Dear Reader,

In June, I facilitated an MBTI(r) workshop with a team of 19 participants. When it came to reviewing their reports, one participant explained why their results were absolutely off: they have ADHD and answering the forced-choice questionnaire with the wording “would you rather…” was confusing: they would rather do one thing, but their brain won’t let them.

When it comes to identifying the motivations for your behavior, how do you know what is Type, and what is neurodiversity?

We all have unique minds and bodies that make us behave and see the world in unique ways. Some of that is due to our genetics, some of it is influenced by our upbringing, some of it is down to our personality. To date, there is no scientific way to pinpoint any one behavior or interpretation exactly to one gene, or one neurological circuit, or one aspect of societal context, or one particular childhood attachment. Everything and everyone influences one another, from our somatic energy to the words we speak to the things we do or don’t do.

Because “everything and everyone is connected” is too complex for our brain to grasp, we like to create categories and spectrums to better understand ourselves and others. This creates labels that can be experienced as both pathologizing or limiting, as well as enlightening and empowering.

For instance, research on autism diagnosis timing reveals significant impacts on individuals' lives. Late diagnosis in adulthood often follows missed or misdiagnosed symptoms in childhood. While an adult diagnosis might create relief as it explains a lot of things in hindsight (Lupindo et al., 2022), there is also an emotional impact of grieving missed opportunities for treatment or support. Adults diagnosed later in life also tend to report more psychiatric conditions than those diagnosed in childhood (Jadav & Bal, 2022). Either way, viewing neurodiversity as a neurobiological variation, instead of a pathological disorder, can be particularly helpful when working with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as it acknowledges and values their unique ways of interacting and experiencing the world (Megari et al., 2024).

Categorizing personality as types of consciousness with eight equally valuable cognitive preferences creates a four-letter “label” (e.g., ISTP, ENFJ, INFP…). It is a short-hand for where our mind’s energy likes to go first, how we process information, how we make decisions, how we orient to the world, and our developmental opportunities. One of the tools to arrive at your personality type preferences is the MBTI(r). It describes how our mind makes meaning of the world in non-judgmental and non-pathologizing ways. To be clear, the MBTI(r), and Type in general, is not a diagnostic tool but a developmental one. All Types are held in equally high regard and empower us to implement specific strategies to appreciate and use differences constructively.

​Research into neurodiversity published by the MBTI(r) company suggests there are some correlations between extraverted Intuiting and ADHD in adults, and Sensing and ADHD in children. But these describe correlations, not causation. People of all Types can have a neurodiversity, and people with a neurodiversity can have all Type preferences.

So how do you know which is which?

What I see many people struggle with understanding is that the old paradigm of “something happens out there, and then I react to it from in here” is no longer supported. Things don’t merely happen to us, we are always active participants in creating our reality. It comes back to the fundamental question of conscious awareness: how does a physical thing like our brain or body create a mental thing like our emotions, our mind, its interpretations, and eventually our actions? As mentioned above, to my knowledge, we don’t yet have the science or the senses to adequately disentangle the two, although I love Lisa Feldman Barrett's approach.

Arguably, to use our current computer vernacular, both neurobiological makeup (i.e., neurodiversity) and cognitive preferences (i.e., psychological type) are programs that start running as soon as the organism comes online. Your physical brain anatomy is shaped by genetics, conditions in-utero, and neuronal tuning and pruning over the years. It impacts which data highways receive more electrical energy, resulting in storing and retrieving certain memories more easily, making certain associations, acting on certain biases, creating certain beliefs, etc. It also impacts which neuronal connections will shrink; the whole process is called neuroplasticity that continues throughout your lifespan.

Your mental interpretation of your body’s and brain's signals is shaped by your experiences and surroundings. We are constantly bombarded with information; we cannot possibly process or hold all that data in awareness. Type suggests that your consciousness, i.e., where your mental energy flows, where it gets stuck, and what it becomes aware of, is informed by your cognitive function preferences. In my own research I then explored how the expression of your Type preferences is modulated by the culture you grew up in, and what was deemed acceptable behavior. In addition, according to Jung, your unconscious and your shadow operate from behind the curtain and drive the majority of behavior without us being consciously aware of why. (I’ll be interested to read Professor Newell’s book where he argues the opposite.)

I would say, then, that it’s unbelievably difficult to pinpoint any one source to explain a behavior, and that there are always a variety of signals and interpretations at play. Yes, Type preferences and neurodiversity identify certain common and predictable patterns of behavior, but trying to untangle them may not be as effective as holding them lightly and allowing them to coexist - without letting them limit your potential for development.

You are unique and complex, and no label should have the power to dictate your future. Your psyche is moving toward balance and individuation at all times. The more you learn about yourself, the more informed your decisions will be. The more you develop, the more mindful your behaviors will be. The more you know about the cards you have been dealt, the more creatively you get to play them.

If you’d like to chat more about Type and neurodiversity, hit reply or book a curiosity convo below.

Cheers,

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