lil-hermit-crab

smokeythemajestic

Unrestrained summer fun

funkymbtifiction

Getting back to my question about Enneagram 4 are there any good examples of a healthy four and how they use there natural strengths but also make the effort to improve? Thanks.

funkymbtifiction answered:

Marianne Dashwood in Sense & Sensibility comes to recognize that the need to wallow in misery can lead a girl down the wrong road. She chased after a man that could not make her happy in any tangible sense, ignoring the much better option right in front of her, and dramatized her emotions to such an extent that she made her own misery ‘known’ – but in looking at the quiet, gentle, and admirable way her 1 sister internalized and suffered intensely, came to recognize her own need to grow into 1 integration. Marianne went from being a shallow (while considering herself deep) flighty creature to a mature woman who understood the virtue in finding a quiet form of love and a more moderated form of emotional self-expression. But in her 4-ness, she never denied her sister the chance to mourn, nor demeaned her emotional suffering once she learned the truth of her broken heart.

Possibly the single greatest thing the 4 can do for oneself is to recognize their own tendency to massively over-dramatize their emotions. That seems to be a huge first step in the growth of their ego-development. (I know 4s doing this as we speak, and I am so proud of them. I already see them starting to change.)

- ENFP Mod

funkymbtifiction

Psychological Defense Mechanisms and the Enneagram

funkymbtifiction

(If you are self-typed correctly, you should be able to come up with several specific examples from your own life of using the psychological defense mechanisms of your core type. Since your secondary type is also quite strong, you may also have examples to go with your higher / lower fix.)

Sourced here.

1) Ones use reaction formation to avoid anger (i.e. direct anger) and stay in control of their feelings and instincts in order to maintain a self image of being right. Reaction formation is feeling one thing and then expressing the opposite or at least something unrelated, such as feeling resentful but acting nice, feeling a need to rest but working harder. The relentless demand of the inner critic to be good and do good at all times replaces personal needs and shuts down feelings.

2) Twos use repression of personal needs and feelings to avoid being needy and to maintain a self image of being helpful. Repression is putting one’s “unacceptable” feelings and impulses out of awareness by converting them into a more acceptable kind of emotional energy. Self-esteem depends on winning the approval of others. This can take the form of being overly nice, flattering people, and a superficial friendliness. Or it can show up as an attitude of entitlement. Their genuine need for connection takes the form of “you need me.”

3) Threes use identification to avoid failure and maintain a self image of being successful. Identification is stepping into a role so completely that Threes lose contact with who they are inside. The pressure to keep up a winning image prevents access to personal feelings and needs. Attention goes to the external environment: the tasks to be done and the expectations of other people. Threes find it very difficult to drop the role, or drop the image, since they get so much positive reinforcement in a society that values achievement and success.

4) Fours use introjection to avoid ordinariness and maintain a self image of being authentic. Positive introjection is an attempt to overcome the feeling of deficiency by seeking value from an idealized experience, work or relationship and internalizing this through the emotional center. This also leads to negative introjection: Fours tend blame themselves for whatever goes wrong in personal relationships. Their experience of loss or abandonment can take form inside as a self-rejecting voice (a negative introject) which leads to pervasive feelings of unworthiness.

5) Fives use isolation to avoid the experience of inner emptiness and maintain a self image of being knowledgeable. Isolation can be physical withdrawal from others, but it also means withdrawing on the inside from one’s emotions and staying up in the head. Acquiring knowledge becomes a way to create safety and self worth, but an over-emphasis on the intellect prevents Fives from connecting with the life force in their bodies and the support available in relationship with others.

6) Sixes use projection to avoid rejection and to maintain a self image of being loyal. Projection is a way of attributing to others what one can’t accept in oneself, both positive and negative. Positive feelings are projected onto a romantic relationship or an external authority figure in order to assure safety and justify loyalty. Negative feelings are projected onto others to justify internal feelings of fear and distrust. Sixes support their projections by finding and amplifying the information which fits their premise.

7) Sevens use rationalization to avoid suffering and to maintain a self image of being OK. Rationalization is a way of staying in the head, explaining away or justifying things in order to distance from painful feelings and refuse to take responsibility for their behavior. Everything can be re-framed towards the positive. Their ability to think of new options and possibilities allows Sevens to leave the present moment with its limitations and live in a seemingly unlimited future.

8) Eights use denial to avoid vulnerability and to maintain a self image of being strong. Denial means to power up in the body center and forcefully re-direct energy and attention through willfulness and control. Vulnerable feelings are automatically put away and not experienced. Emotional energy is reduced, while instinctual energy is increased. Receptivity necessarily involves some vulnerability, so Eights seek to impact the world and other people rather than be receptive to them.

9) Nines use narcotization to avoid conflict and to maintain a self image of being comfortable or harmonious. Narcotization is using food and drink, entertainment, or simply repetitive patterns of thinking and doing to “put oneself to sleep”. Even productive activities can keep Nines narcotized if they become too habitual. Avoiding conflict with others keeps Nines from being fully present in relationships. Avoiding internal conflict leads to inertia and self-forgetting.