Overall, your instinctively preferred conscious function (either Sensing, Intuition, Feeling or Thinking) is at a very low energy level.
Ok, so what caused that? Several things: (not in any particular order)
Fatigue. My late father used to say that "fatigue makes cowards of us all." I grew up with that, and a few others; but, he was right.
When we are physically tired due to overwork, lack of sleep, perhaps too much activity, maybe chronic fatigue syndrome, things like that we run out of conscious energy and drop to the inferior function to handle whatever is going on and this happens rapidly.
Illness. When we are sick the extra strain and stress of sickness saps whatever energy we have left and we move into the realm of the inferior function which is the "grip".
Stress, Psychological & Physical. Whatever the stress is physical or psychological we call upon all or most of our energy to deal with it. Stressors can be so many and varied. What stresses you may not stress me. However, whatever they are we will deal with them with a high priority. If they are ongoing, pervasive, if they are a natural part of our work lets say, or perhaps a natural part of the relationship we are in, the stress can actually seem to be a natural and healthy thing, but it is not. One acting out in the "grip" all the time might seem normal but it is highly destructive.
Drugs. To the extent that drugs alter the normal behavior of individuals the tendency to fall into the "grip" will increase. We become more vulnerable to falling into the control of the inferior function.
Life Changes. The more stressful any life change is the more likely we are to experience the inferior function, the "grip".
Well, the above are some of the causes of the "grip" experience in a soon to appear post I will talk a bit more about the purpose of the "grip". It is not always a bad thing; but, mostly it is.
