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

While typing others in personal relationships is generally discouraged in the Enneagram community, it can be incredibly useful for counselors to type clients for case conceptualization, treatment planning, and organizing a relevant approach to therapy. While not a comprehensive approach to therapy, using the Enneagram to identify a client’s type can certainly help clarify a client’s issues, patterns of attention and behavior, and strengths as well as suggest relevant themes for exploration and highlight potential paths to positive outcomes in therapy.

While the Enneagram can be both useful and empowering in therapy, it’s difficult to rely on the client’s self-report of their Enneagram type. I’ve seen where clients may be unwilling or unable to identify their true type due to low levels of self-awareness, an unconscious resistance to owning the qualities of their type, or an misidentification with the type they go to in stress (Stress Type) or in strength or growth (Growth Type). I have also seen a tendency towards self-report bias due to a client’s desire to be acknowledged for having the admirable qualities of a certain type or being viewed as a positive-sounding type. Lastly, it could be the client’s subtype is the counter-subtype for their type making it a bit more difficult to settle on type. Needless to say, it takes thoughtful reflection, genuine openness, and honest self-exploration for a client to determine their actual type.

Below are a few ways for a counselor to narrow down a client’s true type. The following suggestions have been collected from multiple sources on the Enneagram and questions I have often asked myself when typing clients with the goal of formulating key themes, helpful interventions, and treatment plans in my clinical practice.

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

BODY TYPES

Type 8: Power, control, influence, invulnerability, justice
Type 9: Harmony, comfort, other people’s needs and agendas
Type 1: Right v. wrong and correcting inadequacies

HEART TYPES

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

HEAD TYPES

Type 5: Potential intrusion, gathering knowledge, maintaining self-sufficiency
Type 6: What can go wrong, planning, being prepared for any possible outcome
Type 7: Multiple options, possibilities, planning pleasurable 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 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 most?

BODY TYPES
Action, vitality, self-determination, agency, justice, protecting others

Type 8: Intensity, Challenge, Influence, Strength, Invulnerability, Autonomy
Type 9: Harmony, Comfort, Adaptability, Stability, Agreeableness, Peacefulness
Type 1: Improvement, Honesty, Responsibility, Conscientiousness, Integrity

HEART TYPES
Emotions, feelings, relationships, connection, interpersonal dynamics

Type 2: Service, Compassion, Generosity, Connection, Caring for Others
Type 3: Successful Image, Recognition, Performance, Achievement, Efficiency
Type 4: Authenticity, Connection, Individuality, Creativity, Sensitivity

HEAD TYPES
Information, logic, knowledge, patterns, analysis, certainty, safety

Type 5: Self-sufficiency, Knowledge, Understanding, Learning, Solitude
Type 6: Trustworthiness, Loyalty, Security, Predictability, Preparedness, Dutifulness
Type 7: Positivity, Possibilities, Fun, Adventure, No Limits, Playfulness

Avoidance: What does the client seek to avoid in their life, work, or relationships?

BODY TYPES

Type 8: Vulnerability, Weakness
Type 9: Conflict, Separation from Others
Type 1: Being wrong, making mistakes

HEART TYPES

Type 2: Own needs, rejection
Type 3: Failure, Disapproval from Others
Type 4: Mundane, Inadequacies

HEAD TYPES

Type 5: Incompetence, Not knowing
Type 6: Uncertainty, Unpredictability
Type 7: Pain, Deprivation, Limitation

Defense: What appears to be the client’s most frequently used defense mechanism?

BODY TYPES

Type 8: Denial
Type 9: Narcotization/Numbing
Type 1: Reaction formation

HEART TYPES

Type 2: Repression
Type 3: Identification
Type 4: Introjection

HEAD TYPES

Type 5: Isolation, Detachment, Compartmentalization
Type 6: Projection
Type 7: Rationalization

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 expressed as intensity, excess, or force
Type 9: Sloth/Laziness – disengage from wants, needs, and priorities to avoid conflict or maintain harmony
Type 1: Anger/Resentment – anger about wrongs and imperfections and drive to correct them

HEART TYPES

Type 2: Pride – belief in indispensable helpfulness or importance and masking own wants/needs
Type 3: Deceit – deception about true self in favor of a successful image and socially-admirable identity
Type 4: Envy – insatiable longing for what is missing, especially in identity or experience

HEAD TYPES

Type 5: Avarice/Grasping – withholding of time, energy, and resources
Type 6: Fear/Anxiety – tendency toward self-doubt and security-seeking against real or imagined threats
Type 7: Gluttony – craving for experiences and stimulation often recognized as fear of missing out

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, Boredom, Imperfection

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

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

Consider Subtype

Subtypes reflect the client’s focus or preoccupation within their primary Enneagram type.

Self-Preservation (SP) – physical comfort, safety, resources, structure, security, preserving
Social (SO) – belonging, community, groups, relationships, status, influence, support, navigating
One-to-One (SX) – Self with one other, affection, intimacy, bonding, attraction, transmitting

Something to keep in mind is that primary types can look like other types due to subtype.

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 accurate, the client’s chosen type could illuminate things you may have missed about them or suggest new themes/topics for inquiry. Such exploration in sessions can contribute to insights into what matters most to the client as well as progress towards positive outcomes in 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 Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge by Beatrice Chestnut Ph.D.
The Wisdom of the Enneagram by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson