Recovery for introverts

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* Recovery for introverts
and:
* Am I depressed or too deep?

But, but, but I don't wanna be recovered!

Introversion isnt an illness

"Recovery for chatterboxes".

Where's the recovery for extraverts? I'd happily undergo it, if such a thing actually existed.

Oookay then. Bad science, anyone?

Or maybe it's a parody of some sort--you know, how curing introversion is just as silly as curing autism? If so, it's not a very good parody.

Introversion can not be recovered, it's a part of your personality. I think that most aspies are innately introverted.

I think there's a difference between introversion and the shyness of AS. It's possible that introversion is pretty much incurable, but the shyness of AS is based on social things going wrong.....Aspies very often begin with strong social drives but repeated failures and bad experiences can make them lose their taste for company. Of course you can't cure the basic social ineptitude, but if the company is sympathetic and understanding, it's entirely possible to get an Aspie to enjoy it and to want to be with those people again.

Not knowing about AS, I took some personality tests back in the 1970s and was horrified to find I was supposed to be an introvert. I spent the next year or two of my life trying to disprove it, and had a fair bit of success.

^I'm definitely introvert, not shy. I have no problem with saying something if I need to, to a person or an assembly, it just doesn't come natural for me. Some of us are introvert and aloof as oppsed to those here who are shy and wanna be social IRL.

Yep, same here. I'm not shy in the least, more like pretty much indifferent to what other people might be thinking. Introverted means wanting to spend time on your own, having a preference for solitary activities, and needing to recharge after spending time with people, even good friends. People seem to mistake anxious shyness for introversion. Nope, there are shy extroverts.

Recovery For Extroverts.

I went to see the Red Book of C.G. Jung, the father of analytical psychology, at the Rubin Museum in New York this week. The Red Book is Jung's personal copy of paintings and hand written observations bound in a large red leather book. Until recently almost no one was allowed to view the Red Book. He created this book to document a period in his life when he was "menaced by psychosis". It represents Carl Jung's personal experiences and his willingness to explore the range of his own unconscious fantasies. Through his ability to see the problems of his life as guides to their solution, he helped establish tremendous contributions to modern psychology. Jung saw the relationship between the myths and symbols of all cultures as a key to understanding how our unconscious expresses ideas. He understood that many of the myths represent the journey we all take to become fully developed human beings.

In 1910 Jung published a paper entitled, "Psychic Conflicts in a Child," in which he introduced the term "extraversion" for the first time. We think of extraversion mostly in the negative sense. The child who has no self-concept because his excessive time spent socialising does not allow enough time for the quiet reflection that is indispensable in forming an identity. The child who misses out on a valuable education1 through never sitting alone and processing information. The countless individuals who are bringing businesses to their knees by placing more importance on connecting socially than on doing their job effectively.2

However, extraversion produces the results similar to a child's first attempts at cooking. A meal that has been enthusiastically, if clumsily prepared. Perhaps where a quick decision has been made to add chocolate sauce to the mashed potatoes3, or where Tabasco sauce has been hastily subsituted for red wine4. During the preparation, there is no comparision to the painstaking, patient approach of the introvert. An extravert may be the child who doesn't stop speaking from ages two until four, but does not produce one utterance that is rememberable by others.The extravert in fairy tales is the blusterer full of words that eventually come to nothing, while his quiet youngest brother finds the solution to the problem.

Jung said5, "The outer world is a delight for the extravert. He feels at home, where the only changes are made after extended discussions with others. His best work is done with pooled resources, only after gaining the approval of his peers, and in a manner that is a compromise between many different people's styles. If ever he succeeds, after long and often wearisome struggle, in making a decision without first discussing it with everyone possible, he is extremely surprised.6"

The problem with the extraverted person is they have no opportunity to develop an inner world.. They become intellectually flabby because they never form any thoughts independently.They make assumptions which they are not certain are their own, because of their need to mix with their social group. And they never withdraw for reflection, because taking a break from socialising would be seen as unfriendly, which is utterly alien to their image of themselves.

As a recovering extravert myself7, I always wanted to create a two step program to help others overcome their disinhibition 8 in a healthy way. Two of the major ways to balance an extraverted nature is as follows: Observe your mind. Don't be selfish, give others time to reflect. Practicing solitude without the concern for who you're going to talk to about it. Spend time in silence, so that when others come to know you, there is a you to know., . And finally, no two step program could be complete without composing. Composing is a great way to find your inner life in a medium that transcends words9. So stay in, stop making a fool of yourself and have discover the joy of solitude.

Perhaps the greatest guide for a recovering extravert is the book, How To Sit Down, Shut Up, and Get In Touch With Yourself, which has not actually been written yet10. It contains11 the passage "for what I could say about your tendency to prattle or about your inability to develop an inner life or about all the other thing that oppress you is ... just the wish that you may find in yourself enough fortitude to endure the first painful hours of solitude and enough simplicity to have faith; that you may gain more and more confidence in what is difficult and in your self-forming solitude. And as for the rest, stay quiet and observe. Believe me: observation is the key that unlocks great learning, always."












1. As opposed to a valueless one...
2. The author did not mention examples of popular-culture figures because she is out of touch with popular culture and could not think of any. Write your own parody if you don't like it.
3.If you're 6, it makes perfect sense.
4. I want to try this meal for the sake of satisfying my morbid curiosity. Don't you?
5. Or not. Do not use this in an essay. You will fail.
6. Seriously. Don't quote this part. Jung did not actually say it (I think...)
7. I'm not one. That sentence was written by my recovering-extravert twin.
8. A sign of damage to the prefrontal cortex.
9. Right, you heard the author. Out with your music theory textbooks. You need to get past “this is middle C”.
10. ...and probably never will be, at least by the author (of this essay, not of the hypothetical book).
11. Doesn't contain. I trust you are following me here.

hmm yes im a little shy but i think that stems from my introveted nature. i find my self the distict minority in almost all situations so i dont bother as i know ill be outnumbered

Since when is introversion an illness
to be treated? Why even bother reading
that so-called Red Book of Jung if
you're going to say that introversion
is a disease.

Introverts shouldn't feel obliged to alter their behaviour. Rather, our predominantly extroverted society needs to be made aware of what introversion is and isn't. Introverts may suffer difficulties not because they are introverts, but because they're expected to function in a social world designed by and for extroverts and face stigmatisation if they fail to conform to the standard.