If you were to make a conscious decision to change your personality type is this practically possible?

I find myslef as an INTP and describe my self as extremely introvert and Living in an very Internal world (Inside my own mind)

I really want to change to become more Extrovert.

Also in the grand scheme of things can an Introvert only move to different levels of Introvertness (moving up the scale if you like) instead of becoming Extrovert.

Also im to comfortable spending time with my self where i want to change my beliefs to have the "need" to socialize.

can hypnotherapy / NLP aid with this or is the brain very ressistant to change?

Thanks for your time.

Sam,

Most of my friends, and definitely my significant other would all agree that I have had a personality transformation, primarily as a result of Brief/Ericksonian therapy with this man:

Rubin Battino

Yes, it made a huge change in my personality, and I think most of us (especially myself) agree that the changes have been all for the better!

(my name means love) phil

bonecollector wrote:

I find myslef as an INTP and describe my self as extremely introvert and Living in an very Internal world (Inside my own mind)

I really want to change to become more Extrovert.

Also in the grand scheme of things can an Introvert only move to different levels of Introvertness (moving up the scale if you like) instead of becoming Extrovert.

Being internally focussed on whats going on inside you such as dwelling and ruminating etc is not really about being an introvert personality. People often confuse these things. Your focus of attention and emotional responses are very malleable with the help of a competent hypnotist. This will enable you to pay attention to more of what is going on around you and interact comfortably with others.

The introvert/extrovert description is more about personality style. It has little to do with confidence how you feel and where you focus etc. As an example you could have a very confident person who is not necessarily what people would call outgoing person. Think about the strong silent types - very confident but not waving their arms about everywhere and talking all the time etc. You could also have a very anxious extrovert who is very bubbly and talkative despite being driven by nerves and feeling bad often.

Basically, you can certainly make some very beneficial changes in how you feel and release more of your true self and potential. This does not mean you have to be a 'gung ho' type of person and always talking to feel good about yourself and enjoy interacting with others!

Please don't feel that the label INLP means you cannot change how you feel and relate to people comfortably. It is not really related to that, although many people unfortunately mistake it as some kind of unquestionable prophesy!

Using the Myers Briggs Typology Index can be really neat and usful so long as you don't let it put you in a box (like intp) permanenetly.

Like all the rest the MBTI is state and context dependant meaning not only can it change, but that it probably does, frequently.

So as a NLPer this gives you at least two angles of approach.

You can examine those circumstances in which you vary away from that particular typology, by however little, and explore the SMD's, belefs, values etc involved (remember a time and self modelling) if you have trouble thinking of times when you have deviated form INTP try the following...

You could also have great fun with a spacial sliding anchor and this is a GREAT process for developing flexibility in your habitual perceptions/filters/programs etc.

Map out a line on the floor about 3 meters long (or however long feels right). Mark one end Introvert, the other Extrovert. Anchor each end as thoroughly as you can (as you are more familiar with introvert you may want to use "be as if" and some good reference models for the extrovert end)

Once they are anchored take yourself on a nice slow walk from one end to the other - in which ever direction you prefer.

At each step: close your eyes, take an inventory (particularly kinaesthetic) of all your smd's and what's in your head, open your eyes take a samll step forward, close eyes and reinventory. It is very helpful to have someone induce a light trance state for this part if you are not good at this sort of self hypnosis and examination.

As you move along the spectrum from, carefully tracking for the changes you will find a change point where it becomes obvious that there is a switch form one to the other. You can actually lean forwards and backwards at this point, literally in and out of the state.

You can stand sideways on the line and find the point where half of you is on either side, and sway side to side to become familiar with the changes that occur.

The more familiar you become with moving from introvert to extrovert, with riding the halfway point and with switching it on with the aid of an anchor the more you will be able to switch it on at will where the context is useful and appropriate to do so.

This exact same process is great to help you move your focus from internal to external, form self to others, or any other meta-program type polarity distinction you feel the need to practice.

Once you have acheived flexibility and comfort at either end of the spectrum you could enhance this by modelling an extrovert or setting up an anchor for extroversion to help you access the state - but I find that practice is usually more effective.

