The Enneagram Dispute

What's Your Type?

If one has been on the internet in the past three years, it is more than likely they have stumbled across the word “Enneagram”. Eye-catching to some, annoying to others, the topic of the Enneagram is undeniably growing in relevance. The Enneagram is most basically a personality test. However, the Enneagram goes far beyond a basic Buzzfeed personality quiz which asks, at its core, irrelevant or whimsical questions with trivial answers to try and determine the taker's core values, their alleged spirit animal, what state they should be traveling to next, or anything and everything under the sun.Instead, the Enneagram test is a system composed of 9 personality types which are categorized based on a person’s main fears, motivators, and interpretations of the world. It is a typology system and has been developed into a detailed system in which significant study is needed to understand the full extent of the Enneagram and its meaning. After its increase of popularity in the summer of 2020, the Enneagram has gained intense critique as well as praise. The scientific trueness of the Enneagram was called into question in regards to its applicability and value in psychiatric therapy. Many even determined the Enneagram to be “pseudoscience at best,” leaving it no functional value in psychiatric therapy (Sloat). Thus, the question remained of whether the Enneagram was science, pseudo science, or something in between. People began to ponder the Enneagram’s true applicability and use in therapy if it were deemed to not be scientific. However, the Enneagram is not pseudoscience or scientific, rather it is classified as a non-science, using its explanatory abilities to effectively improve and enhance the scientific aspects of psychology, and therefore should be incorporated into methods of psychiatric therapy and counseling as it provides both the patient and counselor with insight to aid in the overall well being of the patient.

Prior to proposing a sophisticated and cogent argument regarding the value and applicability of the Enneagram, it is crucial to discuss and describe what the Enneagram is and how it functions. Ideas and theories concerning the inner workings of human personality have long been an intriguing fascination throughout the world. However, in the 1960s, a philosopher named Oscar Ichazo developed the Enneagram in Chili. Ichazo created the Enneagram initially as a larger program of human transformation which included ancient, spiritual elements that are not incorporated as intensely in the current model of the Enneagram. However the ancient wisdom traditions seen in Ichazo’s model are still a major part of the Enneagram today. Then, in the 1970s, Claudio Naranjo, a psychiatrist, learned the Enneagram model from Ichazo and “translated the Enneagram ideas and types into Western Psychological language”(Chestnut 12). Since Ichazo and Naranjo, the Enneagram has been fine tuned and developed into the complex system that it is today, including a whole set of vocabulary necessary to fully comprehend the entirety of the system. Thus, the Enneagram is more than just a personality test, it is a detailed system composed of vocabulary and concepts that are strictly used to crystalize the inner workings of the Enneagram. Most fundamentally, the word Enneagram means “drawing of nine” which is a literal description of the Enneagram symbol: “a nine-poined star inscribed in a circle that provides a framework for a personality type system of twenty-seven distinct character archetypes''(Chestnut 8). The Enneagram is designed to convey as to why individuals react to situations in the ways that they do.  Significantly, the Enneagram accounts for three centers of intelligence, and nine personality types, and 27 subtypes which provide anaccurate depiction of one’s personality in terms of the patterns associated with the way we function. The Enneagram’s central idea is that one’s “personality is made up of patterns”(Chestnut 8). Even when attempting to pay more careful attention to what is going on inside oneself, these patterns can be quite difficult to detect as the individual has been following the patterns for so long, they begin to become oblivious to the patterns. Therefore, the Enneagram acts as a tool in which the individual is able to recognize these personality patterns in themselves. Chestnut, in her book,The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge, writes that “by providing detailed descriptions of the typical thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that make up nine basic personality types, the Enneagram highlights how these habitual patterns get an act so that you can start to see them for yourself”(Chestnut 9). In this way, Chestnut implies that the Ennneagram’s effectiveness is directly related to growth rather than something static. Humans are mobile and versatile beings, meaning that if there is a tool in which humans can learn and potentially control  their unique restrictive habits, then it should be adopted into people’s lives. The Enneagram productively fits this description. Furthermore, Chestnut describes that “beginning to understand one’s own personality type allows for better identification of personality patterns” which allows for the individual to “release themself from the trap of choosing not to remain unconscious of those patterns”(Chestnut 8-10). Additionally, there are 9 primary personality types in the Enneagram: The Reformer, The Helper, The Achiever, The Individualist, The Investigator, The Loyalist, The Enthusiast, The Challenger, and The Peacemaker. These nine types make up the most fundamental form of classification that a person can fall under. The developers of the Enneargam understood another crucial part of what makes the Enneagram so sophisticated: that a person’s personality cannot be defined by a singular “type”. Thus, the Enneagram consists of multiple other “archetypes'' which further defines a person’s personality. In this way, the Enneagram’s inclusion of archetypes and subcategories help characterize individuals' reactions to circumstances such as their core desires and fears. This is significant because it sets the Enneagram apart from other personality tests which traditionally define a person into a singular set category and fail to take the versatility and growth of humans.

