ESFPs and anxiety

ESFPs are known to be spontaneous, passionate, lively, outgoing and charming individuals, who are natural performers. Wherever they go they are the life of the party and rarely go unnoticed via their talents, sense of humour, presence or authenticity.

In clinical psychology, anxiety is defined as an emotion characterized by feelings of unease, worry, or apprehension, often in anticipation of a future concern. Commonly, when people tend to think about someone who struggles with anxiety, social or performance anxiety comes to mind, which strikes mostly among introverts.  Extroversion is usually correlated with more life satisfaction and happiness, and even correlational studies display a negative correlation between Extroversion and Anxiety. Keeping in mind their dopamine-like energy, and knowing that ESFPs are usually in the high Extroversion gradient, this type of study would lead us to conclude that ESFPs would be among the happiest people we can think of.

The reality is, like most people, ESFPs are not immune to anxiety.

Here are some causes of anxiety in ESFPs based on their cognitive processes. *Disclaimer: Here I'm not addressing underlying issues that are outside of the realm of personality, such as past trauma, addictions, or other biopsychosocial factors.

ESFPs Dominant cognitive function is Se (Sensation), their Auxiliary is Fi (Authenticity), their Child function is Te (Efficiency), their Inferior is Ni (Perspectives).

ESFPs operate at their best when externally they are in touch with their 5 senses in the present moment and can indulge in physical activities or hands-on experiences (ex music, crafts, cooking, construction work, playing sports, enjoying nature, eating, etc)

When ESFPs use their Child function their feel enthusiastic about making things work in their environment; it will translate by making the best of what’s at hand with what they have, in an elegant, efficient manner, and in due time.  Most of the people who witness it can feel a sense of magic when they see it happen. Let’s take the example of an ESFP roller-skates waitress; she will come and go across the restaurant at high speed, juggling multiple plates and water jugs with grace and fluid movements without thinking about it, serving her clients with a big authentic smile, maybe placing a joke with it, only to serve her clients and answering everyone’s demands exactly on time. Usually this behavior is not anxiety inducing on its own for ESFPs, because it is their flow-state.

Let's take a look at what might happen that could disturb their flow state and induce anxiety.

1- Underused Fi (Se-Te loop)

Fi is the “Authenticity” function; it refers to what the individual feels at a given moment or about a specific situation. It is a subjective decision making function; when in use, ESFPs combine their own values, impressions and subjective experiences to come to a decision that feels right and true to them.

Since Fi is Introverted, ESFPs might lose touch with it when in action in the external world, especially when they didn't have the time to reflect on it before hand.

Example : The waitress keeps on being called by the same client every 5 min for little things she's able to deliver. She finds it annoying but she keeps on delivering.

If she has to maintain her focus externally (which is the norm when at work), it will create a Se-Te loop, where it will be more difficult for her to realize that she feels uncomfortable doing it and that she might be a victim of harassment from the client. She will need to have some time on her own to check with herself if that feels right and aligned with her values. Usually it's a matter of minutes for ESFPs to ponder it, though it might take some time before they actually have a moment to themselves, especially if they evolve in a busy environment. If Fi is underdeveloped, the ESFP will be more likely to experience over-stimulation from the external environment. On top of inducing anxiety it will also create a self-loathing feeling, especially if they go through the day and realize only at the end of it that it wasn't something they would have wanted to keep on doing.  Anxiety will manifest when thinking about repeating the same situation or having to face a similar one in the future, even if they usually are capable to handle the situation when they are confronted to it.

Underused Fi also goes hand in hand with a dependence for external validation or feedback; since tuning inwards isn’t possible under the Se-Te loop, they will turn to their external environment (mostly people) to get a feedback regarding what they’re doing. If the feedback they receive is negative they might easily internalize it, which keeps the anxiety loop ongoing.

2- Overused Fi

If Fi is overused, the ESFP will tend to avoid or decline situations or people that will make them feel uncomfortable. As ESFPs have a sensitive nature, that will lead them to be conflict-avoidant or people-pleasing to keep the peace. Anxiety might arise as a consequence, and might manifest even in situations that are usually pleasant for ESFPs.

3- Underused Ni

ESFPs have a hard time knowing what they want in their life in the future. As a consequence, they tend to rely on their ability to adapt to whatever shows up and therefore don’t plan anything specific ahead. Anxiety might arise in situations that require a great deal of planning, or if they find themselves having to plan for their future. The unknown or uncertainty about what lies ahead can cause them to feel anxious, especially if they can’t prepare or predict how things will turn out.

4- Overused Ni

With their ability to adapt and react promptly to whatever shows up, ESFPs might decide to solely rely on their future insights when handling challenges, thinking “I’ll know how to deal with it when it happens”. The issue is that with Ni as an inferior cognitive function, these insights are not always reliable in frequency or quality, putting them under pressure to resolve issues in real-time without knowing what to do to resolve them.

5- The wrong environment

ESFPs who evolve among an audience, work environment, or even family members that are unable to give them the feedback they are looking for won’t be a match to them.

The same applies with their working tools. Their performance is directly correlated to the tools they need to perform. If for some reason what they have on hand when they have to perform is less than optimal, it will create a great deal of stress and/or anxiety for them.

6- Ne Demon

Nothing is more unpleasant for the ESFP than to try to stay aware of all the ways things are interconnected in the environment while performing. This is simply not going to happen.

Example: A musician performs tonight. He knows all the things that have to be dealt with on time before the performance, and to make sure everything runs smooth he will very likely take the time to check every piece of the puzzle before hand.  He knows that during the performance it's impossible for him to keep track with everything that will be at play, therefore he has to know he can rely on these things before hand so that when he performs he will focus on his performance only.  If he is unable to have the guarantee things are in place during the show, he will experience a great deal of anxiety, trying to run all the “what if” scenarios in which things can go wrong, which will very likely end with a poor performance for the ESFP.

Conclusion

To conclude, ESFPs will very likely struggle with anxiety if they are plunged into environments that confronts them with over-stimulation, negative feedback, conflict, heavy planning, where they over-rely on their intuition or where they have the wrong tools at hand. They will do well when pondering and preparing situations ahead, balancing their values and gut feeling with the proper environment, the right tools and the proper audience. With time, they can gain great strength from all these situations by confronting them efficiently and learning from them how to improve the next ones.