Interpersonal Strategy and Associated Irrational Ideas

The Sexual 8 presents itself as a rebel and turns this rebelliousness into a kind of virtue, as it uses it to charm and dazzle. They like to exhibit it, to show it, to be seen as someone who goes against the norm and boast about it: “How to adapt to a world where submission has to be adopted?” seems to be the message behind their provocative, challenging, and

transgressive attitude, displaying an image of strength and confidence that, as we will later see, actually hides a great fear of vulnerability.

Rebellion is the fixation of this type and their way of presenting themselves to others: as a rebel who will not bow down to anything or anyone. The Sexual 8 is the one that most openly shows this facet compared to the other Eights. They are the most visceral and passionate, which leads them, according to Claudio Naranjo’s words, to “embody the voice of the Dionysian god, for being a defender of the enjoyment of freedom and a critic of the repressive character of society, to become an echo of something repressed or contained in the minds of almost everyone and therefore also a likable character.”

Óscar Ichazo called vengeance the fixation corresponding to lust, which Claudio Naranjo found accurate for a long time because Type 8 shows a way of interpreting events and intrapsychic experiences through the need to reestablish control over the other, thus confirming their value through vengeance. Vengeance should not be understood simply as a retaliatory act, but as a worldview: the toxic need to take revenge on those who hurt or offended, a way of relating to those who cannot be subdued, a person who cannot accept being hurt, offended, or betrayed, since that would take them back to their childhood when they could not confront the abusive or mistreating adult. Vengeance is the reason they rely on to restore their power and feel entitled to existence. Vengeance and rebellion go hand in hand and are part of the same cognitive program that supports a personality that goes against the grain, that does not conform, and that in defining themselves as “bad” has found an identity.

This type sees vengeance as a hope to settle the score with life. They tell themselves: “Life has treated me badly, they have hurt me, the way to make justice is through vengeance,” and this vengeance is usually unconscious, as a Sexual 8 puts all their effort into making this vengeance happen by inflicting harm on others, directly or indirectly. If that vengeance cannot be acted out, the Sexual 8 also has what we could call a distortion that life is unfair and, paradoxically, also the trust that life will carry it out. And we say paradoxically because this character usually only trusts themselves, but in this matter of vengeance, they do trust that life will ultimately execute it.

In the Sexual subtype, vengeance is more focused on one-to-one relationships and materializes, for example, in not letting those closest to them get away with anything. If someone close does something to them, they pay for it, and sometimes that payment comes through vengeance, emotional withdrawal, or anger. Until, in the eyes of people of this enneatype, the scores are evened, they will not stop, because as we said earlier, what is important for a Sexual 8 is not to connect with their own impotence. Their strength is put at the service of not connecting with this feeling, which is why they are experts at going

against others and switching into fight mode as a way to carry out this revenge and thus put themselves above whatever they consider at that moment.

The first revenge, the one they keep perpetuating, has to do with the figure of the mother or father, since it is common in their biographies that they saw one or both of them as an authority figure who behaved unjustly toward them, humiliating, mistreating, or abusing them, which is why they need to put themselves above them.

Despite the importance of revenge in the construction of this character, toward the end of his life Claudio Naranjo came to think it is more accurate to consider rebellion rather than revenge as the great cognitive error of Enneatype 8, which leads these characters to be considered, in their most expansive forms, manifestations of an antisocial personality disorder, which is why in his book we will address rebellion as the fixation of this enneatype.

Unlike most people who have adapted to society by becoming “good children” who comply with social norms without questioning them, the hallmark of Enneatype 8 is a greater faith in their natural impulses than in the voice of authority. For this reason, they dare to disobey not only their parents and teachers at school but also culture itself and the intellectual discourse that justifies it. Hence their manifest rebellion.

Naranjo emphasizes that although this antisocial behavior is usually labeled as a pathology or disorder in certain individuals, he cannot “help but feel there is a heroism in some people being capable of rebelling against the entire world, driven by a great faith in their natural impulses. If the world insists on calling it bad, bad is not worse than what is called good, to the point that the good are hypocrites.”

