Here are some of the horror stories that were submitted.  I hope they provide lessons about what NOT to do!

M.T.'s Story
Title = Coach and MBTI Qualified
Year of horror = about 1983 (long time ago!)
Story = The first time I took the MBTI was for a professional development workshop for my college at a major university.  It was one of the first things I did as I started my brand new, first job as an administrator. I received no real directions about how to take the instrument. When the results came back it said I was an ENTJ. I read the brief description and KNEW I was not that type (for one thing I was certain that I was NOT extraverted.) When I asked the workshop facilitator if it could be a mistake, he replied, "The test (which of course it is not) is never wrong. It has been statistically proven to produce the correct results." I was baffled.

About a year later I took the MBTI again in a graduate leadership class. I was more relaxed, less in a work mode. This time when I took it, I came out as an INFJ. Hmmmm!

Happy Ending? = Yes! In spite of that first experience, I fell in love with the MBTI and continued reading and studying about it. Finally in 1998 I took a qualifying course, and learned all that had been wrong about my first experience and how it was facilitated. Good experience for me in what NOT to do, lol. I am now strongly considering MBTI certification, and like you, combining it with my coaching. I plan to be in touch with you about that. Thanks for letting me tell my story!

J's Story
Title =  ordinary person!
Year of horror = 1994
Story = A friend of mine who was really into the MBTI gave me the test and handed me a sheet about my personality (INTJ).  She also gave the same to my husband (ENFJ).  I read both and said to her, "His has both positive and negative traits.  Why does mine only have negatives?"  She looked at mine and said, "Yours isn't all negative.  See?  It says you're analytical!"  I pointed out that it didn't say analytical, it said "critical" and she laughed and said "well, aren't those the same?"  haha.  So I asked what was so positive about being critical, since nobody wants to be friends with a critical, bossy perfectionist and she said "okay, yours isn't really that positive a personality to have, people-wise.  But usually INTJs don't mind that because they don't have any friends anyway."

It was awful.

I cried.  She said she'd never met anyone who didn't like the personality she'd "assigned" him/her, but she also had only met one INTJ before.  She was understanding about how I felt doomed to loneliness but thought it was good for me to understand why so I could better accept it. Like I had cancer or something.

Happy Ending? = Yeah, it is happy.  I have found some positive things about my personality and also found ways to turn some of the weaknesses into strengths.  It has been a useful tool, especially when i don't get along with someone and can realize "okay, Jen, you are seeing everything as Us-Them and turning this person into an enemy."  

Instead of reconciling myself to just not having friends, I've decided that part of her analysis was just wrong and continued to work to actually make friends and not just write someone off whose reasoning is poor, who is inconsistent in his/her thinking or who is pragmatic.

I'm still married to that fabulous ENFJ and don't mind that he is all touchy-feely about everything.  I have six kids and they are very good about living with my organizational systems and remembering that the plastic sippy cups must be put away in order according to the color of the rainbow.

Sparrow's Story
Title = Student
Year_of_horror = 1984 and again in 2003
Story = My first experience with type was at a national convention of a club I belonged to.  One of the members was qualified to proctor the MBTI and so about 100 of us took the test in a group setting.  We were handed the four letter result (mine was INFP) and no further explanation or counseling.

So I went along thinking that I was an INFP for many years.  But when I tried joining internet groups for my type, I was about as popular as a bull in a china shop -- I kept ruffling everyone's feathers and couldn't figure out why!

I finally decided it must be because I was INTP instead of INFP (but, "of course," I just *couldn't* be one of "those judging people"!!)

My second test was when I returned to college.  I had to take an orientation class and one of the activities we did was to take the MBTI, proctored by one of the employees from the career counseling center.

That time, my result was very different (INTJ).  I kept insisting to the proctor that I was not an INTJ (the laugh was on me because it turned out that I am!) but he wouldn't discuss it with me and only insisted that I sit in the "J" group for the group discussion. I felt very resentful at being forced into the whole experience - so resentful that I was only *slightly* sheepish a couple of years later when I looked into typology on my own and, using the information in Berens and Nardi's "The Sixteen Personality Types: Descriptions for Self-Discovery", came to the shocking conclusion that INTJ is my best-fit type after all.

Happy_Ending? = I'm kind of in limbo about typology at this point. I still find it interesting but I haven't managed to come to a point where I also find it useful. I see it being useful for others so I do believe that it can be, but I guess I've just been bitten by it enough times to prevent me from really digging into it enough to get strong benefit from it.

Robin's Story
Title = Practitioner
Year_of_horror = 1992
Story = Several years before I became qualified to use the MBTI, I was laid off from my job (along with about 20 others) and the "outplacement service" used by our former employer issued each of us an MBTI questionnaire.  We filled them out and they were mailed back to head office in another state.  About two weeks later, I received a typewritten sheet with my MBTI code (INTJ) and a brief description of what that code meant, along with an appointment time about a week hence.  At that time, I was phoned by a counselor who basically repeated what I'd already read in the letter and proceeded to list occupations suitable for that type.  She also talked a bit about how I work in teams and finished after about 20 minutes with a curt "Any questions?"  By that time, I was still trying to make sense of it all and could not think of anything else to ask, so the call was terminated and all I had to show for it was a one-page letter and some scribbled notes.  I was left feeling bewildered and unsatisfied.

Happy_Ending? = The good news is that it piqued my interest enough to seek out a local OD consultant whom I knew who was MBTI qualified.  She explained it in more detail and this led me to become qualified myself and I've been using it professionally for over 12 years.

Sarah's Story
I was given the MBTI as a freshman taking a college intro-to-psychology class, and I got my four letter results with a one-sentence "explanation" of what each letter was supposed to mean.  My test results said I was an ENFP, which I'm clearly not (now that I know better).  [Sarah's best-fit preferences are for ISFP.]

I have to say that if I were going to a conference or seminar and I knew that type was going to be the focus, or even used in some way, my response would be "Oh, NO!"  I've seen it used in a shallow, narrow-minded way too many times now to trust that the presenter would know how to use it effectively.

Do you have a story of your own to share?

-Vicky Jo
Type Coach
Self-Discovery Specialist
Team Development Coach
CPCC, ACC, IGIP, JCDC, ORSCer!