Five Quick Views of the Enneagram

The graphics below briefly summarize various approaches to understanding personality patterns at each of the nine Enneagram points.

First, the most basic self-images, using Karen Horney's phrase "the idealized self," from Neurosis and Human Growth. The idealized self arises from "coping with feeling unsafe, unloved, and unvalued by compulsively moving toward (1, 2, 6), against (3, 7, 9), or away from (4, 5, 9) others" (click graphic for larger view):

This view shows each fixation from the perspective of Helen Palmer's brilliantly brief "focus of attention" (click graphic for larger view):

Here are typical responses when "in the grip" at each point, based on descriptions from Relationships Made Easy by Sarah Aschenbach and Personality Types by Don Riso and Russ Hudson (click graphic for larger view):

And this one from psychotherapist Margaret Frings Keyes (The Enneagram Relationship Workbook) offers some psychological depth (click graphic for larger view):

Finally, in Emotions and the Enneagram, Margaret Frings Keyes framed the nine points in terms of Shadow issues, which I reframed in my work with executive clients who hadn't studied the Enneagram or psychology in depth, using the Enneagram only as a personality model. With those clients, Keyes' label of "Shadow Issue" became Driving Force, "Enneagram Program" became Behavior Set, and "Strength" became Development Need (click graphic for larger view):