maybe)
I am the only introvert in this batch .. I am very good may be because my iq is a bit high (about 118) .. But i couldn't keep studying steadily for 3 days in raw .. I change references about 8 to 9 nine times and don't keep with any more than few days or a week .
Hmm .. I need to do some research and come back (not sure about coming back as i always forget about this ^___^")
I am an ENFP. You could probably identify me from three blocks away as an ENFP. I also have ADHD, and have been receiving treatment for two years.
It's tempting, to be sure, to think that ADD/ADHD are merely a personality type if one has just taken the test and realized that some of the characteristics are similar.
The critical difference, however, is that in order for something to be classified as a disorder, or at least something that requires treatment, it has to have a significant impact on your quality of life and ability to function. I suffered horribly from comorbid disorders associated with ADHD, and I still have a lot of residual feelings of guilt and worthlesseness.
ADHD affected my ability to relate to people, which for an ENFP who wants to be liked and wants to make people laugh is beyond excruciating. It's hard to get people to like you if you keep interrupting them, or if you have boundary issues, or simply didn't socialize properly.
I also know a number of people who have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD who have personality types all over the Meyers-Briggs spectrum.
So although there are overlapping traits, it doesn't mean that ENFP=ADHD. ADD/ADHD is a very real disorder, and can make life for those who suffer from it quite difficult, regardless of their type.
I agree these traits can be a great asset but if you are unable to channel them they can be hugely frustrating, seen as a defect by others.
When I was about 34 I was forced to take Myers Briggs and learned that "those who like to label people" categorize my personality type as ENFP. Then at 40, I came to understand that "those who like to label" identify my brain function as ADHD (without the hyper... therefore ADD). Despite not liking labels (an apparently authority of most kinds...) I found all this rather helpful in understanding myself a bit better. God has done some major healing in me since then as I come to better understand the reasons for how my earlier life went and the struggles that unfortunately I allowed to define me.
Well before I was "diagnosed" God reassured me that He had put me together and though He hadn't been responsible for my bad choices and all the mess in my past, He had uniquely made me and gifted me in ways that others are not. I'm not better for worse for that, it just helps me see our mutual need for each other and how God intended us to live in community where our various strengths can meld in a relational way for everyone's edification.
I don't think the way my brain/mind works is a disorder as if I'm broken. At least not any more than anyone else's is broken. In truth, we are all broken and don't really have a reference for what a "whole" person looks like other than Jesus. The moment sin entered the world via Adam's choice to disobey God's only prohibition, the earth became hard to work, child bearing became painful, thorns sprouted and brains/minds began their shift away from being healthy and whole. It'd likely that our personality types would still have been varied as they are now, but the distinction and overemphasis on one type over another by our man-made (read that fallen and broken) societies. Either way, I can trust God for who I am and who everybody else is, I'm just glad I better understand who I am so I can better serve the world around me now!
I like to "blame" our modern society for the onset of ADHD... Would the way my mind functions become an issue if we still all lived in agrarian societies? I'd bet not. So my challenge is to not whine about "how I am" but to learn how to work in "their world" so I can share Christ's love and not lose credibility to those who don't function at the superior level we do!
Thanks for your post and thanks for the invite to share my view!
Grace,
Guy
Total. Chaos. Not many emotional waves like bipolar, more panic attacks, because it just feels like youre sprinting up a hill and everyone else is walking on it at a normal walking pace, yet are keeping up with you somehow on the hill. You have no clue why it is so hard for you, you think you dont need meds because you are keeping up with
everyone by the seat of your pants, you become very clever and you make a lot of mistakes that are painful because you Knew you couldve acted differently in that situation where you caused trouble for yourself/others, but, for some reason, you did not do that correct behavior. So, you heap coals on yourself, thats where the depression comes in, and through the critical thinking that comes along with depressionary states, you become socially intelligent. Due to the lack of control in social situations from ADHD combined with your high social intelligence, you do exreme,y well with people, yet then that control falters, and youre back to your "crazy self" inrandom situations, as the ENFP is known for. Inattentive focus, If I remember correctly, is linked to creative disinhibition.
But Yes, just as it is an eating Disorder to eat too little or too much, it is an ADHD disorder if your have too little of that chemical balance that normal population operates with, or too much that it becomes an imbalance in the brain, as I do. PLEASE do not discount my disorder. It is saddening when people tell me that I have battled with shadows my whole life. But know this: do not, if your child does not engage in risky behavior, think that means your child does not have ADHD. I am a girl, I have never gotten drunk, or even havd drunken the entire thing, I have not done illegal drugs,not even weed. Never been in jail. Just notice excessive behaviorisms. I always had a smile on my face, even when Im 200 mph inside of me, feeling like Im about to spontaneously combust. I think that advice will help. im sorry I wrote so much, bye guys, lots of love, you guys are all so smart
I am all the following;
1. ADD
2.ENFP
3.Aquarius as well (made me lol when i saw that comment)
4. Exceptional with people and communication but find it all too overwhelming and very quickly become too much of a thinker and very sensitive.
