Typing Tips for Counselors Using the Enneagram in Therapy – Part I

While typing others in personal relationships is discouraged in the Enneagram community, it can be incredibly useful to counselors for case conceptualization, treatment planning, and organizing a relevant approach to therapy. It does this by quickly clarifying the client’s issues, patterns, and gifts as well as by suggesting useful interventions and potential paths to positive outcomes in therapy.

Needless to say, it’s difficult to rely on the client’s self-report of their Enneagram Type. It typically requires far more than taking a test or a quick overview of the Type descriptions to determine type. Moreover, I’ve seen where clients may be unwilling or unable to see their true Type due to an unconscious fear of feeling embarrassment about their type culminating in self-report bias. Bias can also happen due to low levels of self-awareness, a preference to be seen as having certain admirable qualities or traits of a certain type, or having a preference for more positive-sounding types such as Type 3 for men or women, Type 2 for women, and Type 8 for men. More often than not, it takes some time, openness, and honest exploration to settle on one’s true type.

Below are a few useful ways to narrow down a client’s Enneagram Type. The following suggestions have been collected from multiple sources and questions I’ve asked myself when typing clients with the goal of formulating helpful treatment plans in my clinical practice over the past ten years.

Attention: What is the client’s primary focus of attention?

BODY TYPES

Type 8: Power, control, and fairness
Type 9: Harmony and comfort
Type 1: Right vs. wrong and correcting errors or inadequacies

HEART TYPES

Type 2: Other people’s needs and feelings
Type 3: Tasks and goals in order to be recognized as successful
Type 4: What’s missing and the longed-for ideal

HEAD TYPES

Type 5: Potential intrusion and gathering knowledge
Type 6: What can go wrong and being prepared for any possible outcome
Type 7: Multiple options and planning pleasurable possibilities/activities

Emotion: What feeling does the client seem to struggle with the most?

BODY TYPES: 1, 8, 9: Anger
HEART TYPES: 2, 3, 4: Shame, Sadness, or Separation Distress
HEAD TYPES: 5, 6, 7: Fear

Motivation: What set of fundamental needs does the client most attend to?

BODY TYPES: 1, 8, 9: Agency & Power
HEART TYPES: 2, 3, 4: Attention & Bonding
HEAD TYPES: 5, 6, 7: Certainty & Safety

Desire: What does the client want and how do they most want to be seen by others?

Body Types need to be soothed, Heart Types need to be seen, and Head Types need to be safe.

Ones want to be right/perfect; Twos want to be liked/needed; Threes want to be the best and successful; Fours want to be unique; Fives want to be knowledgeable; Sixes want to be safe; Sevens want to be busy and upbeat; Eights want to be strong; and Nines want to be peaceful.

Values: What does the client seem to value the most?

BODY TYPES: 8, 9, 1
Action, vitality, self-determination, agency, justice, protecting others

HEART TYPES: 2, 3, 4
Emotions, feelings, relationships, connection, interpersonal dynamics

HEAD TYPES: 5, 6, 7
Information, logic, knowledge, patterns, analysis, certainty, safety

Passion: What seems to be the client’s biggest barrier to change and growth?

In the Enneagram system, “passion” refers to the core emotional vice or fixation of each personality type. It is mostly an unconscious driving force that shapes behavior, desires, and inner struggles. It’s not “passion” in the usual sense of enthusiasm or love, but more like a compulsive emotional habit that arises when one is out of balance or disconnected from their deeper self. Each of the nine types has a passion that represents the emotional distortion or “shadow side” of the type’s motivation.

BODY TYPES

Type 8: Lust – intense drive for control and impact, oftentimes expressed as intensity, excess, or force

Type 9: Sloth/Laziness – tendency to disengage from their own wants, needs, and priorities to avoid conflict and maintain “harmony”

Type 1: Anger/Resentment – suppressed anger about their own, others’, and the world’s imperfections coupled with a drive to correct them

HEART TYPES

Type 2: Pride – belief in their indispensable helpfulness or importance and masking of their own wants or needs due an unwillingness to acknowledge them

Type 3: Deceit – deception about their true self in favor of an image of success often culminating in an excessive drive for status, prestige, and recognition based on a false, but socially admirable identity

Type 4: Envy – insatiable longing for what is missing, especially in their identity or experience culminating in a painful sense of being denied what others have

HEAD TYPES

Type 5: Avarice/Grasping – withholding of time, energy, and resources to avoid feeling overwhelmed, dependent on others, or overly burdened by others or life

Type 6: Fear/Anxiety – tendency toward self-doubt/doubt, ambivalence, and security-seeking against perceived or imagined threats

Type 7: Gluttony – craving for experiences and stimulation recognized as fear of missing out to avoid feeling pain, difficult emotions, or experiencing any restrictions on their freedom

Coping: What is the client’s primary coping style?

