Understanding the Enneagram personality types

I believe that a large part of helping people to overcome emotional problems is to help them to understand who they are, or more importantly, who they have become as life pushes them this way and pulls them that way.

One tool I use extensively is the Enneagram. I know the name sounds spooky and weird, however, it is a hugely well respected psychological model of human personality traits that allows me to guide my clients into a more in-depth understanding of their personality profile and how it alters when exposed to anxiety, stress, depression and events in their lives.

I have added a few notes about the typical benefits each personality type may get from therapy or personal growth mentoring, although none are mutually exclusive.  I often personality profile my clients because once they understand more about who they are, it is far easier to dissolve old out-of-date self beliefs that drive unwanted conscious and unconscious behaviours.

The Enneagram is interesting because it allows us to understand not only our personality type, but also, how we change as our emotions deteriorate. So each character type changes dependent on the individual being ‘at their best‘ or ‘average‘ or ‘unhealthy‘ emotionally.

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What are the nine Enneagram personality types?

The Enneagram type One – The Reformer

They are in the Instinctive Group and are concerned with rationality and social responsibility, they are principled, orderly, perfectionist, and self-righteous. Positively, the potential for moderation, conscience, maturity, self-discipline, and delayed gratification. Negatively, the potential for rigid self-control, impersonal perfectionism, judgementalism and self-righteousness.

Addictions: Excessive use of diets, vitamins, and cleansing techniques (fasts, diet pills, enemas). Under-eating for self-control: in extreme cases anorexia and bulimia. Alcohol to relieve tension.

Typical therapy needs – understanding anxiety, becoming less judgemental and accepting that they can’t control everything or everyone.

Enneagram type one wing personalities:

Enneagram type 1 with a 9 wing is called the Idealist – reserved, quiet, detailed, devoted, irritable.

Enneagram type 1 with a 2 wing is called the Advocate – impassioned, adamant, determined, convicted.

The Enneagram type Two – The Helper or Mentor

They are in the Feelings Group and are concerned with empathy and altruism, they are caring, generous, possessive, and manipulative. At their best they are encouraging, loving, self-nurturing, constant, joyous, humble, forgiving, gracious and compassionate (examples of this are Mother Teresa and Desmond Tutu).

Positively, the potential for thoughtfulness for others, necessary self-sacrifice, generosity, and nurturing. Negatively, the potential for intrusiveness, possessiveness, manipulation and self-deception.

Typical therapy needs – Learning to love & respect themselves and to stop people pleasing. Realising that unless they look after themselves they can’t look after others. Help with motivation to dissolve old out dated beliefs about themselves. Overcoming feelings of rejection because they expect people to not want them around, so they often feel that they need to be extraordinarily kind and supportive to get people to love and support them. Understanding that true altruism asks for nothing in return, it is just something that they quietly do, and realising that letting go of the fear of not being liked, and the fear of being rejected, allows them to shed jealous feelings too, because they no longer need to control others to make themselves feel safer.

Addictions: Abusing food and over-the-counter medications. Binging, especially on sweets and carbohydrates. Over-eating from feeling “love-starved.” Hypochondria to look for sympathy.

Enneagram type two wing personalities:

Enneagram type 2 with a 1 wing is called the Servant or Social Worker – concerned, engaged, sympathetic, encouraging.

Enneagram type 2 with a 3 wing is called the Hostess or Socialiser – gracious, engaging, inviting, sociable, eager.

The Enneagram type Three – The Achiever

They are in the Feelings Group and are adaptable, ambitious, image-conscious, and hostile, they are concerned with self-esteem and self-development. Positively, the potential for ambition, self-improvement, personal excellence, self-assurance, and social distinction. Negatively, the potential for pragmatic calculation, arrogant narcissism, the exploitation of others and hostility.

Typical therapy needs – Learning to accept rejection. Learning that it is OK to let their guard down and reveal their feelings to others (and themselves). Managing frustration, anger and hostility and letting go of feelings of being wronged by others. Allowing them to realise that it is OK to not be perfect and teaching them how to have more Emotional Intelligence whilst dealing with others.

Addictions: Over-stressing the body for recognition. Working out to exhaustion. Starvation diets. Workaholism. Excessive intake of coffee, stimulants, amphetamines, cocaine, steroids or excessive surgery for cosmetic improvement.

