Enneagram And Depression: Exploring the Link

Depression is a complex mental health condition influenced by biological, psychological and environmental factors. While no single theory can fully explain its causes, many studies have found a connection between specific personality traits and vulnerability to depression.

Though the Enneagram isn’t a clinical tool, its framework offers unique insights into this connection. Moreover, as a dynamic personality and holistic system, the Enneagram test can help us comprehend how different personality types experience and cope with depression.

In this article, we’ll explore the link between the Enneagram and depression and how to use these insights for support and recovery.

Key Takeaways

• Exploring the link between the Enneagram and depression can give us practical insights into how to overcome the most challenging emotional experiences.
• Enneagram types and mental health are connected in the sense that each type’s core motivations shape their psychological struggles. How the Enneagram affects depression varies by type - each Enneagram type can be depressed, but each will manifest it differently.
• The Enneagram helps you recognize your core fears, coping mechanisms, and behavioral and thought patterns, thus allowing you to personalize your path to healing.
• If you feel symptoms of depression for longer than two weeks, it may be necessary to consult a mental health professional.

The Connection Between Personality and Depression

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” —Viktor Frankl.

However encouraging Frankl’s quote may sound, it is crucial to understand that depression can’t be considered as one of the choices an individual makes. Depression narrows perspective, making it feel like there are no choices.

Still, when we understand depression and become aware of it, only then do we get to choose our own way of coping with it. That’s where personality comes into play. Different personality types react differently to the same situations, and where one would respond with anger or ask for help, another would withdraw.

While these reactions seem automatic, they are actually a reflection of unconscious decisions and choices we made in our earliest years. So, depression is often connected with our childhood wounds, and the way we cope with these wounds depends on our personality type.

Therefore, understanding the Enneagram test and personality types can offer more personalized insight into the kind of mental health challenges we may be prone to. On top of that, it can offer more personalized emotional insight and strategies for overcoming these challenges.

Enneagram and Depression: How Depression Manifests in Each Enneagram Type

Each personality type can experience depression, despite the fact that some may be more or less prone to it. Below, we explore how each type copes with depression, what their triggers are, and how they can heal.

Enneagram 1—The Perfectionist

The leading cause of depression in Enneagram Type One is repressed anger, which they direct toward themselves. In normal circumstances, their anger comes out in the form of an inner critic that pushes them to strive for perfection in everything they do.

However, since perfection is rarely achievable, every failure to adhere to their high standards enrages them, triggering endless loops of self-blame, anxiety, and anger. Unprocessed, these feelings slowly but inevitably lead Ones to depression.

If their perfectionism goes deeper and they become emotional perfectionists too, Ones may be even more prone to depression, judging and punishing themselves harshly, not only for failing their high standards but also for feeling anger, sadness, or any kind of negative emotion.

Enneagram 1 and depression tip: Developing self-compassion is critical for overcoming depressive tendencies. Cognitive behavioral techniques for depression can help with reframing black-and-white thought patterns connected with perfectionism, while creative expression can help soften their self-judgment.

Enneagram 2—The Helper

Twos, also known as the Helpers, are driven by the belief that by catering to others’ needs, they earn the right to be loved, respected, and valued. Chronic neglect of their own needs and lack of reciprocity in their relationships lead to emotional exhaustion and are the primary trigger for depression in Twos.

What can particularly contribute to depressive outcome is Twos’ perseverance. They can give without getting anything in return for a long time before they become aware of how unhappy they are.

Apart from emotional exhaustion caused by overgiving, rejection, and loneliness, rejection can also cause depression in Twos. These sensitive, extroverted individuals need quality connections and a sense of belonging to thrive in life.

Enneagram 2 and depression tip: Learning how to practice healthy interdependence, recognizing codependent patterns of behavior, and strengthening personal boundaries is the key to healing.

Enneagram 3—The Achiever

Achievers don’t know what depression is as long as they achieve their goals, maintain the desired social image, and inspire admiration and awe in other people. Driven by the need to be successful at all costs, Threes repress all the feelings that may stand between them and their goals.

