What would you be like if you became emotionally unhealthy? I don’t mean temporarily worried or frustrated or angry – I mean sinking to the lowest of lows: mental illness. Would you be a murderer? commit suicide? become schizophrenic?…
If you’ve ever spent any time on self-reflection (and you’ve been fairly honest with yourself) you’ve concluded that you’re unique. There has never been anyone in existence that is exactly like you – even in the case of identical twins. But I bet you know individuals that you feel you have a lot in common with you: crave the same results out of life; strive for the same “primary goal”: love, authenticity, knowledge, justice, etc…
The Enneagram defines nine personalities based on our “primary goal” and our fear of not achieving it. If you don’t know your Enneagram type, please visit this post, remember who you are and return here.
Within each Enneagram type are levels of health from poorest to healthiest. Of course, none of us spends 100% of our time at a single level of health. We may hover primarily at a particular level, but then vary with circumstances and maturity.
If you are at the epitome of health your “primary goal” in life comes true. But if you become very ill – emotionally and psychologically, the Enneagram accurately predicts the results: a paradox occurs – your primary goal becomes your nemesis, it defines your downfall. The Enneagram details the illness and symptoms for each of the nine personality types.
Armed with this knowledge, the actions of some persons, actions that make us say, “You’ve got to be kidding – are they crazy?” are no longer so mysterious.
**The health of most persons is somewhere in between extreme health and extreme illness. Think of a bell curve. Very few persons are at the far ends of the spectrum.**
Locate your type below, and learn why you definitely want to strive for the healthy side:
Type 1: The Reformer
- At your healthiest you are wise, discerning, realistic and truthful. You accept reality completely, hence always know the best things to do in a given situation.
- A Reformer in full pathology becomes a punitive avenger. In the pursuit of righteousness and truth, they refuse to admit their own wrongdoings. They fear being wrong and being condemned for being wrong. They blame others for all wrongs, become cruel condemners, merciless to the point of murder.
- Supporter of right –> judge and condemner –> murder
Type 2: The Helper
- At your healthiest you are deeply unselfish, humble, altruistic, kind and truly loving. You do not need love from others – you love yourself, and therefore others love you.
- A Helper in full pathology becomes a psychosomatic victim. The most loving of types demands love. They becomes hysterical, self-induced invalids, hypochondriacs. In their quest for love and attention, they drive themselves to illness and cause all those around them to suffer.
- Most loving –> manipulative to get love –> hypochondriac
Type 3: The Motivator
- At your healthiest you are authentic, inner-directed, charitable and benevolent. You need no attention from others – that that comes from within is sufficient.
- A Motivator in full pathology becomes a vindictive psychopath. They dwell constantly on their own falseness and emptiness and fear that it will be known by others. They will go to any lengths including murder to win. They must have attention and affirmation from others. They are full of vindictiveness, malice and jealousy. Many bullies are Type 3s. Click here to read more about the rise of bullying in our world today.
- Most authentic –> false, psychopathic –> murder
Type 4: The Individualist
- At your healthiest you are creative, honest, sensitive, intuitive, pursue self-knowledge. You are able to transform all your experiences into something valuable.
- An Individualist in full pathology becomes self-destructive. They withdraw and become full of self-hatred. In their quest for knowledge of self, they dwell on the negative, which becomes their new self-fulfilling reality often leading to suicide – the only thing they feel they have control over.
- Most self-knowledge –> negative, self-hatred –> suicide
Type 5: The Investigator
- At your healthiest you are perceptive, curious, excited by knowledge. You make pioneering discoveries, new ways of doing and perceiving things.
- An Investigator in full pathology becomes an imploding schizoid. They see life as meaningless and horrifying. They either commit suicide or become schizoid; they split their consciousness into two parts and regress into a part of themselves that seems safe – an autistic-like state.
- Most knowledge –> life has no meaning –> schizophrenic, suicidal
Type 6: The Loyalist
- At your healthiest you are trusting, independent, cooperative. You are truly courageous, a leader with rich self-expression.
- A Loyalist in full pathology becomes a self-defeating masochist. They punish themselves before anyone else can. Instead of being independent, they become clingingly dependent. They become so dysfunctional that attempts of self-punishment may lead to suicide. They often punish themselves with excessive alcohol and drug intake.
- Autonomous –>most dependent –> masochistic
Type 7: The Enthusiast
- At your best you are deeply grateful, awed by life, joyous, ecstatic. You are responsive, excitable, vivacious and multi-talented, always in motion.
- An Enthusiast in full pathology becomes a panic-stricken hysteric. They consume all that is in their world, but it’s not enough. Their inner world, which they have always ignored,breaks through with anxieties. They become manic in hopes of escaping their fears. They usually suffer physical breakdown from pushing their physical limits, STDs, drug or alcohol abuse leading to no longer being able to escape their fears.
- Most worldly, capable and happy –> riddled with anxiety –> physical breakdown
Type 8: The Leader
- At your best you are magnanimous, merciful, courageous. You have a vision and will work selflessly to achieve it. You are truly heroic and may be historically great.
- A Leader in full pathology becomes a violent destroyer. They defy all attempts to be controlled. They become ruthless, immoral, vengeful, sociopathic in their attempt to be invincible. They develop delusional ideas about their power: megalomania. They recklessly overextend themselves in a quest to control all.
- Truly, actively selfless –> identify only with self –> murder
Type 9: The Peacemaker
- At your best you are trusting, good-natured, genuinely nice, unpretentious, content. You have a calming influence and bring people together. You’re a good mediator.
- A Peacemaker in full pathology becomes a self-abandoning ghost. They must escape problems and demands often by living through others. They show no interest in themselves and fragment into sub-personalities, retreating into a state that resembles autism.
- Peaceful and self-possessed –> become depersonalized –> schizophrenic