Naming the “bad,” it is precisely the Sexual 8 who presents themselves as the “baddest,” showing defiant behavior, consciously disrespectful of social conventions or even things such as truth or fidelity, while also being the most fiery and intense of the lustful types and the one who most vehemently embodies the role of the “bad boy” or “bad girl.”

The word “rebellion” comes from the Latin rebellionem, which literally means “to go back to war.” This etymological origin perfectly captures the cyclical and persistent nature of the fixation in the Sexual 8 type, as this is not an isolated act or a passing necessity; it is a constant declaration of struggle against anything that threatens the integrity of the self. This internal and external war manifests as a visceral rejection of submission, a perpetual fight against domination, whether external or imagined.

The core cognitive error, the fixation, is expressed in multiple beliefs that Claudio Naranjo calls “crazy ideas.” The term “crazy” refers to a way of seeing the world subjectively, without considering the full context of possible interpretations and therefore moving away

from reality. We do not understand an “objective” reality but rather the complexity of reality that takes into account the perspectives of others.

If we look for the crazy ideas associated with their fixation, rebellion, there is a wide range of beliefs aimed at keeping them out of any situation where they might sense even the slightest impotence: “I have to have power,” “No one can tell me what to do,” “My law is made and I am the one who commands” are some of these irrational ideas that the Sexual 8 mentally relies on to perpetuate and justify their character. These ideas about rebellion serve, so to speak, to feed their distorted worldview in which being rebellious is the only attitude they consider justified, because “those who obey are sheep.”

From Naranjo’s perspective, the fixation is not simply a response to trauma: it is an existential strategy that perpetuates itself because it fulfills a vital function. For the Sexual 8, this function is to preserve the integrity of the self in the face of a world perceived as hostile. Every act of rebellion is a cry of independence, a resounding no to submission, an affirmation of one’s own strength. But it is also a denial of vulnerability, an inability to accept that, deep down, the longing for connection and love remains alive, even if buried under layers of hardness. For a Sexual 8, “life is a jungle and only the stronger survive.” This crazy idea is based on the belief that “showing vulnerability implies a risk of death,” which is one of their greatest obsessions: to be seen as someone strong. There is something very primal, almost animalistic in this view of life, since the feeling these individuals have is actually survival, not of certain animals: if they are seen as weak or wounded, they become easy prey. For this reason, the irrational ideas associated with vulnerability drive them not to fall into it and to show strength, because for them “life is divided between two groups, the strong and the weak,” and they, of course, place themselves on the side of the strong as a way to guarantee their survival. The Sexual 8 also considers themselves not only strong but clever, trusting in their seductive side and in a certain, we might say, mental skill to manipulate others—even using lies—and win the games they start in life. For them, “the end justifies the means,” and of course, “it is right to lie to get what I want.”

How do Sexual 8s experience rebellion? For them, having power over the other is fundamental, hence the passion placed on possessiveness. The child makes a vow, and this vow is that no one will ever again humiliate or hurt me like my mother or father did. To fulfill this vow, it is necessary that no one have power over him or her, which is why becoming someone rebellious, untamable, and connected to their instincts is even necessary for their survival. Symbolically, it is as if they have internally killed their parents as authority figures to take that power for themselves, even seeing their death as a liberation:

“My father died when I was 17 and my mother when I was 23. When she died, I felt a sense of freedom from not having parents, and I told myself: ‘I’m free now, they have unchained me, I can do what I want, and I have no one to take care of or who worries about me.’” — Jesús Pérez

“I, who recently lived through the death of my partner’s mother, sometimes surprise myself imagining that my mother dies and feeling good, liberated. That fantasy has come to me.” — Irene

In their repertoire of crazy ideas about humiliation and power, they have deeply internalized that they will not bow down to anyone because “bowing down is a sign of weakness,” and remember that their character is built on the denial of weakness. They were humiliated as children for being weak, something they cannot allow to happen again: “They will never hurt me again,” is another vow they pronounce internally in their minds and on which they build the foundation of their rebellious and violent character, because “whoever allows themselves to be humiliated becomes weak, and weakness must be avoided at all costs,” they also say to themselves. In fact, there is a sort of aversion to the weak, an inability to tolerate fragility or anything, people of this character deny having ever been weak.

Regarding humiliation, there is a sort of pleasure and delight in humiliating those who deserve it (according to their view, of course), because in this act they find a way to demonstrate their power. “I have the right to humiliate whoever I want; they deserve it,” would be the crazy idea associated with this behavior, which in many cases can even be sadistic.

Neurotically they tell themselves they can only trust themselves, their crazy idea on which this fixation of rebellion, forged in childhood, is sustained. They are, therefore, people who only trust themselves, their own instinct, in which they place the confidence they could not deposit in their parents because they did not feel cared for or protected. They also trust what they feel as their truth, understood as their own criterion of values about right and wrong, which they allow themselves to brandish as if it were an unwritten law from which they can judge the rest of the world and from which they move through life. This truth can include attitudes that go against what is socially established, skipping social norms they consider skippable, and includes pointing fingers calling those who do obey them hypocrites—people they may even consider sheep of a perverse and perverting system, but they use to their advantage when they can, thus considering themselves smarter than others.

People of this enneatype often say that “my law is made and I am the one who commands,” to the point of becoming an obsession in their life: ensuring that no one has power over them, even if the cost of that is remaining on the margins of society and social norms. For the Sexual 8, one of the infallible weapons kept in their cartridge to perpetuate their power

is truth, because they feel in possession of it and love using it to attack and confront whoever, by their criterion, fakes it in vain. “I have the truth” is the crazy idea associated with their character. This kind of truth they defend as if it were an unquestionable right and, paradoxically, that certainty of truth is what gives them the authority to use truth or will.

“The world only starts to work when I arrive.” — Antonia Gurgel

“I don’t cross at a crosswalk no way and if I cross on a red light, even better. I also do everything on my own. And when they ask me for something, no one comes first and then we’ll see. All of this is rebellion, that is, all of this is an ‘I’m going to find a way that is not the established one, because those who do it the established way are sheep and I’m not a sheep and I’m going to find a way by fair means or foul and if it’s by foul means, better.’ In other words, if it’s going to cost me, better. If it’s uphill, better, and if I do it alone, better. And I think here lies all the rebellion.” — Jesús Pérez

“There is a part of me that is a rebel out of neurosis, but there is another part that is a rebel out of self-respect and respect for the truth. Am I going to feed this shit, me? If I have to feed it because I have no choice, I feed it, but if I can avoid it, I avoid it at all costs. So, I think in that rebellion we have a healthy point and a very neurotic point. I have been in places where we were risking our lives, they were killing us and no one rebelled. Are we stupid? They are sending us to death and nobody will say anything? There is a healthy point, and then there is counter-identification, that is: ‘If you all act like sheep, then I’ll be the exact opposite.’” — Bittor

In the case of the Sexual 8, behind this fixation there is a history of early wounds, of relationships in which trust was betrayed, of a love that was not given or that was given conditionally. These experiences shape a worldview in which power becomes the supreme value. Being strong, indomitable, rebellious, becomes a way to survive, but also a mode of self-preservation.

“Do not bow before anyone,” people of this type tell themselves, for whom another of their crazy ideas is that “you cannot trust anyone,” only themselves and, as we will see later, perhaps their partner or someone with a very special bond. Sexual 8s also know that “the rules are not made for them,” so they put a good part of their energy into seeing how to jump them or, on other occasions, how to ignore them. “I rebel against the system even while I’m inside it and that way I can blow it up from within,” these Eights also tell themselves, as we have seen in the previous testimonies.

In the childhood of people of this enneatype, the hostility of the world is not an abstract perception; it is a concrete and recurring experience. Betrayal, in this context, does not necessarily imply a deliberate act of malice by the caregivers, but rather a systematic failure

to meet the child’s needs. It could be a father who promises protection and then is distant or absent, or a mother who, in her attempt to control, stifles the child’s natural expression. These experiences create a deep wound: the child learns that they cannot trust those who are supposed to care for them, as we will see in depth in chapter six, dedicated to exploring childhood in more detail.

Betrayal is also experienced in small everyday gestures. It could be a mockery in response to a display of fragility, a correction that denies the child’s spontaneity, or even an indifference that invalidates their existence. Each of these moments becomes a lesson: showing weakness is dangerous, depending on others is an invitation to suffering. Faced with this reality, rebellion rises as a solution. Not trusting, not depending, not submitting are strategies that seek to protect that vulnerable heart hidden beneath layers of apparent strength.

