# The Type C Personality and Susceptiblity to Illness?



## David Baxter PhD (Sep 24, 2009)

The Type C Personality: Are You Susceptible to Illness?
by Therese J. Borchard
Wednesday September 23, 2009

Are you more susceptible to illness than other people? Do you have difficulty establishing proper boundaries in relationships, and communicating your needs? 

You could be a Type C personality, which makes you more susceptible to illnesses, says Michael Jawer in the fascinating book he wrote with Marc Micozzi, M.D, Ph.D., called _The Spiritual Anatomy of Emotion: How Feelings Link the Brain, the Body, and the Sixth Sense_, which you can read about at The Spiritual Anatomy of Emotion - Home

Here's what Michael writes about the Type C Personality:

_In recent years, a cluster of personality characteristics has come to be identified as the Type C personality, someone who is at heightened risk for a slew of afflictions, from colds to asthma to cancer. In contrast with the Type A person (who angers easily and has difficulty keeping feelings under wraps) and the Type B person (who has a healthier balance of emotional expressiveness), the Type C person is a suppressor, a stoic, a denier of feelings. He or she has a calm, outwardly rational, and unemotional demeanor, but also a tendency to conform to the wishes of others, a lack of assertiveness, and an inclination toward feelings of helplessness or hopelessness. 

This is the sort of personality that Canadian physician Gabor Mate has studied extensively. Over his years of family practice, Mate relates, he began to notice a pattern: individuals who were unable to express anger, who didn't seem to recognize the primacy of their own needs, and who were constantly doing for others, appeared to be the ones most susceptible to a slew of ailments, from asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus to multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. These conditions are all autoimmune disorders. Mate claims that, when an individual engages in a long-term practice of ignoring or suppressing legitimate feelings--when he or she is just plain too nice--the immune system can become compromised and confused, learning to attack the self rather than defend it._​Emotional expression, in Mate's view is absolutely essential because feelings serve to alert the individual to what is dangerous or unwholesome--or, conversely, to what is helpful and nourishing--so that the person can either take protective action against the thread or move toward the beneficial stimulus. If someone never gets angry, this reflects an unhealthy inability or unwillingness to defend personal integrity. Such "boundary confusion" can ultimately become a matter of life and death. If someone just cannot say no, Mate argues, his or her body will end up saying it in the form of illness or disease.


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## Fiver (Sep 24, 2009)

Wow. This is a fascinating concept and yet...not so very surprising. I think I'm going to do a little bit of link-clinking tonight....


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## forgetmenot (Sep 24, 2009)

I have never heard of this type C personality. I heard type A and B  now i am confused as i always thought i was type A but now see i have traits of type C . Interesting indeed.


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## Banned (Sep 25, 2009)

I think we all have traits of everything, Violet.  We're not cookie cutter cut-outs where we only fit one perfect mold.  We always need to look at the bigger picture, and ask ourselves what the "closest" or most accurate fit might be.  There will always be "cross-contamination" in everything, though.


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## forgetmenot (Sep 25, 2009)

Thanks I understand but i never heard of this type C and now i think i am more type C then A.   I guess i can say i am a type AC personality. I do tend to see things as one way or another not in between  thanks.


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## Eye Stigmata (Sep 25, 2009)

errr, what happens if im not a,b or c... is there an option d?....anyone....anyone?!


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## seeking33 (Sep 27, 2009)

Wow...this Type C sounds just like me...


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## Andy (Sep 27, 2009)

Eye Stigmata

Heinz 57?:teehee:


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## Pheonix (Nov 2, 2009)

Wow this info is just an amazing! new science. This C personality sounds like me and I have been like that.. well forever. I should be a physical wreak but funnily enough I am rarely sick. With all my negative thinking I guess I am just asking for some horrible illness, oh well, not all of us get what we deserve. I guess the laws of the universe are a bit crooked.


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## why (Nov 2, 2009)

That's almost me, to a T.


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## SilentNinja (Nov 2, 2009)

i could only read that quickly as im on holiday, i have internet here but not much.

I know this is a different thing but now i know its possible.. so with say OCD if you dont do something because you think you will die or get a illness... so it could really happen then because your body thinks it and could make it happen? and anger etc... or something...

i have to stop reading this stuff!


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