5. Genuine skill in reading peoples inner monologue and body language.
6. Was awful at school with the basic building blocks such as times tables, spelling and sentence construction. (I suspect it was down to my lack of focus more than anything)
7. Very good at the Arts subjects, Pychology, History anything about people.
Does this sound familiar?
Research is definitely needed whether we are proved right or wrong.
ENFP
ADD (self diagnosed)
Aquarius
I don't know if it should be considered a treatable disease, but being who I am can be pretty frustrating at times. Out of nowhere, I find that it's great to be me... I tell my wife, and she agrees, that I can relate to a lot of different people because I feel like I go through such wide range of emotions and selves. I am not schizo or anything, but i sure go through some big highs and lows.
For me, the reason I have sought any type of answers recently is that I'm finally wondering after all these years (I'm 35 now) that having recurring images of blowing my brains out might be a problem. I'm sure some of you can relate, but it's not that I have ever actively tried to kill myself, but the desire crosses my mind here and there. It almost feels like it's part of my racing mind. It could be thinking anything, but sometimes, the thought just happens to be a gun to the head...
I dunno, I haven't felt like it's a serious issue or anything, but when it's spoken out or written, it sounds creepy.
I just so happen to be both ENFP and have A.D.D./A.D.H.D. - of course, as many people before have said. But I'm a Cancer, not an Aquarius.
Something I would like to add on too. One of my best friend's an INFP. Although she doesn't have A.D.D./A.D.H.D., she ends up following suit if I'm off my meds. I don't know anyone else's MBTI Type so I can only rely on my friend's, but maybe since INFP's (to me at least, and please don't get hurt by it) are technically the most sensitive, INFP tend to also take after ENFP's if they're in the enviroment. But then again, she believes she's cyclothimic (milder form of bipolar, like mild mild compared to bipolar). I don't know. They are one letter difference and they are rather open-minded idealists. Food for thought. :)
Well, initially I thought myself a ENTJ but them someone mentioned that it is an "STJ" world out there and we learn to adopt "STJ" traits, especially out in the work place. My natural inlcination, when I'm at home is a messy, creative, stimulation seeking person. I truly hate routine mundane tasks. Also have experienced intense emotional turbulence in my relationships . . . but realized it's because all of the pieces of the above equation.
So really I guess I don't have it (ADHD), because although I display most of the characteristics, I apparently don't have them (or haven't had them) on a consistent or wide enough scale? Eh, poorly worded but I think that makes sense. ANYways, it wouldn't surprise me if ENFP was one of the most common types to be diagnosed with ADHD. Or something.
Could it be possible that ENFP's are not suited well for the mundane tasks that the educational system is preparing us for to fill the workforce and therefore are looked at as people who need to be "fixed" by educators, parents, and the like?
My story, for anyone interested:
I was diagnosed as having ADHD in childhood and took medication for a year or two. My mom later decided to abandon the medication (I hated it) and tried just switching schools, and I chose to just be homeschooled starting in 7th grade. I was fine just being me, so I forgot about the diagnosis entirely until college when I started having troubles, became depressed, and the doctor re-diagnosed me as having ADHD. It is quite amusing that having an ENFP outlook on life and choosing not to partake in uninteresting activities is considered disorder... lol. (I can only laugh about it now because I'm no longer having difficulties in college, but it was a nightmare at the time)
hempelstudios.wordpress.com
Jay
Some of you were singled out as "children" and termed "not normal" and put on drugs when it could all very well just been your personality!
What kid has a say in that! How many other wonderful ENFP's are living in homes with all J's that don't understand and just want them to stop beign themselves.... when the reality is we are all just bored! until we find something interesting.
We shouldn't be saying "oh this is interesting" we should be outraged and demanding that our "psychologists" every single one of them, give us come concrete reasons that they think we have a medical condition vs. just our personality coming through before administering medication. Are we only "champions for other people but let ourselves just be run over by a bus?
This is tragic and aweful. We are big picture thinkers. think or the ramifications of what we are saying!
I saw another post on another website that asked how many ENFP's were diagnoseed with ADD 38% said they were! and another 26% said they were never tested but they know they are or would test positive. People that is 64%!!!!!
this goes against evrey core belief I have that people aught to be free to be who they are, and become the best of who they are.
These 15 minutes were purely enfp minutes: I learned about the life and time of the station master, discovered the city of Worcester and its history, and many more in talks with him.
Fifteen minutes later a call confirmed the retrieval of the bag. Relieved I went to the city walking looking for an accommodation. All the places station master suggested were full. I did managed to find a nice hotel. I was enjoying the whole scene as a pleasant adventure. Another enfp trait, challenges like these are not really challenges all the time - they are fun.Now I am in train going back to Oxford to conclude this 17 hour adventure while reading the forum. An enfp at age 30.