“In me, rebellion has to do with going against something or someone. Since I was little, for example, I remember myself at school earning my place by arguing with the teachers. Once, when I must have been about seven or eight years old, I remember the Religion teacher talking about God and me telling her she was wrong, that God didn’t exist, and arguing my point. From there, I earned a place, a spot, because in the end my feeling is that the teachers respected me. I did the same during the years I worked as a journalist: trying to corner those I considered the bad guys.” — Leonor

“I can’t trust anyone, only myself,” the Sexual 8 child must have told themselves to survive a certain moment in their life, and with this idea they also went into adulthood, where distrust plays a very important role, because trusting the wrong person is a great danger and can even put them at risk of death. Rebellion is an attitude in life, as we are seeing, and the Sexual 8 also seems to tell themselves that this rebellion is what gives them a place in life, which is why “I will not bow before anyone.”

Rebellion also develops as a way to symbolically give back to the world the pain received (here we see the connection with Revenge). This cycle of constant struggle is a way to affirm that humiliation will never be accepted again, but it also creates a distorted perception of relationships. Those who try to get close to the Sexual 8 can be perceived as potential threats rather than allies.

“If you are not my ally, you are a threat.”

“Once, at about six years old, the teacher punished me along with two other boys for standing in front of the blackboard looking at the people standing. And it seemed super humiliating because I didn’t understand what was happening. I didn’t

understand why I was being punished. After a while, the teacher asked if we were sorry. My two classmates said yes and sat down. And I said no and spent the whole class standing with the feeling of being humiliated and not going to sit down, that is, ‘I’m not going to do what you want me to do. I’m not going to be submissive.’ At the end of class she asked me if I was sorry and I told her no again. The teacher finished, turned off the lights, closed the door, I was still standing, and the teacher watched me through the glass. Then my little sisters came and asked: ‘What are you doing here? Why don’t you come out already?’ I wanted to stay there all night, all night in front of the class, until they told me they were cold. Then my feeling was that because of my rebellion, they were cold, and there I felt very ridiculous.” — Gerard

“I started doing martial arts at 16 because I had anger attacks, to channel it. The gym I went to was very tough, very martial arts. It was cold, hard, heartless, but I had the feeling that finally someone treated me like a man, because I was fed up with being treated like an idiot. If you have to punish me, punish me, but tell me things to my face and treat me properly, treat me like a man. Many people didn’t last, but for me, it was preferable to that than being treated like an idiot in school, like an idiot. Many of us started and very few finished, but my feeling was this: ‘Finally, someone treats me like a man.’ In school, however, I lived a hell, I felt submitted because they treated me like an idiot, there was a psycho-emotional hardship. I preferred the hardness of the gym because they didn’t treat me like a fool.” — Bittor

The paradox of rebellion is that while it seeks to protect us, it also separates us from what we most desire. Naranjo expresses this with brutal clarity in Dramatis Personae: “The rebel fears submission because they confuse love with slavery.” This visceral fear of losing control, of being dominated, lies at the heart of the fixation of the Sexual 8. Every relationship becomes a battlefield where autonomy must be defended at all costs, even if that means sacrificing the possibility of intimacy.

Regarding the crazy ideas about love and partnership, there is a kind of oasis for the Sexual 8, because they think, “There will come a time when I will find someone who truly understands me and loves me, even though I am as bad as I am,” and that the connection they establish will be what saves them.

They therefore put a lot of effort into this search and into achieving this true connection, as if there were something beyond time and even space, as if it were something from another dimension or another planet. This longing is what drives their relational search — a never-ending quest; because if it does arrive, such a connection rarely truly arrives, or if it

does, it lasts only briefly. “Someday they will love me for who I really am,” they tell themselves, relying on this crazy idea to perpetuate their search.

Neurotically, the Sexual 8 believes that the only real bond of trust they have is with their partner, to the point that a crazy idea they hold is thinking that it is “the only place where I can let myself fall and show my tenderness and vulnerability.” It’s as if only they can show their inner child because “they won’t hurt me.” For this reason, when they sense even the slightest attack or loss of trust from their partner, they feel entitled to attack and act possessively, because what’s at stake for people of this enneatype is immense, and they need to feel they have control over the other person.