In my experience, one can change personality types, but it's not necessarily a good idea! I've found a difference between adding to one's behavioral and emotional flexibility and changing personality types.

I highly recommend expanding your behavioral and emotional flexibility to involve more "extroverted" ways of being. I suggest going to a lot of dance parties, and using any NLP tricks to change your feelings and behaviors before and after (swish, spinning feelings, Core Transformation, New Behavior Generator, etc.).

Thanks alot for these replies, Sorry for late reply. Ive spoken to alot of psychologists about this topic and majority state its impossible to re-wire the programming in your brain.
To be honest im steering more away from psychology due to thier "labels" and more towards "NLP, TFT and Hypnotherapy". It just makes me realise even though your all mind doctors, the difference in views are very interesting.

People change all the time, everybody, including you change persoanlity type dozens of times each day. No you cannot rewire your brain, the main reason being that there are no wires in there to begin with. We each learn to behave the way we do because at the key moments in our lives we made the big decisions, decisions that were made with the best intention and which suited us best at that time. The result and reinforcement of those decisions have created our current behaviour patterns. There is NOTHING stopping you from behaving in a different way and sure it may seem alien at times but change does mean going out of our comfort zones and into a new way of thinking.

Are you the same person you were a 10 years ago? 5 years ago? yesterday? 1 minute ago? No, and in 1 minute time you can be whoever you want to be.

Remember, a 'Personality type' is a list of generalisations made about people so that stangers can then make assumptions and broad statements about them. It not a set of instructions or barriers for you to conform to. Think outside the box, better still, live outside the box, you can always go back to wearing your label if you want but are you curious as to how much fun you can handle if you took it off for 1 night?

Tonight, the person you want to be, how would they spend their evening? How is that different to your normal way of spending this evening?

What is stopping you from doing what you want to do?

(PS dont list a bundle of reasons because they all can be overcome if your desire is powerful enough, the only answer is NOTHING!!!)

Thanks

Matt

I'm with Matt. I believe that change is the norm, not stasis. We often do not recognize it, or are not aware of it, but as I told a friend not too long ago, shift happens!

I have had people describe my personality as being FLAT, all the way to BUBBLY, and everything in between! My teacher trance (as I call it) is very different from my state of mind when I am home by myself is different than when I'm singing in front of an audience is different when I'm having coffee with a friend is different when I'm...

You get the picture!

I think a wide range of states which are all part of "the person we call Phil" is useful.

Or maybe I'm just bordering on insanity! Either way, it works for me!

Phil

While I agree with Phil and Matt that change is the norm, there also seems to be a great deal of evidence for the existence of personality types even amongst those with great behavioral flexibility.

It's as if we've become identified with or imprinted upon certain archetypes--especially as seen from the model of the Enneagram, rather than the Meyer's Briggs Type Indicator.

Now this isn't to say someone who has acted and felt introverted cannot become MUCH more extroverted--either right now or in an ongoing way--but what I've observed is that there are still archetypal characteristics to the person who develops themselves in such a way.

When you get down to the level of archetypes, I've had some success with radically changing my own imprinting, but with no positive benefits to speak of. Changing archetypes (or personality type) leads to having a different, if not worse shadow side, and being able to switch between two personality types leads to two shadows to now integrate. Not fun.

Just my 2 cents, feel free to disagree...

Why would you want to get more extroverted, rather than utilizing the parameters of your current personality type?

I have to remind you, that introvert is not a shy person with low social envolvement vs. extrovert being socially active - it's a common misconception of those who never read Jung's original works. Extroverted person finds the external world more complex than internal, and finds most of his problems in the external world. Introvert finds external world less complex and finds most of his problems in the internal world. Thus aside times of crisis and extreme situations introverts are better leaders, for example, as they do not blow problems out of proportion, while extroverts are much better therapists, for example, as they see internal processes less complex, i.e. bandler and the ideas he proclaims about simplicity of unconcsious mind structure, which is obviously an oversimplification, yet gives practical results. Getting back to your original question. why would you want to change your personality type in order to socialize? Just socialize, remaining introverted, that's all.