With a solid understanding of the Enneagram’s content and desired design and function, it is now appropriate to prove that the Enneagram is not pseudoscience or science, rather a non-science. Quite obviously, the Enneagram cannot be classified as scientific as science “focuses on the objective—essentially, that which is true no matter how you feel about it”(Sikora). Since the Enneagram deals with and centers largely on how people respond to and feel differently in regards to change, it cannot be rightfully classified as scientific because the Enneagram contains subjective elements. The subjective elements found in the Enneagram are best described as each type’s core desires and core fears. Fear and desire are subjective feelings that are unique to the individual, thus making the Enneagram not scientific. Additionally, the Enneagram is popularly deemed to be pseudoscience. This is common by both psychiatric professionals and general spectators. Luke Smillie, an Associate Professor of Psychology, stated that the Enneagram is “pseudoscience at best”(Sloat). However, this notion is false based on the fact that the Enneagram does not align with the definition of pseudoscience. Importantly, “Pseudo” means “false or sham”and therefore pseudoscience can be defined as “that which purports to be science but violates fundamental principles of science either through intellectual acts of omission or acts of commission”(Sikora). In other words, pseudoscience “includes beliefs, theories, or practices that have been or are considered scientific, but have no basis in scientific fact”(“Examples of Pseudoscience in Different Fields.”). With the definition of pseudoscience established, it becomes evident that the Enneagram cannot be classified as pseudoscience as the Enneagram neither claims to be scientific nor bases itself in alleged scientific facts. Furthermore, “Pseudoscience, rather than informing us, causes us to stop seeking the truth, instead settling for false explanations of objective phenomena. It is the embrace of illusion rather than the search for wisdom”(Sikora). Significantly, the Enneagram, as previously mentioned, was created for the search of wisdom regarding personality. Therefore, the Enneagram is not pseudoscience as it does not attempt to have people believe illusions as scientifically factual, but rather aims to find wisdom and self-discovery in relation to one’s personality. So if the Enneagram is neither scientific or pseudoscience, then what is it? The Enneagram is rightfully classified as a non-science, meaning that it is something which allows information and knowledge to be gained in alternative ways from science. These alternative paths to information and understanding are often identified as philosophy, spirituality, and the realm of values and ethics(Sikora). Sikora claims that “science tells us facts about the world; non-science helps us figure out what to make of those facts and how to live our lives accordingly”(Sikora). This division between science and non-science is often difficult to comprehend without example. Sikora provides a clear understanding of the distinction when he states that “it is possible to ‘know’ things non-scientifically. For example, the fact that I love my children is something that I ‘know’ subjectively and I cannot or need not prove it ‘scientifically.’ The realm of values and ethics is not the domain of science; it is the domain of philosophy, religion, and spirituality”(Sikora). With this information in mind, psychology is not simply science, it is a combination of both science and non-science as subjective values are a major aspect of one’s mind and thought process which is a main branch of psychology. Therefore, tools used in psychology ought to be applicable to either scientific, nonscience, or both realms. In this way, the Enneagram can quite clearly be identified as a nonscience because it does not meet the criteria to be classified as scientific or pseudoscience, rather the Enneagram seeks to gain wisdom regarding the human mind and personality through means of value and ethics as opposed to fact and evidence.