Emotional Truth/Reactive Group (4, 6, 8) – intensity, emotionality, and test others
Competency Group (1, 3, 5) – strive to be responsible, competent, and dependable
Positive Outlook (2, 7, 9) – bypass difficulty with positivity, activity, or numbing

Vulnerabilities & Issues

The following conditions or situations create vulnerabilities and issues for clients.

What is the client personally and relationally triggered by the most?

BODY TYPES: 8, 9, 1
Powerlessness, Futility, Imperfection, Being Out of Control, Boredom

HEART TYPES: 2, 3, 4
Identity, Success, and Worth

HEAD TYPES: 5, 6, 7
Being stuck, Uncertainty, Change, Planning for Problems, Anxiety

Stance: How does the client approach their life, work, and relationships?

Aggressive: 3, 7, 8
Aggressive types commonly cope with anxiety, vulnerability, and insecurity by seeking power, control, and influence over others. In unhealth, these individuals have the potential to display hostility, competitiveness, and a drive for superiority.

Characteristics of these types can include assertiveness — possibly to the point of aggression. They often have a strong need for power, control, or success fueled by a deep desire for recognition, superiority, or ambition. These types may also have a tendency to question others’ motives, view relationships as a battle for control, and have a history of exploiting or manipulating others to meet their needs or achieve their goals.

Compliant: 1, 2, 6
Compliant/dependent types commonly cope with anxiety, vulnerability, and insecurity by seeking and prioritizing connection, bonding, and relationships with others by seeking acceptance, approval, and support from them.

Characteristics of these types can include a craving for attention and validation from others and a fear of rejection as well as a tendency to gain security by seeking closeness and support. They may surrender their own needs, prioritize others’ needs, or please others in order to make others happy — sometimes at their own expense or to the point of self-sacrifice, martyrdom, and resentment. They may take a submissive or dependence stance in relationships or tolerate mistreatment in their relationships. Their conflict aversion is driven by a fear of abandonment, being alone, or rejected. They often suppress or resist expressing their true feelings in order to maintain peace and harmony in their relationships. They may also become overly dependent on others for reassurance and act as if their self-worth is determined by how much they are loved, needed, or meet others’ expectations.

Withdrawn: 4, 5, 9
Withdrawn types typically cope with anxiety, vulnerability, and insecurity by retreating into themselves. These individuals often display a strong drive for independence, autonomy, self-sufficiency, and emotional detachment.

Characteristics of this type can include a tendency to avoid deep emotional connections and a drive for self-reliance over dependency on others. They present with a pattern of conflict avoidance, tend to prioritize their personal space/solitude, and often indicate feeling drained by social interactions. To emotionally detach, they suppress both positive and negative emotions. These types can often appear aloof, indifferent, or uninterested in social activity and show a strong preference for intellectual pursuits, art, or projects over relationships. In fact, there may be a deemphasis on the value of interpersonal relationships.

Consider the Wings

If considering more than one Type, what set of wings so you see more of in the client?

Ex. If a client presents with qualities that could indicate a Type 2 or Type 3, ask yourself if you can see more attributes connected to wings 1 and 3 or wings 2 and 4 respectively. In another example, if comparing a Type 6 with a Type 7, ask yourself if you see more of wings 5 and 7 or 6 and 8.

Conclusion

These are just a few of the ways I’ve found helpful in identifying a client’s type. I mentioned a few additional qualifiers to consider during assessment in Typing Tips for Counselors Using the Enneagram in Therapy – Part 2. Of course, you can also ask the client to take a typing test or ask them to review the type descriptions to see what resonates with them.

While not always entirely accurate, the client’s self-selected Type could illuminate some things you may have missed or their findings can lead to further inquiry. Even if you don’t agree with the client, you can ask the client what they identify with in their chosen Type. Such inquiry can lead to insights and exploration into what matters to the client regardless of their Type as well as lead to positive changes and outcomes from therapy.

Helpful Resources for Typing

Online
The Enneagram Institute
The Narrative Enneagram

Books
The Art of Typing: Powerful Tool for Enneagram Typing by Ginger Lapid-Bogda Ph.D.
The Wisdom of the Enneagram by Don Riso and Russ Hudson