Enneagram type three wing personalities:

Enneagram type 3 with a 2 wing is called the Charmer or Manager – adaptable, organized, clever, pleasant, polished

Enneagram type 3 with a 4 wing is called the Professional – business-like, ambitious, focused, independent

The Enneagram type Four – The Individualist or Designer

They are in the Feelings Group and are intuitive, expressive, self-absorbed, and depressive, they are concerned with self-awareness and artistic creativity. Positively, the potential for intuition, sensitivity, individualism, self-expression, and self-revelation.  Negatively, the potential for self-consciousness, self-absorption, self-doubt, self-indulgence, and depression.

Typical therapy needs – Helping them to stop living in their minds and being fearful of not being accepted. Helping them to realise that they are lovable and not socially excluded. Teaching them what depression is and how to stop falling into that emotional trap. Allowing them to release anger that they have about themselves that they sometimes project onto others. Helping them to feel less inhibited and allowing their immense creativity to be released. Helping them to stop thinking and start doing.

Addictions: Over-indulgence in rich foods, sweets, alcohol to alter mood, to socialize, and for emotional consolation. Lack of physical activity. Bulimia. Depressants. Tobacco, prescription drugs, or heroin for social anxiety. Cosmetic surgery to erase rejected features.

Enneagram type four wing personalities:

Enneagram type 4 with a 3 wing is called the Aristocrat or Specialist – individualistic, distinctive, in style, high-powered

Enneagram type 4 with a 5 wing is called the Bohemian or Artist – deep, intense, moody, disciplined, focused

The Enneagram type Five – The Investigator

They are in the Thinking Group and are perceptive, original, detached, and eccentric, they are concerned with abstract understanding and expert knowledge. Positively, the potential for curiosity, perceptiveness, the acquisition of knowledge, inventive originality, and technical expertise.  Negatively, the potential for speculative theorising, emotional detachment, eccentricity, social isolation, and mental distortions.

Typical therapy needs – The idea of therapy normally does not appeal to them, as they feel they can research it and sort it out themselves!  However, they grow enormously as they learn that the mind and emotions are not logical and don’t follow rational Newtonian rules. Understanding how other people think and act allows them to ‘pitch’ their ideas more effectively and buys them more time and resources to think. Help overcoming social phobias and anxiety when time scales are too short or when high levels of change are imminent. Helping them to feel comfortable ‘just being’ in the moment and to occasionally escape from their shells. Stopping their fear of being violated or overwhelmed by others.

Addictions: Poor eating and sleeping habits due to minimizing needs. Neglecting hygiene and nutrition. Lack of physical activity. Psychotropic drugs for mental stimulation and escape, narcotics for anxiety.

Enneagram type five wing personalities:

Enneagram type 5 with a 4 wing is called the Iconoclast – unconventional, offbeat, shamanic, penetrating

Enneagram type 5 with a 6 wing is called the Trouble Shooter or Thinker – dry, intellectual, proficient, self-contained

The Enneagram type Six – The Loyalist or Troubleshooter

They are in the Thinking Group and are engaging, committed, defensive, and paranoid, they are concerned with trust and social affiliation. Positively, the potential for emotional bonding with others, group identification, sociability, industriousness, loyalty, and commitment to larger efforts.  Negatively, the potential for dependency, ambivalence, divisiveness, rebelliousness, anxiety, and feelings of inferiority.

Typical therapy needs – This character type benefit hugely from therapy and more self understanding to manage their anxiety and flip flopping emotional needs. They grow by realising how much they cling to security and become more trusting that things in life will just unfold favourably. They try to solve their anxious feelings with outbursts of misdirected aggression against those around them, which drives their supporters away, thus making them feel more anxious and generating “why” type questions in their minds that just loop around and around, so they benefit from understanding the unconscious strategies that they are using to feel better about themselves. Stopping them from self-punishment and self-doubt and allowing a more natural confidence to emerge. Teaching them that they plan 10 steps ahead (to be safe and secure) when everybody else is only planning 3 steps ahead and that their moods can swing 180 degrees in a flash, and that unsettles others. Helping them to be able to receive criticism or advice without becoming paranoid and defensive.

Addictions: Rigidity in diet causes nutritional imbalances (”I don’t like vegetables.”) Working excessively. Caffeine and amphetamines for stamina, but also alcohol and depressants to deaden anxiety. Higher susceptibility to alcoholism than many types.

