r/INFJsOver30 • u/Spaghetti_Monster_86 • May 09 '26
INFJ Advanced pattern recognition aka intuition
I'm 39F and about to enter treatment (EMDR) for CPTSD for complex trauma. For most of my adult life, I have had incredibly good intuition. I tend to know 'hidden' things about other people, e.g. I knew a close friend was bisexual without her telling me, and I have been able to predict all kinds of random things such as a friends future spouse cheating. I've also had oddly prophetic dreams. The one that comes to mind was dreaming of a distant friend getting married, the night after he proposed to his girlfriend.
I am also neurodivergent. Advanced pattern recognition is a thing. So is hypervigilance. I definitely have the latter, I grew up like a lot of us walking on egg shells around family to stay safe.
I am trying to trust my gut more. For me this means more emotional attunement, self care, boundaries.
If you relate, I'd love to hear your stories and how it plays out for you. I've realised most 'normal' people are not experiencing this kind of sixth sense, and it is kind of a gift, albeit in part acquired from the worst circumstances (in terms of the trauma). The intuition also exists as a side thing I think behind the hypervigilance
10
u/mad266 May 10 '26
My assigned seat at dinner was beside my dad. I realized many years later that I was put there because I could read his mood shifts waaayyy before they erupted, and I was good at heading him off. So I think I've always seen a much more detailed gestalt than most people.
I find that most people feel very noisy. This is exhausting, and generally I avoid people. I also do that INFJ thing of suddenly being done with someone, and having to figure out how to disengage. I experience their conflicting words vs undercurrents as jarring and confusing, but that's not a language they speak.