However, even when they achieve great success, they may become depressed as a result of neglecting their relationships and losing touch with their emotional needs. Furthermore, because it causes them to feel intense shame, failure can also exacerbate depression.

Additionally, these driven individuals may experience high-functioning depression, which can lead to addictions such as substance abuse, workaholism, or other disorders, often remaining undiagnosed for years until they undergo a major depressive episode or express their unmet needs through serious physical illness.

Enneagram 3 and depression tip: Redefining their self-identity and learning to separate achievements from who they are is the key to overcoming depressive tendencies. Somatic therapy can help them reconnect with their suppressed emotions.

Enneagram 4—The Individualist

Individualists are prone to mood swings, and melancholy is their natural state. They often romanticize sadness and can spiral into self-isolation, motivated by the belief that no one understands how they feel or who they really are.

Furthermore, their propensity to romanticize the past, look back, and have irrational expectations of their relationships can also lead to depressive states.

Their fundamental fear of having some sort of flaw is triggered by emotional disappointment, and they frequently come to believe that their flaw is the reason why their relationships don't work out. As a result, they are overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy and can easily sink into depression.

Enneagram 4 and depression tip: Emotional grounding techniques such as long walks in nature and breathing exercises can help Fours avoid being consumed by their feelings and spiraling into depression. Shifting their focus toward others and fostering close emotional bonds is an excellent way to prevent depression for Individualists.

Enneagram 5—The Investigator

Fives appear balanced, in control of their emotions, and too logical to experience any emotional extreme, including depression. However, because they don't let their emotions, particularly the sensitive ones, show in any situation, they may eventually feel cut off from reality and more likely to experience depression.

Depression in Fives manifests as numbness, withdrawal, and sometimes even schizoid tendencies. Living in a world of theories, they might neglect their physical and emotional well-being.

Enneagram 5 and depression tip: Embodiment practices, such as yoga, tai chi, or group walks in nature, help Fives reconnect with life outside their minds. Gradual social engagement and fostering connections with people who share their interests are also very beneficial for Investigators.

Enneagram 6—The Loyalist

Loyalists are the most anxious Enneagram type, and their anxiety is what makes them susceptible to depression. Long periods of excessive worry, sleepless nights, obsession with worst-case scenarios, and social fatigue pile up and may lead Sixes into depression.

In most cases, Sixes experience high-functioning depression, meaning they might perform their regular tasks relatively well while feeling numb and empty inside. Moreover, they are also highly prone to somatizing their repressed feelings and may suffer from digestive issues, headaches, insomnia, unexplained fatigue, and similar symptoms.

Enneagram 6 and depression tip: Cognitive behavioral techniques are effective for managing anxious thought loops. Focusing on overcoming trust issues and building genuine, close emotional connections should also be Sixes’ priority, as it helps them prevent depression. The company of positive, optimistic individuals also has a healing effect on Loyalists.

Enneagram 7—The Enthusiast

Though Sevens will do anything to avoid any kind of unpleasant emotion, that’s not a guarantee that they won’t experience depression. On the contrary, the more they run away and refuse to go through challenging emotional processes, the more likely they are to crash into an emotional void they’ve tried for years to escape.

Depression in Sevens is most likely to be masked as a seemingly harmless addiction to shopping, partying, or traveling. Their pursuit of pleasure becomes restless, impulsive, and eventually destructive, since the more they run away from their unresolved feelings, the more destruction they need. They may also be highly prone to substance abuse.

Enneagram 7 and depression tip: Somatic therapy helps Sevens process buried feelings. Introspection and knowledge about the emotional processes can help them understand how their emotions and their behavioral patterns are connected, and these insights can help them overcome repetitive loops of self-distraction and destruction.

Enneagram 8—The Challenger

Challengers belong to the Enneagram Gut Triad, which means their core emotion is anger, and unlike Ones or Nines, who repress their anger, they express it directly and without any hesitation. Therefore, since one of the leading causes of depression is repressed anger, Eights are the least susceptible to depression compared to other types.

