Yeah, I'm fairly terrible at emotional support. I told my sister to do her homework when her rabbit died 5 years ago, the reasoning being that sitting there and crying in grief wouldn't do wonders for her schoolwork. While I'm not nearly as terrible anymore, I still get a stony face and don't know quite what I'm supposed to do when someone starts crying, for example, apart from giving advice on dealing with the problem.
That said, I'm fairly good at listening, if you want to talk sometime.
That sounds like something I would do. When people come to me for emotional support, instead, I give them a solution to the "problem." I've been getting better, though, and I've always been a good listener. So there's hope for me yet. Don't ask me to confide in anyone else, though.
Yeah, and to me it also feels like I'm gossiping when I confide in someone else. It's getting better with age, but when I was a teenager, I expected everyone to just mind their own business when I was having a bad day (even INTPs have those
) and expected them to deal with their own emotional stuff on their time too, and not let it interfere with their responsibilities. As a teenager, people used to think I was dead inside, lol.
That changed fairly quickly about 3 years ago, when I started university.
Sometimes people need to be comforted and given confidence...feeling down can really shake someone up. Do confide all your secrets to me though. 
Indeed, but when I was younger, I just couldn't wrap my head around taking care of someone's feelings when improving their situation would take care of it on it's own. Which meant I was terrible when someone was grief-stricken over someone's death, or when someone went through a break-up. My general advice was just that it would get better with time, but I'd say with this with such a flat and awkward tone that I'm not sure anyone was remotely comforted.
It took me awhile, and 3 books on body-language, to realise that I could provide a lot of emotional support simply through the power of touch, if I knew how to utilise it correctly. Which also meant I had to overcome my general aversion to touching people to begin with.
Thanks, I read it just the other day, which is what made me make my comment when I saw Laurentus' post. I tend to stay clear of 'typing' conversations and the like because I used to be obsessed by Jung/MBTI/function theory and stuff like that. A couple of friends of mine recently are also going through a similar phase to me which is frustrating; they keep asking me what stuff means, when I'm trying not to get into it again.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you're also a Rational (NT).
Why did you want to learn about it in the first-place? For me, it was primarily to try and improve upon my social interaction, through reading people and then adapting my manner to better fit with theirs. I'm usually fairly accurate when I type someone in real life, too. The internet is very tricky, though.
I guess that's where the F part of my ENFJ/INFJ comes in. When someone comes up to me telling me that they had a bad day, or need a shoulder to cry on, or just need someone to talk to, I always make myself available, and I'll share their feelings with them. When someone is crying their eyes out because of something that happened and they come talk to me, I'll usually cry with them and give them a hug.
I'm like the Bob Saget at my work because I'll give out hugs to my coworkers every time one of them is having a bad day (or I'll offer it at least), and I give hugs to my coworker-friends occasionally when I see them or say bye to them.
Lol, I have friends who are like you. They make a game out of making me uncomfortable through constant hugging and touching. I don't think I'll ever completely feel comfortable with people invading my personal space, except in intimate situations with women I'm attracted to.
