How anxiety manifests for each type
How does anxiety show up for each Enneagram type?
This post is not about how anxious each type is, but about how easy (or difficult) it is to spot when each type is feeling anxious. For example, a 9's visibility of anxiety tends to be quite low, despite the fact that they may actually be feeling extremely anxious internally.
Each type's section is meant to help you identify when they're feeling uneasy so you can be a solid friend, colleague, partner, etc. and help them through it.
Ones
When Ones are anxious, they often become critical, fixate on mistakes, and withdraw emotionally.
Expression: Medium-low
Ones try to keep their “negative” emotions like anger and anxiety under wraps, so they may come across as more even-keeled than they feel inside. Nonetheless, their increased rigidity seeps through to anyone paying attention.
Strongest in: Self-Preservation instinct
Self-Pres Ones can feel especially anxious when one of their foundations (ex., fitness, finances, job obligations) feels unresolved or under a tight deadline.
How to help: Encourage them to set realistic standards and acknowledge that mistakes are part of growth and success. Help them reframe the situation to manage anxiety, and remind them that self-compassion is essential.
Twos
When Twos are anxious, they often become more frenetic, information-gathering, and controlling.
Expression: Medium
Twos may maintain a cheery exterior, but others can often feel their unease, which is marked by a sped-up desire to connect and attempts to feel like they are getting a handle on things.
Strongest in: Social instinct
Social Twos can get especially anxious when they're uncertain where they stand in their relationships with people, or when they've made a large handful of commitments that are becoming overwhelming.
How to help: Encourage them to communicate the full range of their feelings and uncertainties. Remind them that their relationships are strong enough to weather conflict, and that direct expression may be the more effective approach to sorting out their concerns.
Threes
When Threes are anxious, they often become more controlling, narrowly-focused, and emotionally suppressed.
Expression: Low
3s suppress their vulnerable feelings, so it’s often surprising when a 3 admits they are anxious. 3w4s often remain stoic, while 3w2s often mask their anxiety through a 2ish positive affect.
Strongest in: Self-Preservation instinct
Self-Pres Threes are straight-up hustlers, and can become anxious if their work projects or resources aren't humming along successfully.
How to help: Recognize their drive, but emphasize the value of being true to themselves over perfection. Encourage them to express their true feelings, and ask how you can support them in their mission.
Fours
When Fours are anxious, they often become moody, withdrawn, and fixated on suffering and feeling misunderstood.
Expression: Medium-high
Fours tend to make it known when they’re in a “mood,” expecting loved ones, especially, to be emotionally available for them when they’re stressed.
Strongest in: Social instinct
Social Fours can experience a deep tension between wanting to seamlessly fit in as a member of the group, while also wanting to stand out for being unique.
How to help: Encourage them to express the full depth and range of their feelings, and try to understand their thought process. Ask them what their feelings mean to them and how you can support their emotional processing.
Fives
When Fives are anxious, they often become more adversarial, obsessive, and fixated on gathering information.
Expression: Medium-high
Fives have a palpable anxiety that reveals itself through preoccupied thoughts and jittery movements, as they share their theories and concerns with people who will listen.
Strongest in: Relational instinct
Relational Fives are the most likely to outwardly express themselves, putting their thoughts out into the world where they can be fodder for others to destabilize.
How to help: Encourage a healthy balance between information gathering, emotional expression, and taking productive action. Provide space for them to articulate their thinking and ask questions to help them find clarity.
Sixes
When Sixes are anxious, they often become more nervous, question everything, and seek reassurance.
Expression: High
Sixes may appear slightly rigid or uneasy, but once given the opportunity to share, they’ll vent their worries one after the other as they seek stability.
Strongest in: Self-Preservation instinct
Self-Pres Sixes are the most highly attuned to safety and security, in a world where there is no such thing as indefinitely stable ground.
How to help: Encourage them to identify what they know to be true, whether it’s facts or foundational principles, and build off of that. Offer consistent support and reassurance, and help them focus on practical solutions.
Sevens
When Sevens are anxious, they often become scattered, restless, and overly positive, actively seeking distraction.
Expression: Medium
Sevens will deny their anxiety to themselves and others, but their frantic energy and smiling through things that are actually serious tend to be giveaways that they’re feeling uncomfortable.
Strongest in: Self-Preservation instinct
Self-Pres Sevens are the ultimate workaholics and consumers, and there are no real limits to how much one can work or acquire.
How to help: Encourage them to slow down to explore and address underlying emotions instead of seeking constant distractions. Remind them that facing challenges directly can relieve burdens and lead to deeper fulfillment.
Eights
When Eights are anxious, they often become more internal and boundaried, but have a quick, defensive, and aggressive trigger.
Expression: Low
Eights tend to be tough and composed even under fire, but lower levels of patience and increased intensity can be a sign that they’re buckling down.
Strongest in: Social instinct
Social Eights are the only instinct that is actually quite sensitive to what other people think about them. Their "I don't give a sh*t what others think" combines with "actually, I kinda care," creating a real tension.
How to help: Remind them that anger is often a mask for more vulnerable feelings, like fear and sadness. Give them space to articulate their thoughts and feelings, and help them find ways of reframing the situation.
Nines
When Nines are anxious, they often become passive-aggressive, fantasizing, and highly boundaried.
Expression: Low
Nines may seem fine as always. But the more unrealistic and detached they start being, the more anxiety there likely is lurking under the surface.
Strongest in: Self-Preservation instinct
The most attuned to their many cozy needs, and therefore the most likely to have one of those many needs disrupted or destabilized.
How to help: Encourage them to prioritize self-expression and address conflicts directly. Remind them that they will find more enduring peace by being emotionally vulnerable and working through their core issues.
Stay tuned for how more emotions show up for the different types!