When the Two goes to Eight

The Direction of Disintegration for the Two is to Eight. This means that when the Two is under stress or pressure they act out some of the behaviours of the average to unhealthy Eight. The Two is one of the Types who rejects their authentic self in favour of a persona they feel will be more acceptable in some way. For the Two that persona is as someone who is helpful, generous and caring. And the healthy Two is all of these things. However, if they are not careful, they find themselves concentrating on the needs of others whilst denying or repressing their own needs. They also repress many of their negative feelings in the quest to be seen as a selfless and loving person. The problem is that we cannot repress or deny aspects of ourselves forever and the Two's move to Eight can be seen as the way in which they act out some of those negative feelings. They become more direct, sometimes very frank. If they feel that their efforts and sacrifices have been ignored, unappreciated or unreciprocated they start to throw their weight around. Initial disappointment with those who they feel have not loved them enough turns to anger. They make threats as a way of controlling them and, in short, become aggressive.

It is important to remember that the movement towards the Type in the Direction of Disintegration is not wrong. We subconsciously do it because we feel we are not getting what we need. Paradoxically however, in adopting the less healthy behaviours of this other Type, we end up undermining our attempts to get that very thing.

In my next post I will look at the Two's Direction of Integration to Four.