This presentation will compare the Enneagram as pre-birth temperament styles with the theory of post-birth character structures and armoring from body psychotherapy. Wilhelm Reich, Alexander Lowen and others have developed a general theory of psychological stress from early childhood which is harbored in the body through body armoring and character structures or ego defenses. The presenter sees the Enneagram as a description of the innate temperament or nature of every newborn which then interacts with the nurturing of the environment to create a personality. Rather than a one-for-one correspondence between Enneagram types and character structures or armoring, we may find overlapping or complementary comparisons. It may be that each Enneagram type has one or more possibilities for body psychotherapy character development, but not all. There will be lengthy time in the presentation for discussion and demonstration.

Lynn Turner has practiced psychotherapy for 18 years with persons of all ages, couples and groups, leads Enneagram seminars and PAIRS classes and presented at national and international conferences such as the National Council of Family Relations (Nov. 2007), The Association for Social Group Work (July 2007), The Body Psychotherapy Conference (2005), the IEA (2001). She is currently on the Board and Executive Board of the Association for Body Psychotherapy. She has published two articles in professional journals and a chapter in the Encyclopedia of Social Group Work (to be released in 2008).