Nevertheless, these powerhouses aren’t immune to depression. They may experience it when they feel humiliated for too long, when their progress is blocked, and when their autonomy is limited. Betrayal in love can also make them feel depressed.

Even when they feel deeply defeated, Eights will not show it but throw themselves into work. Since they deny any kind of vulnerability, they may also be prone to psychosomatic symptoms like chronic fatigue, pain, heart conditions, high blood pressure, and similar symptoms.

Enneagram 8 and depression tip: Learning to receive support, care, and tenderness is the key to emotional well-being for Eights. They need to reframe their beliefs about vulnerability, work through their trust issues, and build close emotional bonds with selected people.

Enneagram 9—The Peacemaker

Nines prioritize the needs of others and easily give up on their own desires and ambitions. They are natural caretakers who find happiness in ensuring harmony in their environment and the well-being of their loved ones. However, chronic neglect of their emotions comes at a price, and they often find themselves feeling lethargic, numbed out, and lost as a result.

Depression in Peacemakers often comes in the form of dissociation, which is their primary coping mechanism in stress. The problem is that they often confuse emotional numbness for peace and aren’t aware of how depressed they are. For example, they may stay in a relationship in which they don’t feel any fulfillment just because it is stable.

Enneagram 9 and depression tip: Movement therapies like dance, walks in nature, and any kind of physical activity are crucial for recovery for Nines. Assertiveness training can help them reconnect with their anger and channel it constructively instead of repressing it.

How to Use Enneagram for Support and Healing

The Enneagram test offers a powerful framework for identifying and managing depression by customizing self-care and fostering self-awareness. Instead of offering generic advice, the Enneagram supports you in understanding your core fears, defense mechanisms, and behavioral and thought patterns, thus allowing you to create your own, unique path of healing.

Moreover, the Enneagram emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to personality, meaning it doesn’t interpret depression as an isolated issue. The Enneagram sees depression as a consequence of disconnection from one’s true self, repressed core emotions, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and misalignment with growth paths.

Therefore, the most effective way to use the Enneagram to help with depression is to explore your personality type, your Enneagram wing, and the core motivations of each type, as well as Enneagram growth and stress arrows.

This way, you’re growing your self-awareness, which allows you to identify the best therapeutic approach for your needs and transform depression into a doorway for self-discovery.

When to Ask for Professional Help

The Enneagram is a powerful framework for developing and fostering self-awareness, but it can’t and doesn’t aim to replace professional mental health care.

If you’re feeling sad for more than two weeks without any objective reason, can’t find joy in things that usually made you happy, and struggle to perform tasks you previously found easy to complete, consulting a mental health professional may be the best solution.

Depression is different from the usual mood swings and short-term emotional reactions to stress. It is also different from grief, which occurs as a normal reaction to various events and helps to overcome what has happened.

What characterizes depression and what is the key difference compared to normal sadness are intensity and duration. Depression is constant and harsh; it affects cognitive and emotional experience and interpretation and therefore requires serious treatment.

So, depression is a complex, multifaceted condition and often requires a multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, using the Enneagram as a help in healing, along with psychotherapy, isn’t contraindicated. On the contrary, your therapist can support your explorations of Enneagram personality types with more in-depth explanations of specific traits and patterns.

Create a Tailored Self-Awareness Growth Plan

Take the Enneagram test to find out your Enneagram type and realize your full potential!

Final Thoughts

The value of the Enneagram is in its power to help us identify unhealthy thought and emotional patterns that fuel and sustain depression, not as a universal experience but as one deeply intertwined with our personality structure.

For a deeper understanding of the Enneagram and depression, you may want to explore coping mechanisms by Enneagram type. These mechanisms can shed insight into how the Enneagram and trauma responses are connected and how these responses can lead each Enneagram to anxiety and depression.

Finally, remember that reaching out is a sign of strength, not failure, and never hesitate to ask for help and support.

Enneagram and Depression FAQ