Can Enneagrams Serve as a Comparison for Personality Disorders?

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is pondering the adoption of a new diagnostic system for personality disorders (DSM). According to Bernard Carey, who recently wrote an article in the New York Times Science section, an individual’s personality defies consensus. Carey’s article goes on to suggest that the APA is looking for a unified system of healthy personalities so that mental and emotional disorders can be compared with these healthy personalities. Elizabeth Wagele contends that personality disorders can easily be compared to the nine healthy Enneagram types: the perfectionist, helper, achiever, romantic, observer, questioner, adventurer, asserter, and peace seeker. According to Wagele, these enneagrams help us to not only understand ourselves but also to have empathy and understanding of others.

Read the entire article here: The Enneagram as a Standard for the DSM