I am a 39 yo male ENFP who was diagnosed with ADD about 9 months ago. I'm currently taking Adderrel (it gives me energy and helps me not to get anxious).
This realization of the ENFP really opens up a whole new world for me.
I have been doing HVAC mechanic work for 10 years and have been through quite a few companies. It hecka bugs!!!
Now I find out that its just because of my personality type and the fact I'm just not interested in the mechanic part of it anymore.
Lots to think about.
You can contact me at daday1974@yahoo.com
Cya,
Dan
2. Visual Processing Delays
3. ENFP
4. Leo
I searched ADHD and ENFP because I wondered if linked. Despite all of the above I am an all A student at a prestigious High School because I've learned to work around my weakness and towards my strengths. But before you hit any assumptions about the ADHD/ ENFP connection you should know:
1. 1 in 4 students have an undiagnosed visual or learning disability that makes school and normal functioning beyond frustrating
2. Visual, learning disabilities, etc. are often diagnosed as ADHD. You are not ADHD unless you get that almost mental block that keeps you from just sitting down and focusing
3. ADHD is only a disorder because it impairs normal functioning of an individual significantly either proffessionaly, educationally or socially. If your ADHD doesn't make school beyond frustrating, hurt you in social situations or hurt your career than it is not a problem
4. ADHD people can have more than one thought processes going on at once. So not only do they jump to conclusions quickly (sometimes misguided), think faster, easily distractable because they notice everything, and are always looking for more stimulation. We often hop to seemingly unrelated things that only ENFP's and ADHDERs can understand, but make perfect sense to us. (trying to sleep= two sheep, old MCdonald had a farm; Oh yeah Macdonalds, I prefer Wendy's though, which reminds me my ginger friend hailey said this etc. No wonder we can't focus! When I space out in class it goes like this: 1 thought process is listening to the teacher, and another is tapping, writing etc ( If I don't I'll space out I have to be doing one or more simple things to focus on a hard thing unless I'm passionate and hyperfocused) and then another thought process jumps in about homecoming or cookies etc. and slowly takes over till I'm thinking about 3 unrelated things. 3 minutes later I get back from bunny trail and realize I've missed part of the lesson:
Meds or a lot of excersize can help me focus, and get rid of the symptoms that make me dysfunctional.
As you can tell, I'm not on my patch now but hope that helps!
PS No one is normal. Normal is a setting on the dryer.
Also:
Gum Helps! I chew the same flavor as I study that I do on the test + it gives me a way to release anxiety etc.
goodluck- KAT
this is interesting.
I'm an ENFP, a Cancer & my moon sign is Aquarius! (moon sign means like, who you are inside.)
i took the MBTI test in 9th grade and got ENFP. I'm in college now, i took the test again yesterday and got the same thing.
i was diagnosed w/ ADD right after HS but i've always had a feeling i had it. though i'm quite bright, i never got good grades in HS due to procrastination & daydreaming. Now that i have meds that's gotten a bit better.. but i really want to switch my major to something that interests me (fine arts) so i can have more motivation and enthusiasm towards my work!
Yes, I ran across your article during a Google search. I just had the sneaking suspicion that ADD/ADHD and ENFP are like peas-in-a-pod, and I feel validated by your article as the readers who commented on it. Thank you!
The correlation between ENFP + ADHD is inevitable, proved even by this thread. Now the task at hand is defining and/or discovering the nature of the correlation. Someone commented, “The critical difference, however, is that in order for something to be classified as a disorder, or at least something that requires treatment, it has to have a significant impact on your quality of life and ability to function”. The defining factor of a disease or disorder is the associated disability, i.e., something that is inherently lacking, or even intherently negative. Thus, if an ENFP has characteristics that match a medical description of ADHD/ADD, these characteristics only become defined as being ADHD/ADD if that particular person and his/her particular MD diagnoses these characteristics as being disorderly/disfunctional in this person's life. Trying to define essential equality/oneness of a personality type and a disorder is a dangerous slope to step on --- they are inherently different things (one assumes disorder, the other describes cognitive processing). There are people who function at high levels with creative PTs who may appear like ADHD people to others around them, but whom achieve high success in their given area of focus. On the other hand, there are people who are seriously struggling with intense daily problematics of having high level ADHD/ADD, and those are the people for which the original medical diagnosis was made. Rather than attempting to describe out a medical diagnosis as being a personality type, we should realize that the real disorder may simply be less common than medically considered according to prescriptions written.
Society must also advance (and thanks to threads like this, it IS) to include work structures that benefit and are benefitted by such a personality type. ENFPs may become anxious about performing mundane tasks on the road to a great creative achievement, and thus become labeled “ADHD”... Labeling may help in rare cases but more important is that, as a society, we need to adapt to the ENFPs impatience towards the mundane task, and build a system of support for them so that they can achieve the creative and conceptual advances we they need with the assistance of “task performers” and “achievers” types.