Guide to actually using Enneagram: Self-typing

Continue from part 1, part 2 part 3 and part 4.

This is a small tangent from the previous theme.

I will start with the take:

It is more useful to type yourself based on the defense mechanism that is problematic in your life and that you want to work on.

That's it.

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Assuming you are learning Enneagram to improve yourself, the map and insight that Enneagram gives the most is defense mechanisms.

Everyone has their own defense mechanism. And it is very important to have one.

On a tangent, I don't know who the hell spread the idea that healthy people don't have or don't use defense mechanisms and deal with the truth directly. Do they know nothing about the truth?

If you react and do something about the objective truth, it is essentially a form of defense mechanism. Whether it is appropriate or not is another story. There is healthy usage of defense mechanisms and inappropriate usage of them.

If you believe healthy people won't use defense mechanisms, tell me what you mean by "dealing with the truth directly."

As it is for now, I've found that it is an empty, shallow buzzword that basically means:

"I like those defense mechanisms. I admire those. I will call it dealing with the truth without coping so everyone to know that these are cool. And those defense mechanisms that I hate, I will call it coping to make everyone feel cringe about it."

Maybe someone can explain better later? I have not gotten any good explanation of what it means and what's the difference between coping and "dealing with truth directly." But from psychology and therapeutic practice I learned, we view everything as a coping (without negative connotation). All human do is cope with life until they die.

Anyway, in Enneagram it is about fixation. It basically means you are so proficient and often stuck with a few sets of defense mechanisms. And when those do not work for your current life situation, you are in distress. And yet you are still fixated on those because, yeah, fixation. It is a core theory of Enneagram that humans have fixation.

So, if we throw typing accuracy away and focus on usefulness, you can simply ask yourself:

What kind of defense mechanism do I use too much and it's starting to ruin my life?

And then you can go pick the type that uses that defense mechanism, and then you can work on it.

Will this approach lead to self-mistyping? Possibly. But even if that is the case, it will also definitely lead to mistyping that is useful to your life.

So I find that this is the most useful way to do self-typing. And there were a few friends in my local Enneagram community who mistyped themselves this way for a few years, because at the time the defense mechanism that went haywire for them did not stem from their core type. And after they worked on it, they got a better life.

So what is a defense mechanism? I will write an oversimplified version:

E1: Reaction Formation I want to do X but it is not right so I will do the opposite of X. I have self-control. "I have an urge to eat an unhealthy diet, so I throw away all unhealthy food in my fridge."

E2: Repression The need is not mine. I have no need. You all need me.

E3: Identification I born to be X, I am X. What X does I would do, and not just do I will embodied the whole mindset (thought and feeling includes).

E4: Introjection Take a hardship internally and curate that into identity. "You accused me of being a bitch. I will show you what bitch me looks like. It won't be like any bitch you've ever seen." And now you become a bitch (in your version though).

E5: Isolation Isolate and minimize needs so hardship won't affect me. If I have no needs, the world can't drain me.

E6: Projection I will assume that you think this way so I know what to prepare for.

E7: Rationalization Hardship happens for a reason. There is a reason that I feel bad, and I believe those made-up reasons more than reality.

E8: Denial Blatantly deny the truth using forceful gut. "That is false. I know it. That is not real. Are you in touch with reality? This is reality"

E9: Narcotization Numb oneself to a familiar and peaceful state.

Above are super oversimplified without any nuance but more for making a rough idea. If you want the good version, take a look at this from Raff.

Another good reason to use defense mechanisms to type: avoid romanticization of type, including your own self. So if you type this way, it would be hard for you to use Enneagram to reinforce your ego.

Now if you want to type yourself, select which defense mechanism is the most problematic one in your life and work on that.

I wrote this part because there is a trend where people start typing based on behavior, MBTI relations and triads, and I found that in my opinion, this often leads to simply ego identification and stagnation. Many people are too fixated on triads (attachment, hexad, assertive, superego) just for the sake of categorization and sometimes gain nothing from that.

The crux of Enneagram, especially growth, is about letting go of fixation and being able to use the right defense mechanism at the right situation, with full awareness.

There is a way to type yourself deeper than this, but for practical purposes I found this is the best starting point for anyone new to growth via Enneagram. I recommend this approach to my students as well.

I simply say something along the lines of: I don't know your Enneagram type and I can't type you. But here is a list of defense mechanisms—which one do you want to work on? And I can tell you the motivation and drive behind each defense mechanism so you know how to work on it. And that is how I sometimes introduce people to Enneagram.

(I did not teach Enneagram, but related theory where sometimes it leads to Enneagram discussion.)

That's it.