How the Levels of Development Show you Your Path of Growth

Nine Levels for Every Enneagram Type

Enneagram types are not static. Just because someone relates to type Four, type Nine, or type Two, doesn’t mean they’re always going to behave the same way. People can exhibit different aspects of their Enneagram type in different days. What’s even more exciting is that we can consciously (or unconsciously) grow inside our Enneagram type, freeing ourselves from some of the negative aspects that come with our type, in order to focus on healthier ones.

Once upon a time, the Enneagram just knew about the nine types, loosely defined. Then, in 1977, the psychologist Don Riso began to expand the types by identifying nine ‘Levels of Development’within each type that help people grow.(2) He expanded his theory with his writing partner Russ Hudson, and their work has become an integral part of modern Enneagram theory.

According to the Levels of Development, within each Enneagram type there are Healthy, Average, and Unhealthy levels. Each of these can then be divided into another three sub-levels.

In the unhealthy levels, the person is dissatisfied with their life and may tend towards self-destructive behavior. For type Four, this could even include self-harm and suicide.

The average levels involve the person trying to gain control over their emotions, at first overcompensating, but gradually developing balance in their interpersonal relationships. For example, type Four tends to feel envious of what others possess, so they can work on the melancholy which envy can cause.

In the Healthy levels, the person works towards knowing and accepting who they are. In the case of type Four, it segues away from having the desire to be unique, channeling it instead into their creativity. By doing so, they experience the feeling of belonging that they were searching for.

To give you an example of what the levels look like, here they are for type Four:

The Nine Levels of Health for Type 4

The Unhealthy Spectrum

1 – Extremely unhealthy: You feel like you've wasted your whole life chasing after fantasies, like you have no identity at all. You may be entertaining thoughts of self-destructive behavior or even suicide, should no one come to ‘rescue’ you. 2 – Very unhealthy: You are so desperate to be unique that you hate everything about yourself that isn't, as well as everyone else for failing to save you from your misery.2 – Very unhealthy: You are so desperate to be unique that you hate everything about yourself that isn't, as well as everyone else for failing to save you from your misery. 3 – Unhealthy: You are afraid that you are wasting your life chasing dreams with nothing substantial ever coming from it. But rather than admit it, you wallow in self-pity and apathy.

The Average Spectrum

4 – Low average: You envy others for living stable and fulfilling lives, yet hate the thought of giving up your dreams to live such an 'ordinary' life. Your sensitivity turns into pretentiousness. 5 – Average: You define yourself through being different from everyone else, but worry that no one will ever recognize it. So you play hard to get, are self-conscious and melancholy, waiting for that special someone to come along and make you whole. 6 – High average: You are prized and seen for your individuality and imagination, and you like to intensify those feelings where possible. There's still that ache inside you, though.

The Healthy Spectrum

7 – Healthier: You express your individuality through creativity, not through sheer ‘being different’. You can be subtle, confident, eloquent, and sensitive, and start to feel like you belong. 8 – Healthy: You are self-aware, but not so self-conscious anymore. Most of the time, you know who you are and don't think you're missing anything. 9 – Fully integrated: You have let go of the belief that something's fundamentally wrong with you and someone needs to rescue you. You have found yourself and can enjoy your own and life's beauty.

Life on the Average Spectrum

Most of us, most of the time, live on the average levels (levels 4, 5, and 6). We’re neither at Level 1, the very best we could be, nor at Level 9, full of despair and hopelessness. I have only experienced Level 9 of type Four once in my life. I can assure you that I hope never having to go there again.

But I’m doing more than just hoping. I have consciously worked to help myself get healthier. At the time, I didn’t realize I was working on a Level of Development, of course. Looking at it now, the times I berated myself after any small amount of criticism, I was probably living on Level 7, being angry at myself and ashamed. Sometimes, I even felt the self-hatred of Level 8.

Choosing to Grow

Then, about two years ago, I got an email late at night. I saw it when I checked my email before bed, and the contents upset me so much that I couldn’t sleep all night. As is typical of type Four, I went over every offensive word in my mind, wallowing in each of them.

I realized then how precariously I was living – one email from one person could alter my life for days. I knew that other people would have shrugged it off, maybe being upset at first, but forgetting about it by the next morning.

So I consciously took a step, albeit a baby step. I stopped reading emails before bed. In fact, I wouldn’t read them after 8 pm, sometimes even 6pm. What could I possibly need to know at night that couldn’t wait until morning? I know family and close friends will text or call, not email, if they need me.

Taking that one conscious step, and sticking to it, has freed me from a lot of unnecessary worry. I don’t even recall who that email was from back then, nor what was so upsetting about it. That means I stopped going over and over it in my mind. As a type Four, that is growth for sure.

Curious, I went back to the Levels of Development specific to type Four. I can see that these days I am rarely on the Unhealthy spectrum. Yet, should I veer into them again, I have no problem getting help if I need it, as I did before.

These days, I am rarely melancholy. I have learned not to take everything personally, to realize and live the fact that while I cannot control other people’s actions, I can control my reactions to them.

And that moment when I was able to laugh after the phone call with my client? I might have been on the healthy spectrum. I’m not there every day, but I am striving to go there more often through conscious actions and reactions. With more work, I’m confident I can get to a continuously healthy level, at least on most days.

You can read a short introduction to the levels of development for each Enneagram type in our type descriptions.