I am definitely hyperalert and hyper-self-judgmental. I test as an INFJ on Myers-Briggs, which fits. I have found, though, that all this serves me very well as a counselor. Once the door is closed, my clients can talk honestly about what is really going on with them and I can really help them. If they aren't telling the whole story, I can use my hypersensitivity to help us figure out useful questions or observation to help them see more of what is happening. I find that really fulfulling and I have reason to believe that I do my job well.
There are two problems though. The first is that you can't do this at cocktail parties--I really feel emotionally beat up after mingling (why did that person stop talking to me after only 3 minutes? Did they really need to go to the bathroom or do the hate me? why are we wasting our time talking about the price of grapes at Safeway, when we could be talking about something important? etc) The second is that after being with other people, even in the course of my work (which is fulfulling) I need a lot of recovery time. After I am so busy picking up on what other people are thinking/wanting/needing, I need time just to get back into my own body/mind and think about what I want/need. As a result I am pretty socially reclusive.