In the working group we created to write this book, there are a couple of people who worked in the police force. In a body with a clear hierarchical scale and seemingly strict rules, they did not reject their rebellion or apply what we might call their own law, as we see in the following testimonies:

“I found my place in the police by rebelling against the system: I was a cop against the cops, not a cop against the people. I found my place by not sanctioning anyone, by saying no to my boss. I would turn and look against the chain of command, against everything, and confront my boss, telling him that when I went out I didn’t see anything, but I did see a couple of things from him — and if he wanted, I could tell him.” — Jesús Pérez

“I joined the Ertzaintza because I needed time for my search. And I lied on the exams and lied everywhere. I’ve lied a thousand times to trick the system, and it never caused me any problems, whereas lying to someone I love causes me a lot of guilt; lying to the system, no. When I worked in the Ertzaintza, I saw things, for example about drugs, that I overlooked. But when it came to radicals, I couldn’t tolerate them because I considered them mafiosos, and I wouldn’t let anything slide. So my colleagues were amazed because they didn’t understand how sometimes I could be indifferent and then not let something pass. So, in some way, I was under the law, but my law was made.” — Bittor

The fixation of rebellion, like all fixations, is a distortion of reality. The Sexual 8 lives in a constant state of alert, interpreting the world through the filter of threat. But this perception, although based on real experiences, is not the only truth. Behind the armor, behind the strength, there is a vulnerable essence that seeks to be seen and loved. However, to access this essence, the Eight must confront their fixation, must question the stories they have told themselves about the world and about themselves.

The Freedom to Choose

Naranjo insists that this process is not easy. The fixation of rebellion is so integrated into the Eight’s identity that undoing it can feel like an existential threat. But it is necessary. It is necessary because true freedom is not in the act of rebelling, but in the capacity to choose, to act from authenticity and not from fear.

Rebellion does not disappear; it transforms. Instead of being an automatic reaction, it becomes an energy that can be directed toward building, toward creating real and meaningful relationships. The E8 who faces their fixation does not lose their strength; they refine it. They learn that being vulnerable is not being weak, but being human. And in that humanity, they find a deeper freedom than what rebellion alone can offer.

Refining rebellion and transforming it into a constructive force, turning crazy ideas into wise ideas, implies that the Sexual 8 must face their deepest fears. One of the most significant is the fear of vulnerability. This fear is rooted in the idea that opening up to another, allowing someone to see hidden wounds, equates to giving up power. Vulnerability is perceived as a direct threat to their autonomy, as an invitation to pain and betrayal. In this process, the Enneatype 8 must learn that openness does not necessarily lead to suffering but can be a path to genuine connection.

Another recurring fear is losing control. The Sexual 8 has often built their identity around the idea of being indomitable, of not yielding to anyone or anything. Giving up this control, even in small doses, is experienced as an existential risk. However, this extreme control is also a burden, as it keeps them in a constant state of alert and tension that exhausts their emotional and physical energy, since they think “if I yield to the other, I am at risk.”

The fear of rejection also plays a crucial role. Although externally they appear strong and impenetrable, internally the Sexual 8 fears being rejected for their essence, for showing themselves as they really are. This fear leads them to build walls that, while protecting them, also isolate them from the possibility of deep and meaningful relationships, since they think “if I show weakness, they will abandon me.” However, in the realm of the couple, they do allow themselves to show this vulnerability because they think it is “the only place where I can let myself fall” and “be as I really am.”

The process of confronting these fears is neither easy nor painless. From a somatic perspective, Sexual 8s often carry the accumulated tension of years of internal struggle. Tense shoulders, clenched jaw, and shallow breathing are common physical signs. When they begin working on their wounds, they may experience headaches, fatigue, and bodily discomfort as the body starts to release repressed emotions.

At an emotional level, they also face adversities. They may experience sadness, confusion, and fear as their old defense patterns begin to crumble. This process requires patience and accompaniment, since the Eight needs to learn to tolerate these emotions without resorting to their habitual rebellion as an escape mechanism.