Comparing Widely-Used Emotional Models to TEG-Blue™

TEG-Blue connects existing models, frameworks and theories.

Each one of them — Plutchik’s Wheel, NVC, CBT, Polyvagal Theory, Zones of Regulation, IFS, Freud, Jung, Winnicott, Rogers, and more — has given us valuable ways to understand emotions. But each one also leaves spaces.

TEG-Blue weaves these models together into a single visual map. It connects what happens inside each model with what happens between them, and adds the missing layers that trauma and abuse survivors know are real — like the role of distorted emotions under survival, and the reality of malicious intent.

TEG-Blue acts as connective tissue — bridging across psychology, education, and trauma-informed practice to give us one integrative, neurodivergent-friendly system for understanding emotions, harm, and repair.

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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, control. oppression).
• 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.

6. Freud’s Ego Model — developed by Sigmund Freud (1923)

Consists on:

Divides the psyche into three structures: id (instinctual drives), ego (rational mediator), and superego (moral authority). Emotions and behaviors are seen as the outcome of conflicts between these three forces.

Strengths:

• Groundbreaking attempt to describe inner psychological conflict.
• Recognized that part of the self works unconsciously.
• Set the foundation for later theories of self and defense.

What it misses:

• Frames conflict as mainly internal, without relational/systemic context.
• Lacks trauma-informed understanding of survival states.
• Rigid categories that don’t account for gradients or social dynamics.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Expands beyond three parts into a spectrum of modes: Connect–Belonging, Protect–Defense, Manipulation, Tyranny.
• Shows how survival states distort emotions, not just within the individual but in relationships and systems.
• Provides visual maps and harm-measurement scales for repair.

7. Winnicott’s True/False Self — developed by Donald Winnicott

Consists on:

Explains how children develop a True Self when caregivers attune, but a False Self when they must comply with others’ needs for survival.

Strengths:

• Validates the pain of losing authenticity in early relationships.
• Describes the survival value of a False Self.
• Highly influential in developmental and trauma theory.

What it misses:

• Doesn’t show how masks escalate into manipulation or oppression.
• Focuses mainly on childhood, less on lifelong systemic contexts.
• Less visual/systemic for practical use.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Integrates the concept of False Self into the Ego Persona Construct Framework.
• Maps how masks form, shift, and distort across the gradient.
• Offers tools to rebuild authenticity and restore belonging.

8. Rogers’ Organismic Valuing — developed by Carl Rogers

Consists on:

Posits that humans have an innate drive toward growth, healing, and authenticity if conditions of empathy, acceptance, and congruence are present.

Strengths:

• Optimistic and empowering; highlights inner compass toward well-being.
• Strong basis for person-centered therapy.
• Emphasizes empathy and unconditional positive regard.

What it misses:

• Doesn’t map how trauma distorts or blocks the compass.
• Assumes conditions of safety that may not exist.
• Less explicit about systemic or relational harm.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Shows how survival modes override or distort the organismic compass.
• Explains how repair reopens the path to belonging and growth.
• Places authenticity inside a visual gradient, making distortions visible.

9. Jung’s Persona — developed by Carl Jung

Consists on:

The Persona is the “mask” we present to society — a social role that allows us to adapt and be accepted, but can hide our deeper self.

Strengths:

• Recognizes the adaptive function of masks.
• Highlights the tension between public identity and inner reality.
• Influenced modern understandings of role-play and identity.

What it misses:

• Stays symbolic and less practical for trauma survivors.
• Doesn’t map gradients of protective vs manipulative masks.
• Offers little guidance for repair or authenticity.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Places Persona inside the Role Mask Gradient.
• Maps how masks shift from protection → manipulation → tyranny.
• Provides concrete tools for reclaiming authenticity and belonging.

10. Internal Family Systems (IFS) — developed by Richard Schwartz

Consists on:

A therapeutic model that views the mind as made of parts: protectors, managers, exiles, and the Self. Healing involves building trust and balance among parts.

Strengths:

• Trauma-informed and compassionate.
• Normalizes protective strategies instead of pathologizing them.
• Gives people a language for inner dialogue.

What it misses:

• Focuses inward, less on systemic oppression and malicious intent.
• Parts are sometimes treated in isolation from social context.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Integrates parts into a relational/systemic gradient.
• Explains how inner protectors mirror relational patterns (e.g., defense, control, tyranny).
• Adds harm-measurement scales to situate personal healing inside collective repair.

11. Ego Development Theory — developed by Jane Loevinger & others

Consists on:

Maps stages of identity development, from pre-conventional to post-autonomous, showing how self-concept and meaning-making evolve.

Strengths:

• Provides a structured roadmap of self-growth.
• Useful for developmental psychology and leadership studies.
• Recognizes higher levels of self-awareness and integration.

What it misses:

• Largely cognitive; underplays trauma and emotional survival.
• Assumes linear progression, not accounting for regression or trauma freeze.
• Limited attention to relational abuse and systemic oppression.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Shows how trauma can stall or distort development.
• Integrates identity growth with survival/belonging gradients.
• Frames development as dynamic and relational, not only cognitive.

12. Goffman’s Dramaturgical Self — Erving Goffman

Consists on:

Proposes that social life is like a stage, where people play roles depending on audience, context, and setting.

Strengths:

• Brilliant metaphor of performance.
• Shows adaptability of the self in different contexts.
• Groundwork for Role Theory and social psychology.

What it misses:

• Doesn’t distinguish authentic roles from survival-driven ones.
• Overlooks how trauma and power distort role-play.
• Provides no path for repair or authenticity.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Expands into the Role Mask Gradient.
• Distinguishes masks rooted in belonging vs defense vs manipulation.
• Shows pathways for reclaiming authenticity and healing from role entrapment.

13. Defense Mechanisms — Freud & Anna Freud

Consists on:

Explains unconscious strategies like denial, repression, projection, rationalization that the ego uses to avoid pain or conflict.

Strengths:

• Early recognition of protective psychological strategies.
• Still widely referenced in clinical psychology.
• Shows how the mind adapts under stress.

What it misses:

• Often pathologizes defenses without showing survival purpose.
• Focused mainly on intrapsychic rather than relational dynamics.
• Doesn’t differentiate protective from harmful uses.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Reframes defenses as adaptive survival responses.
• Places defenses on a gradient: protection → manipulation → tyranny.
• Connects defenses to systemic harm and relational repair.

14. Cognitive Dissonance Theory — Leon Festinger

Consists on:

Explains the discomfort when beliefs, emotions, or actions conflict. People resolve dissonance by changing beliefs, justifying actions, or denying contradictions.

Strengths:

• Shows how humans strive for consistency.
• Applies across decision-making, morality, and identity.
• Influential in psychology and behavioral economics.

What it misses:

• Focuses on cognition, not somatic/emotional experience.
• Underexplains how trauma shapes dissonance resolution.
• Doesn’t address manipulation or denial in abusive contexts.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Shows dissonance as felt somatically and emotionally.
• Explains how unresolved dissonance pushes people into denial, defense, or manipulation.
• Provides repair tools to face contradictions without harm.

15. Disorganized Attachment & Complex PTSD Models

Consists on:

Attachment theory expanded: Disorganized Attachment explains paradoxical push–pull dynamics of fear and desire for closeness. Complex PTSD describes long-term effects of chronic trauma, including emotional dysregulation and identity disturbance.

Strengths:

• Trauma-informed and relationally focused.
• Explains paradoxes survivors live with (closeness = danger).
• Connects childhood experiences to adult patterns.

What it misses:

• Often focused narrowly on childhood or clinical trauma.
• Doesn’t fully map how patterns scale into systems.
• Limited tools for visualizing harm and repair.

What TEG-Blue adds:

• Integrates attachment and CPTSD into the Emotional Gradient Framework.
• Shows how disorganized patterns map onto defense/manipulation cycles.
• Offers gradients and tools for relational repair and nervous system healing.

…

Emotional Models Comparison Table

Anna Paretas Artacho

Creator & Founder of TEG-Blue™

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://teg-blue.org