How being an introvert or extravert can impact your mental health - Video Transcript

Hey guys, I'm Kristen the anxiety therapist. Thanks for checking out my vlog today, I'm going to be talking about the difference between extraversion and introversion. These are personality traits that are part of the big five and they're assessed using the Myers Briggs Type Inventory. So a lot of you guys have probably taken this before.

There are a lot of online versions. Um some of you may have heard of it. Sometimes employers use this as sort of a screening process for potential applicants to see whether their personality would be a good fit for the company. But anyway, we get a lot of information from this assessment.

And so there's a continuum where if you score high in extra version, you're considered more of an extrovert. If you score low in inter extra version, you're considered more of an introvert. And then um if you're kind of smack dab in the middle, you're considered an ambivert. So a lot of times when we think of extroverts, we think of someone who's super outgoing and charismatic and sociable and has a million friends.

And while this is often true, it actually has more to do with where you get your energy from. So extroverts are going to have their mental and emotional energy replenished by interacting with others. This is why the pandemic hit extroverts so hard because they didn't have those frequent face to face interactions and there's only so much you can do through a computer or a phone introverts on the other hand are going to restore and replenish their mental and emotional energy through spending time alone.

So introverts are really going to enjoy being alone with their thoughts or reading or doing something solitary, maybe something creative and that really allows them to sort of replenish those emotional energy reserves. So if an introvert attends, let's say a wedding or a big party, they're going to need some time to recover after that.

Whereas for an extrovert that might be extremely energizing for them just being surrounded by people and it's really important to know what you are personally and to learn how to work with that in your lifestyle. A lot of my clients tend to be introverts and they have a hard time accepting this about themselves and think that there's something wrong with them because they don't always want to be socializing or you know, they might think they even have some social anxiety, which is actually different than introversion.

That's a topic for another video. But one thing I work on with my clients is really coming to accept their personality traits for what they are because they're not changing. And a lot of times, um, introverts can be what's considered an extroverted introvert where you might have no idea um, with interacting with someone that they are more of an introvert because they can carry a conversation, they're very engaging.

They're very sociable, but it's just more about how long can they be social and do they need to come home and spend some alone time to recharge after being social. So I would encourage everybody to go out and take the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. Um in fact I'll include a link with the posting of this video and then if you haven't read it yet, if you are an introvert, Susan Cain's book quiet is quite interesting.

She also has a ted talk. I'm not paid for promoting this. I just think it really kind of opens your eyes to all of the strengths that introverts have not to diminish extroverts because we absolutely need them to function as well. Right? It's a give and take of the different personality types out there.

So anyway, um take a look at the book and take a look at the personality inventory and hopefully you will gain a bit more self awareness. Take care.