Enneagram type six wing personalities:

Enneagram type 6 with a 5 wing is called the Defender or Server – thoughtful, conscientious, attentive, retrospective

Enneagram type 6 with a 7 wing is called the Buddy or Witty – jumpy, self-conscious, witty, winsome, respectful

The Enneagram type Seven The Enthusiast or Generalist

They are in the Thinking Group and are enthusiastic, accomplished, uninhibited, and manic, they are concerned with responsiveness and enjoyment. Positively, the potential for enthusiasm, productivity, achievement, skill acquisition, curiosity, breadth, and the desire for change and variety.  Negatively, the potential for hyperactivity, superficiality, impulsiveness, excessiveness, and escapism.

Typical therapy needs – Helping them to realise that they don’t need to keep immersing themselves in constant activity to escape from anxieties. Helping them to avoid emotional fatigue and burn out by stopping spreading themselves so thinly across so many things. Teaching them how others perceive them (often different to what they feel is happening) and how to really become emotionally empathetic, as often, they think they are, when in fact, quite the opposite is true. Teaching them how chasing instant gratification affects their health and how to slow down to live more in the moment savouring rather than consuming experiences. Helping them with motivation to stick with projects right through to the end.

Addictions: The type most prone to addictions: stimulants (caffeine, cocaine, and amphetamines), Ecstasy, psychotropics, narcotics, and alcohol but tend to avoid other depressants. Wear body out with effort to stay “up.” Excessive cosmetic surgery, pain killers.

Enneagram type seven wing personalities:

Enneagram type 7 with a 6 wing is called the Entertainer or Comedian – funny, edgy, fun, high-spirited, playful, restless

Enneagram type 7 with a 8 wing is called the Realist or Adventurer – adventurous, energetic, fast-moving, high-energy

The Enneagram type Eight The Challenger

They are in the Instinctive Group and are self-confident, decisive, dominating, and combative, they are concerned with self-assertion and leadership. Positively, the potential for self-confidence, self-determination, self-reliance, magnanimity, and the ability to take personal initiative.  Negatively, the potential for domination of others, rude insensitivity, combativeness, and ruthlessness.

Typical therapy needs – Helping them to see that intimacy is not a sign of weakness and if they drop their guard they will see that true love and friendship will not threaten them. Helping them to let go of stress and phobias that stem from a fear of losing control. To mange anger or rage in more productive ways. To understand the ways in which other personality types like to receive information and to be managed (to become a better leader).

Addictions: Ignore physical needs and problems: avoid medical visits and check-ups. Indulging in rich foods, alcohol, tobacco while pushing self too hard leads to high stress, strokes, and heart conditions. Control issues central, although alcoholism and narcotic addictions are possible.

Enneagram type eight wing personalities:

Enneagram type 8 with a 7 wing is called the Maverick or Power Broker – confident, blunt, forward-moving, unrepentant

Enneagram type 8 with a 9 wing is called the Bear or Powerhouse – grounded, solid, massive, deliberate, forceful

The Enneagram type Nine The Peacemaker

They are in the Instinctive Group and are peaceful, reassuring, complacent, and neglectful, they are concerned with receptivity and interpersonal mediation. Positively, the potential for emotional stability, acceptance, unself-consciousness, emotional and physical endurance, and creating harmony with others.  Negatively, the potential for passivity, disengaged emotions and attention, neglectfulness, and dissociation.

Typical therapy needs – Helping them to face the fact that their ‘idealised’ world just isn’t real. To stop them ignoring difficulties until someone else has fixed them. To help them see their true worth, so they have the energy to engage in life and really find contentment.

Addictions: Over-eating or under-eating due to lack of self-awareness and repressed anger. Lack of physical activity. Depressants and psychotropics, alcohol, marijuana, narcotics to deaden loneliness and anxiety.

Enneagram type nine wing personalities:

Enneagram type 9 with a 8 wing is called the Referee or Mountain – steady, patient, absorbing, waiting, observant

Enneagram type 9 with a 1 wing is called the Dreamer or Anticipator – open, child-like, idealizing, starry-eyed, impatient

What Enneagram type are you?

Let me help you understand you understand who your are and how to move up to the emotionally healthy version of your personality type, because this is when the world just feels right, emotions just feel right and things begin to make sense.

Call me and we can talk about it 01280 823059.

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