Therapeutic Enneagram: Integrating into Counseling

An model for understanding personality types based on nine distinct personality archetypes. Enneagrams provide insights into individuals' core motivations, fears, desires, and patterns of behavior. The term "enneagrams" is used in its plural form because it represents multiple instances or instances of different enneagram types.

Each Enneagram type has a home base in one of the three centers of intelligence – head, heart or body – that shapes our way of being in the world. While everyone experiences all three, each personality type has a particular strength in one of them. This primary center is a key to overcoming blind spots, developing our potential and improving our relationships. Balancing the three centers helps us achieve a more balanced life.

Each of the 9 main enneagram types also has three subtypes which means there are actually 27 enneagram subtypes! This gives much more understanding to a person’s type and provides more potential for growth!

The enneagram types can be split into three Centres with three types in each centre: The Gut Centre (8, 9, 1), The Heart Centre (2, 3, 4) and the Head Centre (5, 6, 7).

We all have one core type, but we also have a secondary and tertiary type within each of the other two centres that are each called a fix (a short form for the word “fixation;” the original terminology for each type’s problem was “passion” and “fixation”). Those two fixes combined with our core type produce our Trifix.

The core motivations of the enneagram are broken up into two main groups: core desires and core fears.

Technically, these both go together or can even be considered one and the same because to want to be something is to fear not being that thing.