Jesus Is Lord Ministries

Temperament Therapy:
The Melancholy

Temperament, our God-given, inborn ‘nature’, is represented by five temperament types: the Melancholy, the Choleric, the Sanguine, the Phlegmatic, and the Supine. There are also three areas in the temperament: Inclusion, Control and Affection. The Temperament Analysis Profile (T.A.P.) Report clearly and specifically reveal what a person is in each of these areas, what that specifically means for that person, and what the temperament needs are for that person. For the purposes of these articles, we are looking at pure temperaments; someone who is melancholy (this article) in all three areas of Inclusion (social relationships and intellect), Control (control over ourselves and others), and Affection (deep personal relationships). While being a pure temperament is only true for a small percentage of people, with literally thousands of temperament combinations it is impossible to cover them any other way.

The pure Melancholy is an introvert - a loner. Yes, God actually makes people this way. Our temperament is that God-given, inborn ‘nature’. It is okay to be the way God made you when you are living out of the strengths of your temperament and not the weaknesses. Not everyone wants to be the life of the party - or even be at the party. Melancholies approach very few people for association and they do not like to be approached for association. This is not to say a Melancholy cannot or will not participate in social activities. They are just selective with whom they socialize.

They are very family-oriented; closely bonded to individuals within the family unit. They can be exclusive, quiet people who never talk to the son, daughter or spouse; but the family relationship is important. They must learn to communicate their feelings; they are emotionally guarded people. A Melancholy says, “I love you” by being dependable and responsible, not in physical terms such as hugging, touching and holding.

Melancholies are task-oriented as opposed to relationship-oriented. They see life as a goal to achieve. Because the Melancholy is intelligent they can predict pitfalls in a project before they undertake it. They tend to be good supervisors so long as they are comfortable within the area they are attempting to manage. They are also very creative like musicians and artists; and are prone to deep depression.

Melancholies tend to be perfectionists and set very high standards for themselves and for the people around them. They are extremely private and very serious people. They are self-motivated and do not respond to the promise of reward nor the threat of punishment.
They are loyal and faithful friends, true to their word - if they make a promise, they will keep it. It is their tendency to be self-sacrificing for the people with whom they are close. Then too, they are very self-sacrificing to mankind as a whole.

Inclusion Strengths: introvert, loner, great thinker, genius-prone, very artistic and creative, often found alone in thought, perfectionistic, slow-paced, great understanding of tasks and systems, a critical and challenging mind, and seeing both the pitfalls and the end results of a project undertaken.

Inclusion Weaknesses: extremely moody, suffer from “black” depressions, reject people, set standards neither they nor anyone else can meet, develop habits that are very hard to break, have suicidal tendencies, low self-esteem and are pessimistic.

Control Strengths: good at decisions and responsibilities in known areas, very good leadership abilities. They adhere to the rules and they need very little control over the lives and behavior of others.

Control Weaknesses: rigid, inflexible, sensitive to failure, fear of the unknown, fear of failure, apt to be a rebel and procrastinate.

Affection Strengths: very faithful, loyal friends and self-sacrificing. Their feelings run deep and tender (even through they lack the ability to express these feelings). They easily empathize with others and have the ability to make very deep commitments.

Affection Weaknesses: They dissect the past with theoretical “what ifs,” i.e., “what if” he had given me flowers, I would feel loved; “what if” I were prettier, they would love me more. Also, they are critical of others, angry, cruel, vengeful, emotional, rarely tell people how they feel, have a low self-image and are sensitive to rejection from deep relationships. The loss of a deep relationship (even by death) is devastating to them. They are sexually oriented but not romantically inclined. They “have sex” with their spouse; they do not “make love” to them. This causes marital problems.

You can easily see when rising to their strengths, once these strengths are brought under God, the Melancholy is capable of wonderful things. When sinking to their weaknesses, they become destructive to themselves and their deep relationships.

How worth while it is (as it is for all of us, no matter what our temperament) to submit ourselves to God and learn to live out of the strengths of the temperament He has given us. What a valuable part of the Body of Christ is the Melancholy under the control of  Jesus! Read through just the strengths and see if that person wouldn’t be a blessing to his/her family, the Kingdom of God, the church, and the community where he/she lives. May God help us all to live in the strengths of the temperament, our inborn ‘nature’, He has given us.

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