Next, it is vital to demonstrate the merit of  the Enneagram as a collective system in relation to personal development and psychiatric therapy and counseling. The Enneagram’s value comes from its explanatory abilities which improve and enhance the scientific branches of psychology. Furthermore, this value stems from the Enneagram’s ability to determine a patient's personality type, which then helps both the patient and the counselor to better understand the probable motivations of each client. First and foremost, the Enneagram is set apart from other personality tests because the “most useful thing about the Enneagram is its ability to succinctly and accurately describe what motivates you and why you engage the world in your unique way of being”(Belle). In this way, the Enneagram’s ability to explain the reasons behind the decisions and the motivations of a person’s thought process sets it apart from numerous other personality tests which often only offer how a person will respond rather than why. Thus, the Enneagram’s explanatory abilities make it distinctly unique and valuable in comparison to other personality systems or methods. This notion is further supported and stated best by Mario Sikora, an executive coach and consultant, when he says that “the value of the Enneagram, however, is in its explanatory power”(Sikora). Here, Sikora simply argues that the Enneagram is most essentially worthy of acceptance and use because of its ability to explain stimuli that drive each of the nine types differently. For example, Sikora states that one “can observe the actions of a particular Eight and interpret them post hoc through the lens of the Enneagram and derive some useful conclusions— ‘Ah, Jane had a very aggressive response to that proposal; it may be related to her ‘Eightness’ in some way; let’s explore this further….”(Sikora). Here, Sikora demonstrates how understanding a person’s Enneagram type is useful as it allows either the individual or a spectator such as a counselor to comprehend why the individual responded to a situation in the way they did. Therefore, the Enneagram’s explanatory power holds great value in personal and client improvement as it offers a clarification and deeper understanding of a person’s core fears and desires which allows people to better know themselves and control their unhealthy and manipulative reactions. Furthermore, the Enneagram also holds significant value as it is multi-purposeful and thus can be applied to numerous causes. Sikora states that “there are many ways of using the Enneagram—wings, subtypes, levels, etc.—that Enneagrammers can respond to almost any objection to the notion that everyone fits somewhere on the model,” meaning that the Enneagram is universally applicable(Sikora). This is significant as most other personality systems and tests are limited to the ways in which they can be applied and used. This is not to diminish the value of other personality tests, rather to emphasize and highlight the merit of the Enneagram in relation to psychology which is a broad category in need of tools which can be applied in multiple ways. The Enneagram fits this need as it “provides numerous, practical applications in virtually all areas of life including intimate relationships and family life, spiritual development, therapeutic settings, business, education, government and non-profit organizations”(The Ohio Valley). These applications are all included in psychiatric therapy, proving that the Enneagram holds significant value in the field of psychology. Since the Enneagram’s explanatory abilities can be used to understand the motivations behind actions involved in almost all areas of life, the Enneagram deserves to be deemed useful in psychology and counseling. Furthermore, the Enneagram’s main uniqueness in value comes from its ability to not only connect the scientific and non-science aspects of psychology, but also to enhance the connection between the two. The Ohio Valley supports this notion effectively when they say that the Enneagram is a “psychospiritual tool” which links the “observable psychological perspective to the spiritual level and shows how to integrate the two”(The Ohio Valley). Therefore, the self-observation aspect of the Enneagram proves to be quite valuable as one has the potential to “become more conscious of their own patterns, leading to more conscious conduct”(The Ohio Valley). Thus, the applicability of the Enneagram and its use in multiple areas of life significantly makes it stand out and hold great value in enhancing the scientific aspects of psychology as its explanatory power allows for scientific conclusions to be deeper understood and evaluated on a personal level. This would be impossible without a nonscience element like the Enneagram which takes subjectivity into account, improving the factual diagnoses found by the scientific parts of psychology. With these notions in mind, it can be concluded that “a person who truly wants to understand the world and their place in it should try to practice scientific thinking and non-scientific thinking in equal measures and apply it to the correct domain--” with that domain being psychology and counseling(Sikora).

