The MBTI as a Predictor of Wellness Issues: Theirs and Ours.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assists clients to develop an understanding of their four functions (sensing, intuition, thinking, feeling), and their four attitudes (extraversion, introversion, judgment, and perception). It also provides information about each client's dominant, auxiliary, tertiary, and inferior functions, and the time frame within which each will develop. For the past 5 years, counselors at Seminole Community College have attempted to determine if there is a relationship between client type and the following three variables: (1) presenting problems; (2) interventions the client requested; and (3) interventions the client needed. Data were collected from students in a variety of academic and counseling groups. Each type appeared to have some unique wellness issues, distinct preferences for the issues they wanted, and clear-cut counseling needs. Many clients, particularly those at mid-life, felt uncomfortable because they were doing things out of character. This appeared to be related to type, not to the dominant or the auxiliary functions, but to the inferior function. Counselors are in the process of developing ways to assist clients to recognize and develop the inferior function. In general, two rules seem to apply when dealing with the inferior: do not confront it, and help clients develop it during leisure hours rather than during critical work or home time. The major wellness issues, 16 types and suggested interventions, as well as inferior function and characteristics are listed. (LLL)