People who anticipate the world's dangers. When healthy they are often courageous, loyal and effective. When unhealthy they can be cowardly, masochistic and paranoid.

Six is the most explicitly fearful style in the Enneagram. People with this orientation are especially aware of life’s dangers and wary of the hazards that may lurk beneath everyday appearances. 

There are two types of Sixes: phobic and counterphobic. Their reactions to being fearful are so different that outwardly they can appear to be different Enneagram styles. When phobic Sixes sense danger, they lie low. They may act cautious, compliant or ambivalent in order to avoid potential attack. When counterphobic Sixes sense danger, they often deliberately provoke it by acting outspoken and aggressive, wanting to handle trouble before it handles them. Phobic Sixes can be charming, modest and meek while counterphobics can seem tough, challenging and punchy. Some Sixes are absolutely phobic or counterphobic, but most exist along a continuum where they are more one than the other.

Healthy phobic Sixes are steady, loyal and idealistic. They are dutiful, but in a voluntary, dedicated way. They are usually committed to a group, tradition or cause beyond themselves. They fulfill their promises, work hard and are honorable, protective friends. 

Healthy phobic Sixes are often gracious and diplomatic. They put people at ease and are well liked for their discretion and manners. Often they are very funny and have vivid imaginations. Healthy Sixes handle power with integrity and may be fair-minded leaders because they sympathize with underdogs. They can affirm their personal value but also want others in their chosen group to get recognition. Theyre not pushovers and they will take unpopular stands when necessary. Generally, however, healthy Sixes work towards solutions that benefit the group and allow everyone to win.

When less healthy, phobic Sixes can become more blindly dutiful even as they assume less personal responsibility. They might subtly shift their power onto an outside authority and begin to romanticize those who seem surer of themselves. The Six strikes an unconscious bargain with his hero, a bargain that says, I’ll do what you want me to do if you’ll protect me from danger. The Six then hides under an imaginary umbrella, pledging fealty to this outside force, growing addicted to the security that this arrangement seems to offer. The healthy Six capacity for deep loyalty is double-edged when less healthy; Sixes are often loyal to the wrong person. 

When they give away their power, phobic Sixes start to chronically worry and feel consciously helpless. To compensate, they become cautious and wary, trying to anticipate the motives of others. They may also try to check their own aggressive or powerful impulses, so that they don’t deviate from the submissive role they have agreed to play. They could have trouble finishing what they start as they worry about who will criticize the finished product. They may seem friendly, but can be passive-aggressive or give off contradictory messages as their anger breaks through. Phobic Sixes can also be nervous, hesitant, skeptical, tense, indecisive and attached to victimhood.

When deeply unhealthy, phobic Sixes become addled with fear and openly dependent upon others. They might surrender their life to work, becoming an abject slave to a job or a boss. They could act like weak, powerless losers and yet demand coddling from friends, tyrannizing others with their helplessness, placing strict, narrow limits on what they will risk or try. Very unhealthy phobic Sixes avoid challenges, chronically catastrophize, and may persecute others who deviate from norms. They can also be cowardly, legalistic, petty, intolerant, melodramatic and dogmatic. 

When healthy, counterphobic Sixes are often courageous, willing to take a tiger by the tail and yank. They can be physically adventuresome, highly skilled and have a real gusto for living. If they participate in a tradition, it is usually in the role of constructive gadfly. Their underlying mission is to serve the tradition by stirring it up. They consider themselves team players who offer useful alternatives, using the old as a springboard to the new. To this end, they may be energetic, honest, assertive, and have many good ideas. 

If a healthy counterphobic Six is not serving a tradition, he or she is often creative and original. Sixes’ ability to look past appearances and to question assumptions leads them deeper into a unique point of view. Artistic expression is attractive as a core assertion of their power and as a way to resolve a general sense of alienation.

Less healthy counterphobic Sixes often have an edgy, restless quality. Some channel their energies into physical activity; they enjoy sports and tend to be more openly competitive than phobic Sixes. Counterphobics tend to hide their insecurities with cool or tough masks. The point of physical challenge is to expel fear by facing danger. Instead of being passively afraid, they take risks, call up fear, and then beat it. If phobic Sixes are addicted to security, then counterphobic Sixes are addicted to insecurity.

Counterphobic Sixes are often defiant or rebellious towards authority and habitually find counterexamples to whatever others assert. Despite this attitude, counterphobics are often loyal, hard-driven workers and highly idealistic. They may feel more acutely that the world is unfairly biased against them; some Sixes have a ranting quality, especially when they talk about governments and power structures. Many counterphobics are wryly funny and good at satire. When insecure, however, their humor can bite and sting.

When deeply unhealthy, counterphobic Sixes can be aggressive, unstable and senselessly contentious. To quell their inner fears, they take action compulsively and are prone to making bad decisions. They can also be fruitlessly hyperactive as well as paranoid, accusative, belligerent and vengeful. Some counterphobics prize their hatreds and can be aggressively unlikable or even dangerous. When inflamed they can adopt a vigilante-like mentality. Deeply unhealthy counterphobics generally act much worse than the authorities they accuse of abusing power.
 

About the Contributor:

Thomas Condon has worked with the Enneagram since 1980. He has taught classes at schools like Antioch University, and the University of California, Berkeley, as well as hundreds of workshops in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. He is the author of 50 audiotapes, 19 videotapes and two books, soon to be more. You can find more information like this, his books, and his tapes at his wesite here.