The Alibis are specific strategies that every type adopts in order to justify aggressiveness towards others and the world. They are, in other words, nine styles of excuses our ego uses to justify actions that need it and to escape from guilt. In another sense, the Alibis can also be seen as a sort of reaction to what we think the others did to us. Working with these subtle mechanisms can be useful to improve our relationships with others and ourselves.

Antonio Barbato, Ph.D. and Giovanna Romano Barbato, Ph.D. have their Ph.D.s in Economy and Sociology and have been studying and applying the Enneagram since 1991. They both work and live in Naples, Italy and have several publications in Italian. Antonio’s provocative articles about the Inner Polarities, in cooperation with Jack Labanauskas, the Birth of Ego and the Original Drama or Wound, can be found in the Enneagram Monthly. Phone: 0039 81 5 5627765; Antonio: , Giovanna: