Comparing Widely-Used Emotional Models

What they offer, what they miss, and how TEG-Blue builds on them

Below is a comparison of five of the most recognized emotional and therapeutic models — Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions, NVC, CBT, Polyvagal Theory, and the Zones of Regulation — alongside what TEG-Blue adds as an integrative, trauma-informed system.

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1. Wheel of Emotions — developed by Robert Plutchik

Consists on:

• The model describes 8 primary emotions (joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, anticipation).
• These emotions can combine to form more complex feelings (e.g., anticipation + joy = optimism).
• It’s often used visually, like a flower or color wheel, to show how emotions relate and intensify.

Strengths:

• Clear visual map of primary emotions.
• Shows intensity and blending (complex feelings built from simple ones).
• Useful for teaching emotional vocabulary.

What it misses:

• Doesn’t explain why an emotion “shows up” distorted (e.g., anger as boundary vs anger as control)
• Ignores context — the same emotion can mean very different things depending on whether you’re in Belonging or Defense mode.
• No pathway for healing or relational repair.
• Treats emotions as fixed, narrow buckets (joy, fear, sadness…), without showing the gradients inside each one.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Explains the systemic role of emotions (Connect vs Protect vs Control vs Oppression).
• Maps how emotions are interpreted differently inside the emotional gradient between Connect vs Protect.
• Includes trauma-informed gradients (hurt, neglect, abuse, malicious intent).
• Offers tools for repair, not just classification.

2. NVC — Nonviolent Communication, developed by Marshall Rosenberg.

Consists on:

• It’s both a communication method and a way of relating based on empathy.
• The core steps are:
1. Observation (what happened, without judgment)
2. Feeling (how you feel about it)
3. Need (what need of yours is connected)
4. Request (a clear, doable action you ask for)
• Example: Instead of “You never listen to me!”, NVC encourages: “When I see you looking at your phone while I talk (observation), I feel sad (feeling), because I need connection (need). Would you be willing to put it down for a minute? (request).”

Strengths:

• Provides a language structure (observation, feeling, need, request).
• Promotes empathy and reduces blame.
• Can transform conflict when used with goodwill.

What it misses:

• Assumes people are emotionally safe enough to use it (not always true in abuse).
• Can be weaponized by manipulators (e.g., fake empathy to control).
• Doesn’t explain why emotions distort under survival mode.
• Lacks a map of patterns — it gives tools, but not the bigger system.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Shows why NVC fails in unsafe dynamics (e.g., manipulation, tyranny).
• Adds emotional gradients to measure harm and distinguish discomfort vs real damage.
• Places NVC inside a wider framework of survival/belonging — explaining when it works and when it breaks.
• Provides visual tools that make feelings and patterns visible (helpful for neurodivergent users).

3. CBT — Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Consists on:

• A widely used form of psychotherapy.
• Focuses on how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are connected.
• The idea: if you change distorted thinking patterns, you can reduce painful emotions and change unhelpful behaviors.
• Often very structured and practical (worksheets, exercises, homework).
• Example: If you think “I always fail,” CBT would help you examine evidence, challenge the thought, and replace it with something more accurate like “Sometimes I struggle, but I’ve succeeded before.”

Strengths:

• Practical, structured, evidence-based.
• Helps challenge distorted thoughts.
• Good for anxiety, depression, phobias.

What it misses:

• Over-focuses on thoughts, sometimes minimizing the body and nervous system.
• Can feel mechanical or invalidating if deeper trauma is present.
• Doesn’t address power, relational abuse, or systemic harm.
• Healing is treated as an individual task, not relational or generational.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Integrates body, nervous system, and somatic patterns (not just thoughts).
• Places emotions in a relational + systemic context, not just inside the individual.
• Brings in trauma-informed gradients that show the difference between hurt, survival responses, and deliberate abuse.
• Connects personal healing with social repair (families, institutions, culture).

4. Polyvagal Theory — developed by Stephen Porges

Consists on:

• A model of the autonomic nervous system (ANS).
• Describes how our body shifts between:
• Ventral vagal (safety/social connection)
• Sympathetic (fight/flight)
• Dorsal vagal (shutdown/freeze)
• Shows how our sense of safety vs threat drives emotional and behavioral states.

Strengths:

• Brings the body and nervous system into the emotional conversation.
• Trauma-informed — explains why people react with shutdown or hyperarousal.
• Very influential in therapy, somatics, and trauma research.

What it misses:

• Focuses on physiology, not on the emotional meaning-patterns themselves.
• Doesn’t map relational dynamics (e.g., manipulation, power, abuse).
• No clear tools for communication or repair — it explains states but doesn’t guide action.
• Can feel technical for non-specialists.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Integrates nervous system states with emotional logic and meaning.
• Explains how these states translate into patterns of connection, defense, manipulation, and oppression.
• Provides visual, relational tools that make survival patterns understandable for everyday people.
• Bridges somatic awareness with relational repair.

5. Zones of Regulation — developed by Leah Kuypers

Consists on:

• A color-coded tool widely used in schools.
• Groups emotional states into 4 “zones”:
• Blue Zone: low energy, sadness, tiredness.
• Green Zone: calm, ready to learn.
• Yellow Zone: heightened, anxious, silly, excited.
• Red Zone: anger, terror, out of control.
• Taught as a way for children to recognize and manage emotions.

Strengths:

• Extremely simple and accessible.
• Popular in education worldwide.
• Gives children a shared language for feelings.

What it misses:

• Oversimplifies — puts huge ranges of emotions into one “zone.”
• Often used as a behavior management tool rather than true emotional literacy.
• Not trauma-informed — can shame children for being in “red” instead of showing why.
• No gradients or systemic understanding.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Provides gradients within each emotion, not just colors.
• Trauma-aware: explains why emotions distort, not just how to label them.
• Moves from behavior control to emotional understanding and repair.
• Designed to be neurodivergent-friendly, avoiding shaming or simplification.

Emotional Models Comparison Table