The Essential Enneagram: A Comprehensive Guide to Self-Understanding, Personal Development, and the Nine Personality Types for a Better Quality of Life

The First Scientifically Determined Enneagram Personality Test and Guide

A centuries-old psychological system with roots in sacred tradition, the Enneagram can be an invaluable guide in your journey toward self-understanding and self-development. In this book, Stanford University Medical School clinical professor of psychiatry David Daniels and counseling psychologist Virginia Price offer the only scientifically developed Enneagram test based upon extensive research combined with a self-discovery and personal-development guide.

The most fundamental guide to the Enneagram ever offered, this book features effective self-tests to determine simply and accurately what your personality type is. Daniels and Price provide step-by-step instructions for taking inventory of how you think, what you feel, and what you experience. They then guide you in your discovery of what your type means for your personal well-being and your relationships with others, and they show you how to maximize your inherent strengths. Brimming with empowering information for each of the nine personality types—Perfectionist, Giver, Performer, Romantic, Observer, Loyal Skeptic, Epicure, Protector, and Mediator—this one-of-a-kind book equips you with all the tools you need to dramatically enhance your quality of life.

David N. Daniels, M.D. (August 30, 1934 to May 29, 2017) was a world-renowned Enneagram author, teacher, and thought leader, co-founder of The Narrative Enneagram and the International Enneagram Association, and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. As one of the founding fathers of the modern Enneagram, David N. Daniels, M.D. brought credence, rigor, and scientific validity to the Enneagram. In 1994, he led efforts to host and sponsor the first International Enneagram Association conference at Stanford University. In 2000, he released a Stanford University based scientifically validated Enneagram test, which still remains the top scientifically validated test today. David N. Daniels is the lead-author of the Enneagram bestseller, The Essential Enneagram (Harper Collins) updated and revised with new material in 2009 and an audio edition in 2025, lead-author of The Enneagram, Relationships and Intimacy published in 2018 and updated in 2025 with co-author Suzanne Dion, and co-author with Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. of Personality and Wholeness 2025. He also co-developed the outstanding DVD, The Enneagram: Nine Paths to a Productive and Fulfilling Life and The Enneagram in the Workplace. In private practice for over 40 years, David also taught the Enneagram system at Stanford University, in the community, and internationally on every continent for 30 years. David brought his knowledge of the Enneagram to individuals, couples and groups, and to a wide range of applications in clinical practice and the workplace. He has developed many innovative workshops, including The Dynamics of Vital Relationships, Anger and Forgiveness, Loss and Grief as Transformers, the Enneagram Gift to Love and Life, Intimate Relationships, Love and Will, and The Enneagram Gift to Mastering Conflict Constructively and Compassionately. His work is being carried on at www.drdaviddaniels.com.

Virginia Price, Ph.D., (1942-2005) was a psychologist with a private practice in Palo Alto. She wrote Type A Behavior Pattern, a book widely regarded as a landmark in its field.