Based on the fore-established claims regarding the Enneagram’s classification and value in psychology, the Enneagram should therefore be incorporated into methods of psychiatric therapy and counseling as it provides both the patient and counselor with insight to aid in the overall well being of the patient. Importantly, the Enneagram should not be the center of therapy and counseling, but rather act as an assistant to enhance the scientific aspects of psychology in order to reach the full potential of understanding a client’s mind and motivators. First, it should be recognized that professional therapy and counseling should have its foundation rooted in science. A patient is diagnosed with depression, anxiety, or PTSD. From the scientific diagnosis, then it is appropriate to explore non-science options for therapy such as the Enneagram. Additionally, the Enneagram isn't a cure, rather a tool that “does not put us in a box, but instead helps us see the box from which we view the world”(The Ohio Valley). Here, it is emphasized that the Enneagram system is useful in being applied to therapy and counseling because it allows people to look outside one’s mental limits. Through receiving a greater sense of one’s unknowingly, natural constraints, people can begin to cultivate healthy relationships which leads to trust and a more full understanding of oneself and others. In this way, the Enneagram ought to not function as a form of therapy itself, but “can be applied to any treatment approach”(Bartlett). Furthermore, Carol Campbell, a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst, claims to have found great success in incorporating the Enneagram as a tool in her therapy and counseling, keeping her foundation in science. She said that “as a marriage and family therapist, I have found that my patients seem to respond the best when I incorporate the Enneagram into our work together”(Campbell). Campbell, importantly, does not force the Enneagram into her patient’s therapy, rather mentions her personal interest in it and if her patients express their own interest, she offers more information regarding the Enneagrams’s applicability and success. Campbell “rarely gets a negative” response to this approach to using the Enneagram in therapy(Campbell). Similar to Campbell, the Enneagram’s incorporation into psychiatric therapy and counseling should be voluntary to the individual. Its success and value are overwhelmingly evident in enhancing scientific aspects of psychology, yet its usage in one’s life should never be forced. This is evident as some therapists failed to incorporate the Enneagram into their therapy in an effective and appropriate manner. Bartlett, author ofThe Enneagram Field Guide, states that some “therapists failed in a provocative way by challenging their client’s story before the client felt understood, causing the client to feel more defensive”(Bartlett). Therefore, it is crucial that using the Enneagram in therapy must be done in a way that makes the patient feel understood rather than attacked. Thus, when incorporating the Enneagram into an interested patient’s therapy, having the patient first take the Enneagram test is crucial. Following that, the patient should read through each of the nine types’ descriptions to determine if they feel best fit with the one they matched with on the test. Additionally, therapists who saw success in their incorporation of the Enneagram in therapy suggest that clients should independently study the Enneagram system as a whole to “better understand their own motives and begin to recognize that their personality pattern is not who they are”(Bartlett). This is significant in relation to how the Enneagram should be incorporated in therapy and counseling because individual study of the Enneagram system “strengthens the client’s ability to be more objective about themselves as they learn to observe their defenses rather than act them out”(Bartlett). Finally, the Enneagram usage in therapy provides a respectful and comprehensive approach to understanding the worldview of not only one’s self, but also that of all other people, at least to some extent. This is crucial and beneficial in therapy because once the patient understands themself and feels understood by the therapist, trust can be built which leads to healing and personal improvement. Importantly, therapists need to take into account that incorporating the Enneagram into their therapy methods will need to be flexible and unique for each patient as every person’s Enneagram type is different and complex, just as their minds are. For example, type Sixes are typically fearful, meaning the therapist would have to take caution when discussing worst-case scenarios. Also, type Ones who are self-critical will feel attacked if they are highly praised by their therapist. These examples simply prove that the main thing to keep in mind when incorporating the Enneagram into psychiatric therapy is that each client is different and will need to be treated in relation to that notion. Elaborating on this claim, a woman named Jones, who is black, was deemed to be an Enneagram type Eight-- The Challenger. However, the uniqueness of the individual in regards to the Enneagram became obvious when Jones “later realized there was a common mistyping among black women — one she believes is rooted in stereotypes about black women as angry and strong”(Gerber). Jones understood that she possessed a strong personality with leadership qualities which are traits often observed in Eights, but there was one thing missing: Jones “doesn’t freely express her anger” as an Eight does(Gerber). So, Jones was mis-typed as an Eight when she was really a One, the Perfectionist, meaning she’s prone to tamp her emotions down. This example simply proves that the Enneagramis about self-awareness and discovery and therefore should be included in psychiatric therapy with great attention to the individual’s uniqueness of personality.

