I will soon be facilitating another “Through the lens of the enneagram” group for therapists. Now in its third term, the group meet weekly to deepen a personal and professional understanding of the system. Its less ‘course’, and more an ever evolving interaction – we share some of the enneagram concepts; our own experiences of Type (and sub-type); and how our Type might be plugging into the Type of our client, so clarifying what is being co-created in the therapeutic relationship. As the group has taken form, there have also been moments where we have touched on the here and now process through the lens too. I am fascinated by the interactions within a group; and for me, the enneagram has much potential to be tapped when it comes to supporting systems thinking (when ‘form’ moves through to storm, norm, perform). As the group has a semi-open membership, true group process might not have the time to emerge – but certainly the invitation is there each week to consider how we have interacted with one another based on our Type (and where we place our attention)*.
A group that offers an eye to our place and contribution to group process can be both exciting and daunting to sign up to. This, and questions about the “value-added” the enneagram can bring to counselling and psychotherapy, are commonly mentioned in email enquiries when people are considering joining. And as a humanistic psychotherapist, the use of any ‘system’ that claims to describe human being requires scrutiny**. My decade-long study of the enneagram has revealed the dexterity of the system – and its not long into encountering the ideas that participants of the group (likewise, supervisees I work with) see it’s three-dimensional nature and capacity for flow: with Types, sub-types, wings, integration and disintegration points, and much more*** – this is a very dynamic system, far from pigeon-holing anyone.
Over the summer, I spent many hours and miles in the car and on the bike. Whenever I am travelling, its quite often that my mind turns to the parallel of the therapeutic journey – what else is a (Six) psychotherapist going to do with all that contemplation time? And one such musing was how the enneagram offers both a map AND a GPS system for us to know where we are and where we could be.
Before I share some of my musings, a caveat – there is NO aimed for destination in therapy. And, as many clients come to discover, its often a spiral journey back to where they already are – just different.
Enneagram as map
I love maps. Before embarking on the journey to the Vosges this summer, I spent hours poring over a map of France – getting to know the region, but also planning the options for the journey there, the journey back. This is when the trip comes alive for me, the moment the maps and atlas come out. Similarly, I value the overview and vast perspective that the enneagram offers – indeed, its circular symbol promises something of that – its the whole of who we are – just like a folded out map of the world. Taking in the whole, we see its more than the sum of its parts – yes, there are Nine ‘parts’, but the lines that join hint at its gestalt, its something more qualities. I imagine the ancients who constructed the enneagram would have loved the technology of virtual-reality headsets: the circular symbol could have been produced and communicated in three-dimensions, revealing its depth and flow. This is something we know about road-maps – we need to use symbols to indicate both what is being signified and its meaning. Churches are so much more than boxes or circles; and likewise, don’t confuse points and lines with arrows as static and formulaic.
Our symbols and signifiers in the territory of the enneagram are those processes that lay just below the topography: the ‘sign’ Six for instance indicates the passion of cowardice and the virtue of courage. For a brief description of other points of interest on our map, take a look here. The map the enneagram provides us is that of character structure. If we (figuratively) hold this map in the therapy room, we get a sense of what might be below the surface in our clients motivations (reminder, we cannot know another’s type by their behaviour: they need to reveal their subjectivity and lived-experience for us to know). The map we hold might help us look out for where the client is placing their attention (for me like other Sixes, I tend to be assessing for threat / safety in any given scenario). Furthermore, it might help us notice and reflect back a particular talking style (I have several clients who identify as Sixes, and we can share many moments of tender humour as we notice our “I think” prefixing). Ultimately, this map is our bridge of compassion. In her book “The Buddhist enneagram“, Susan Piver calls our attention to the enneagram as a path to loving kindness in everyday life. The enneagram’s circular symbol speaks to our common humanity; we have just fallen from that wholeness in nine different ways; and we suffer in nine different ways.
Enneagram as GPS
If a map gives us an overarching framework, the GPS is the equivalent of walking that terrain, the on-the-ground-manoeuvring of our lived-experience. Each Type has a character structure; and we then all live it out through a nuanced ‘defence system’: the idealisation, avoidance, and defence mechanism.
Going back to my sojourn in France. Once the route to get there (and back) was planned, there was then the reality of the journey itself. A map sets something out; the GPS takes me into the granular detail. Once in the car (or on the bike) I greatly value the real time, detail the “blue dot” offers. The dot indicates where we are in the terrain, and it helps us navigate turn by turn. Again, caveat time – metaphors always snap – no system can tell us which turn to take, nor should any therapist. Think of a GPS as an invitation – there are many routes after all, and it remains our choice to agree the turn AND turn the wheel.
The enneatypes’ defence system is how we hold the wheel. As a Six, I am constantly navigating my way through the world according to the parameters “I am loyal” (idealisation), steering away from uncertainty (avoidance), and attributing to others things about myself or my world that I cannot accept in both positive and negative dimensions i.e. “projection” in psychotherapeutic terminology (defence mechanism). These are the parameters of the Sixes routing through life. When I am following the blue dot (my script) I am thinking about the world rather than being in it; I am doubting myself and others at every turn. Some Sixes will doubt the instructions the GPS delivers (counter-phobic), another will follow it blindly (phobic). You can ask my wife which one I am!!!
Both / and
The great Indian Buddhist sage, Padmasambhava once say “though the view should be as vast as the sky, keep your conduct as fine as barley flour.” He warned to not confuse one with the other. Whenever I walk into a bookshop, I am reassured that they still stock shelves and shelves of paper maps – great technological advances have not yet ousted this trustworthy friend. We need both a map, AND a real time, lived out, on the ground sensor for the total approach to a healing trajectory: I plan this to be the central thesis of my third book (once I have navigated the second).
Not only is the shuttling between panoramic and focused attention helpful for an efficient journey, it can also help us when we lose connection with our inner compass and knowing (or in our metaphor, when we lose the satellite connection). Several times in les Vosges this summer Ms Google invited “turn right” only for there to be no road, or even worse when the road suddenly disappears into a poor excuse for one! GPS is not foolproof. Old fashioned map reading also comes in handy when you encounter un bouchon or even worse un chassé-croisé****. When both carriageways are gridlocked and so are major routes, reaching to the back seat for the paper map brings at least the hopeful search! Searching and scanning our experiential process with the wisdom of known patterns in our back pocket allows us to detect very subtle process. What feedback is the world giving me right now? What is the uncertainty that I am touching into? And how am I trying to escape? Zooming out to the vast panorama gives us some sense of our place relative to the horizon; zooming in helps us locate the bodily constrictions.
I imagine my frustration with easy criticisms of the enneagram comes over. Keep in mind the loyalty of the Six – we are incredibly faithful to the cause when we find one that is reliable and trustworthy! However, I hope you will not dismiss it as a “personality typing” and only do so once you have thoroughly trialled it and judge it on your own experiencing. Just like the map is not the territory, the enneagram is not real life – but this multiple layered, dynamic model has a lot to offer.
If you’re interested in the group, or know someone who might be, please get in touch!
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* As someone who identities with self-preservation Six process AND group facilitator, my attention is – quite comically at times – always on group safety and keeping the unpredictable at bay!
** More Six process!
*** not forgetting harmonic, hornovian, and object relations groups…AND our Tri-type
****The French fall into two main camps holiday wise: those who go away in July – les Juilletistes – and those who wait until August – les Aoûtiens. The worst weekend to go away is when both are on the road.