IT’S PAINFUL TO SEE
who I grew up with!
PREVIOUS: Levels of Development – part 3b
SITE: “Essential Wholeness: Integral Psychotherapy, Spiritual Awakening, and the Enneagram”- Eric Lyleson
UNHEALTHY (7-9) – ALL Types
LEVEL 7 – Violation
♦︎ External Behaviors – We are dissipated, eccentric, empty, isolated, rejecting, unstable. We burn bridges & retreat
♦︎ Internal Attitudes – We are guilt-ridden, impulsive, nihilistic – with dark fantasies & negative expectations. We devalue, feel besieged but defenseless
♦︎ Desire is To – cut off all connections with the world and people (“to hell with everything”)
♦︎ Basic Fear of this Level – That the world is closing in on us
At Level 7, believing that life has violated us, seeing ourself as victims, which allows us to justify any offensive or abusive action. We become so desperate to get our needs met that it 
leads to terrifying behavior – we’re willing to harm ourself & others, causing serious conflict & damage.
● We tend to over-indulge in anything we think will eliminate our pain (food/drug/alcohol abuse, sex, exercise, self-cutting…), but since they’re just an escape from dealing with reality, they causes more suffering.
● We get highly dogmatic, intolerant, inflexible, self-righteous & very
judgmental. Tend to deal in absolutes, as if only we know “The Truth” & everyone else is wrong, while rationalizing our own destructive actions.
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LEVEL 8: Delusion & Compulsion
♦︎ External Behaviors – We are erratic, sinister, repelling others & have chronic insomnia. Can become delirious, may hallucinate, project
♦︎ Internal Attitudes – We are horrified, nauseous, manic-depressive, overheated, with weird perceptions. We distort reality, resist all help, become schizoid (withdrawn / separate)
♦︎ Desire is To – endure / survive our terrors (staring into the abyss)
♦︎ Basic Fear of this Level – That we can no longer defend ourself from both inside & outside influences
At Level 8 – Have become obsessive about imperfection & the wrong-doing of others, although we may fall into those very actions, hypocritically doing the opposite of what we preach.
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LEVEL 9: Pathological Destructiveness
♦︎ External Behaviors – We try to annihilate others & self-annihilating, suicidal, are ‘autistic’, deranged, paralyzed, with psychotic breaks
♦︎ Internal Attitudes – We implode, are internally chaotic, desperate for oblivion, split off. We feel panic-stricken & damned
♦︎ Desire is To – leave “reality”, to eliminate all sensory input, to break away from any kind of awareness
♦︎ Basic Fear of this Level – Our basic fear comes true: we are helpless, incapable & useless
At Level 9 we condemn everyone, becoming punishing & cruel – to rid ourself of “wrong-doers.” Severe depression, a nervous breakdown & suicide attempts are likely. Generally corresponds to the Obsessive-Compulsive and Depressive personality disorders.
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EXP: TYPE 5 person’s disintegration (re. school-shooting)
“On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza killed his mother, drove her car to Sandy Hook Elementary school where he gunned down 20 children and 7 adults before taking his own life.
It seems that Adam was a typical Enneagram #5 – highly intelligent, socially withdrawn with an inability to emotionally express himself.
• Pent up anger waits for a trigger. Any Type follows the same downward pattern as they deteriorate. Fives decide they need less & less of everything, including food, clothing, hygiene. They tend to become reductionists and worse, nihilists….”(MORE…..by Marcel Elfers)
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NEXT : Levels of Development – part 4
HEAL & GROW for ACoAs 