Don Richard Riso (17 January 1946 – August 30, 2012) was an American teacher of the

Enneagram of Personality The Enneagram of Personality, or simply the Enneagram (from the Greek words meaning "nine"and meaning something "written" or "drawn", is a model of the human psyche which is principally understood and taught as a typology of nine interco ...

who wrote and co-wrote a number of books on the subject.

Early life and education

Riso grew up in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. He studied English and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and received a

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Around 1962, he joined the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

(Jesuits) of the New Orleans Province, but later left the order without being

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

Enneagram work

In the early 1970s, some members of the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

order came in contact with

materials as it was beginning to be taught in Jesuit and other

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

institutions in North America. In 1974, as a Jesuit seminarian in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

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, Riso first learned of the Jesuit teachings on the Enneagram from Jesuit priest Tad Dunne. Riso said the Jesuit teachings on the Enneagram "consisted of nine one-page impressionistic sketches of the personality types" and fascinated him. In the following year, 1975, he left the order and began developing the brief type sketches into more detailed descriptions. Riso developed a number of original ideas regarding understanding the Enneagram, such as nine "levels of development" from "liberated" or "healthy" to "pathologically unhealthy". Riso spent 10 years in the

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

library almost daily from 10am to 5pm developing these ideas. In 1987, Riso published his 12 years of Enneagram thinking in his first book, ''Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery''. This work showed the influence of

Carl Gustav Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...

and also of

Karen Horney Karen Horney (; ; 16 September 1885 – 4 December 1952) was a German psychoanalyst who practised in the United States during her later career. Her theories questioned some traditional Freudian views. This was particularly true of her theories of ...

. Three years later he published ''Understanding the Enneagram''. In 1991, Russ Hudson joined Riso, originally to create a questionnaire for indicating people's Enneagram types. The result was the Riso–Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI). Several versions have since been developed, the present complete version consisting of 144 pairs of forced-choice statements. In 1995, Riso and Hudson founded the Enneagram Institute in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The institute has since moved to

Stone Ridge, New York Stone Ridge is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 1,173 at the 2010 census. Stone Ridge is located in the Town of Marbletown, along US 209 where it overlaps NY 213. History The ...

, where it offers workshops and trainings as well as publishing materials pertaining to the Enneagram. It is represented by the Enneagram Institute Network in more than 15 countries. Hudson participated in revising the book ''Personality Types'' for the second edition, which came out in 1996. Riso considered himself to be Enneagram type Four.

Death

Riso died on August 30, 2012, at 2:07 am, from

metastasize Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

Bibliography

* Don Richard Riso: ''Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery'', 1987 : with Russ Hudson: revised ed., Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1996. .
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* Don Richard Riso: ''Understanding the Enneagram'', Houghton Mifflin Co., 1990 : with Russ Hudson: ''Understanding the Enneagram. The Practical Guide to Personality Types.'' revised ed., Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 2000. .
books.google.com (preview)
* Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson: ''Enneagram Transformations. Releases and Affirmations for Healing Your Personality Type.'' Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1993. .
books.google.com (preview)
* Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson: ''Discovering Your Personality Type'' :3. revised and enlarged edition, Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 2003. .
books.google.com (preview)
* Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson: ''The Wisdom of the Enneagram'', New York: Bantam Books, 1999 .

References

External links

Enneagram Institute website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riso, Don Richard American spiritual writers Fourth Way enneagram 1946 births 2012 deaths Former Jesuits American Roman Catholics Stanford University alumni Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from pancreatic cancer