"What's your type? The relationship between Enneagram personality style" by Danielle Augusta Huber

Date of Award

10-2023

Document Type

Doctoral Research Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Patrick J. Aragon, Psy.D.

Second Advisor

Richard T. Elmore, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Kaitlynn M. Gokey, Ph.D.

Fourth Advisor

Heidi Hatfield Edwards, Ph.D.

Abstract

Despite its long history and ever-growing popularity amongst mental health providers and laypeople, the Enneagram model of personality has seen limited empirical support regarding its clinical relevance and efficacy. The present study sought to contribute to the literature supporting the Enneagram’s use in psychotherapy. As a majority of therapeutic services aim for the reduction and/or resolution of psychopathology, often in terms of one or more diagnoses, and as previous research has theorized how the Enneagram model and psychiatric diagnoses might be related (Palmer, 1988), it was the researchers’ intention to analyze whether these theoretical associations could be statistically supported. This cross-sectional design utilized a final sample of 891 participants, all of which had previously attended or were attending psychotherapy at the time of their response, and the majority of which were female (n = 824). Participants reported reasons for presenting to treatment as well as their primary Enneagram types as determined by a brief measure: the Stanford Enneagram Discovery Inventory and Guide (SEDIG) (Daniels & Price, 1998). As a result, several significant associations were found across various Enneagram personality types and diagnostic categories outlined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed., text rev.; DSM-5-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2022). As such, the study asserted conclusions regarding the Enneagram model as clinically relevant, pathologically informative, and a possible supplement to other, more formal measures of personality.

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