Enneagram is a system of typology which describes the personality of an individual as a number of interconnected personality types.

This has become popular in the spiritual and business domain but it is not widely accepted in evidence based psychology as it lacks empirical research. 

Enneagram personality is defined with the help of enneagram structure. It consists of a circle with nine distinct personalities.

The outer circle has an equilateral triangle inside which connects three of the nine points of the circle.

Rest of the points in the circle are connected through irregular hexagons. 

Description of the Enneagram 4w5:

An enneagram 4w5 may be described as someone who has artistic or romantic pursuits of some kind but who also wants to know many things. An enneagram 4w5 is likely to be very introverted but very curious and sentimental at the same time.

Overview of Personality type 4:

Personality type 4 is usually known as ‘The individualist’.  They are named so as they establish their identities by seeing themselves as different from others.

They believe that they are different from others having specific and unique qualities. Not only their qualities, they consider their flaws to be different from others too.

Because of their tendency to believe that they are different from others, they feel that they cannot be understood by others and are not loved adequately for themselves.

Unlike other subtypes, they are well aware of their qualities as well as their deficiencies. 

In a healthy state, type 4 has this ability to be aware of their own emotions. They can identify their internal motivations, conflicts and contradictions existing inside of them.

In their journey of discovering themselves, they might encounter certain things that they do not like but it is not likely that they will try to rationalize it.

They accept their inner self wholly and completely as it is. They are not afraid to share their shameful and personal things just in order to know the truth about their experience.

This experience lets them discover who they are exactly. This connection with the dark side lets personality type 4 to process emotional dilemmas effective and endure pain with strength. 

Nevertheless, personality type 4 often feels like they are missing something, without exactly knowing what they are missing.

They struggle to find this missing aspect of themselves that either it is will power, emotional stability, social ease, which others seem to have in abundance.

They are likely to believe that they do not know about some aspects of their personality.

They might not know the social persona they are comfortable with, which might be depicted in a form of identity crisis by them. 

Overview of personality type 5:

Personality type is known as ‘The investigator’. Type 5 personality engages themselves with learning new things.

They do not take things at their face values rather they question every belief and every authority and only accept certain beliefs after having logic for it.

They like to explore the world ranging from the microscopic world to biosphere.

They also tend to question and explore their inner world. Their search to find these answers constitute a major part of their day. 

Their constant pursuit of knowledge is defined by their deeply ingrained insecurities which is their lack of confidence in them.

They believe that they do not have enough capabilities to go on and succeed in this world. Thus, to overcome this insecurity, they constantly strive to achieve more and more knowledge so that they can compete with others.

They prefer being in a safe place in which they are comfortable with the things they know about.

They believe that if they are able to achieve that safe place in their minds, they will be able to join others in this life.

Personality type 5 is good at observing the working of the world around them.

They tend to just sit and contemplate about the cosmos, microscopic world, biomes and their inner world as well. When they sit and observe they also internalize this knowledge.

This internalization of knowledge tends to boost their self esteem. They are good at synthesizing their observation for example they can develop a symphony based on the sound of water flowing or wind blowing.

They talk about their observations about how the world is to others and when others are able to grasp what they are trying to convey, they feel acknowledged and appreciated.

This acknowledgement and appreciation helps them to overcome their insecurity.

Overview of 4w5:

Personality subtype 4w5 has basic personality 4 with influence of its adjacent personality type that is 5.

4w5 is a blend of personality characteristics possessed by personality 4 and 5. Personality 4 and 5 have many similarities but also have many differences at the same time.

They both tend to withdraw from others but for different reasons. Personality type 4 tends to withdraw to avoid rejection, while on the other hand personality type 5 withdraws to have their independence and their peace of mind.

These two personality types have different emotional needs. Type 4 craves for acceptance by people while type 5 is more of independent type.

The blend of these two personalities gives rise to following characteristics:

4w5 characteristics:

4w5 are not very practical but they are intuitive, creative and very inclined to academics.

Creativity comes from personality 4 and shrewdness of 5 lets them to innovate something which can provide them emotional and mental stimulation. 

Type 4 is usually sensitive to other’s criticism but influence of personality type 5 makes them more independent and less inclined to others.