Lastly, it is vital to address the critiques of the Enneagram as a collective system, in regards to both its classification and value in professional settings such as psychiatric therapy. To begin, the most frequently asked question was whether or not the Enneagram was legitimate. Sanjay Srivastava, the director of the Personality and Social Dynamics Lab at the University of Oregon, deemed the Enneagram to be illegitimate as he stated “it doesn’t originate in a validated scientific theory” and there was “an absence of evidence”(Sloat). However, critics like Srivastava and others such as Smillie, who state that the Enneagram is “probably at the top of the list of ‘tests I would not recommend.’ It is pseudoscientific at best,” fail to recognize a very major fact about the Enneagram: it is not scientific and it is not trying to be (Sloat). Here, Srivistava, Smillie, and many more fail to take into consideration the true definitions of science and pseudoscience and therefore view the Enneagram in a negative light because it does not align with what they think it ought to in order to be considered useful. Many critiques of the Enneagram call out the Enneagram for not using facts or data. However, the beauty and value of the Enneagram is found in that very same notion: the Enneagram’s subjectivity and explanatory abilities is what makes it useful in cooperation with scientific facts in psychology to enhance the overall treatment and well-being of a patient. Furthermore, Smillie and Srivastava states that personality tests are good for amusement purposes, “but when they are applied in high-stakes situations and issues of ethics and fairness become involved, that's when it becomes necessary to work with experts and make sure you're using a test that's based in science”(Sloat). Here, again, the Enneagram is criticized and diminished in value based on its lack of scientific evidence. However, the Enneagram’s merit is illustrated through its alternative perspective it offers toward a situation or person’s mind in alignment with scientific data in order to enhance and better understand the complexity of a patient's worldview and personality. Thus, the claim that the Enneagram is only good for amusement is false. The last major argument made in opposition to the Enneagram as a whole is that of confirmation bias. Jennifer V. Fayard, an Associate Professor of Psychology, claimed that the Enneagram is guilty of confirmation bias: “when we believe something is true, we begin to filter information based on that belief’(Fayard). For example, Fayard discusses how a person claims to be a type Three and how all of their behaviors appear to match that description perfectly solely based on the belief that they are a type Three. Here, Fayard suggests that the Enneagram can cause people to overlook behavior or justify their actions based on their type which she deems dangerous. Fayard is actually correct in her warning of confirmation bias. This is a danger that is relevant regarding anything that is not scientific, meaning the Enneagram falls under that category. However, this can be avoided based on the measures discussed in regards to how the Enneagram should be incorporated into psychiatric therapy. When careful consideration and attention are taken, as they rightfully should be in a professional setting such as therapy and counseling. Then dangers like confirmation bias are avoided because of the extent to which the therapist and client have studied and discussed the Enneagram, thus trusting each other and walking on the path to healing and development. In these ways, the Enneagram remains a non-science worthy of being incorporated in psychotic therapy as its explanatory ability works with scientific aspects of psychology to improve the healing of each individual.

Conclusively, the Enneagram, although an untrustworthy system to some skeptics, proves to hold great value as a non-science that utilizes its explanatory abilities to help a counselor and patient better understand one another’s worldview which cultivates trust and healthy relationship. Therefore, the Enneagram should be incorporated into psychiatric therapy and counseling alongside a scientific foundation of psychology in order to reach the full potential of healing and personal improvement for each patient. Due to these conclusions, the Enneagram ought to be a tool used in therapy for those who are interested, but not the foundation of the patient’s treatment as the Enneagram works most effectively when incorporated with scientific data and findings.

Works Cited

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