Whatever they do, or the kind of the work they produce, they do it for themselves in first place and then for others. They do not care for other people’s opinions.

Type 4 is usually self-conscious but because of the influence of 5, 4w5 tend to be more modest. Their modesty depends on the intensity of influence of 5.

4w5 are very unconventional and are likely to be a part of a sub group. They are highly withdrawn from others around them and spend most of their time in their head thinking and analyzing about different things.

As they remain in their head they pay very little attention to people around them.

They might not be aware of their journeys inside their head but they serve two functions:

1. They are good at keeping things interesting for them
2. They let 4w5 to deal with the difficulties of life. 

Depending upon the influence of wing 5, 4w5 are likely to decline help from others as they believe that by letting anyone to help them or asking for help will make them socially indebted to them.

By receiving help from others, makes them obliged to reciprocate and help them when needed.

According to them, this reciprocity is a threat to their freedom, independence and autonomy. 

Another reason for their avoidance of any help is their feeling of vulnerability. Personality type 4 is really vulnerable in the first place because they fear rejection.

This feeling of vulnerability is reinforced by wing 5 as they believe that the outside world will take a toll on their mental, physical and emotional health. 

Characteristics of 4w5 can be described as follow:

• Original
• Analytical
• Perceptive
• Creative
• Secretive
• Independent
• Deep
• Intense
• Living in their heads
• Unconventional
• Distant
• Expressive
• Frugal

 Strengths of 4w5:

According to Enneagram institute, certain strengths are associated with each personality subtype which can help them to be effective and efficient in their lives.

The strengths associated with 4w5 are as follow:

• They stay true to themselves and with others too. They are not hypocrites who remain who they always are. 
• They are curious and always eager to learn something new. This curiosity lets them to be constantly engaged with learning new things which helps them in their personal and professional life. 
• They are connected with their inner self. This connection with the inner self lets them deal with their emotional dilemmas effectively.
• 4w5 have a tendency to live inside their head where they engage with logical and critical thinking thus this lets them be able to deal with problems by critically analyzing them. 

Weaknesses of 4w5:

According to Enneagram institute each personality subtype has certain weaknesses which can become hindrance in their way to success.

These weaknesses should be recognized and work on to be effective in their lives. Weaknesses associated with 4w5 are as follow:

• They have a tendency to withdraw from others which makes them ineffective at team work.
• As they live inside their head, they pay less attention to what is going on around them and might be negligent to important events. 
• They struggle to follow rules. Being unconventional, they are not very good at conforming to traditional roles and values
• They have a tendency to think about themselves a lot which can make them highly critical of themselves and they can be hard on their own self. 

Stressors for 4w5:

Every individual enjoys certain behaviors while trying to avoid others. If a person is forced to perform those acts it becomes stressful for them.

The behaviors which become stressor for 4w5 are as follow:

4w5 lives inside their head analyzing things, thus if they are unable to grasp certain things it becomes stressful for them.

Being influenced by 5, 4w5 needs to be good at understanding their internal and external world.

They are usually withdrawn from others thus when they have to spend a little too much time with others, it becomes stressful for them.

Being withdrawn, they hate engaging in small talk and casual conversation. Having an influence of 5 they require something which can stimulate them and their mind.

If conversation lacks this ability, it will be stressful for them.  4w5 withdraw from others because they fear rejection.

Major stressor for them is isolation and rejection from others.

4w3 vs 4w5 

The 4w3 are believed to be more in touch with the external world and the people living in it and seem to have a stronger tangible grasp on the world which can give them a superficial social instinct flair.

In contrast, 4w5 are said to be more mentally detached, where they prefer to spend their time gaining and deepening their knowledge of the world.

Conclusion:

Personality subtype 4w5 is a blend of characteristics of personality type 4 and personality type 5.

4w5 are usually withdrawn from others because they fear rejection but they can be highly creative and innovative.

They do not care much about the opinions of others which is usually secondary to them.

They are true to themselves and highly connected with their inner selves. Being self involved can sometimes become problematic for them.

FAQs about 4w5 enneagram 

References:

crystalknows.com/enneagram/type-4-wing-5

psychologia.co/4w5/

enneagrampaths.com/2019/01/13/enneagram-4w3-vs-4w5/

enneagraminstitute.com/type-4