About TEG-Blue

The story behind the framework

TEG-Blue stands for The Emotional Gradient Blueprint.

It's a visual framework for understanding emotional patterns—built on the principle that emotions are biological information, not irrational noise. By mapping how our nervous system organizes around perceived safety and threat, TEG-Blue helps people name what's happening, regain their footing, and choose their next step.

The Problem

Psychology has produced extraordinary insights over the past century—polyvagal theory, attachment science, Internal Family Systems, trauma research, neurodivergence studies. But these insights remain fragmented: scattered across disciplines, locked behind academic language, and often inaccessible to the people who need them most.

Meanwhile, emotional struggles continue to be framed as character flaws, personality disorders, or failures of willpower. Behaviors that make perfect sense as nervous system responses get labeled as "toxic," "manipulative," or "crazy."

TEG-Blue was built to bridge this gap—to translate complex emotional science into visual patterns anyone can recognize in themselves and others.

The Core Insight

All human behavior is state-dependent nervous system organization responding to perceived safety.

This single principle changes everything. It means:

  • Inconsistent behavior isn't hypocrisy—it's different nervous system states
  • Defensive patterns aren't character flaws—they're protection strategies that made sense somewhere
  • Healing isn't about fixing what's broken—it's about restoring access to connection

The Four Modes

TEG-Blue organizes emotional patterns along a gradient of four nervous system states:

Connection

When safety is present. The nervous system orients toward engagement, curiosity, repair, and care.

Protection

When threat is detected. Energy mobilizes for defense—fight, flight, freeze, or appease.

Control

When connection feels impossible but survival requires stability. Strategy replaces spontaneity. Predictability becomes safety.

Domination

When all other options have failed. Power becomes the only perceived path to safety.

These aren't personality types or diagnostic categories. They're states—fluid, context-dependent, and available to everyone. The same person might move through all four in a single day.

What Makes It Different

Visual pattern recognition

Complex dynamics become visible through gradients, scales, and mapping tools designed for how the brain actually processes information.

Integration, not competition

TEG-Blue synthesizes 30+ existing theories (Polyvagal, attachment, IFS, ACEs, systems theory, and more) into a coherent architecture. It doesn't replace what works—it connects it.

Trauma-informed throughout

Defensive behaviors are understood as intelligent adaptations, not pathology. The question shifts from "what's wrong with you?" to "what happened to you?"

Neurodivergent-friendly by design

Different nervous system rhythms are treated as natural variation, not disorder. The framework accounts for different processing styles without pathologizing them.

Scales across levels

The same pattern logic applies to individuals, relationships, families, organizations, and systems. Personal wounds and systemic oppression follow the same underlying dynamics.

What it is:

  • • A visual educational framework for emotional pattern recognition
  • • A set of tools for self-understanding and relational clarity
  • • A synthesis built from publicly available science
  • • Currently seeking empirical validation through research partnerships

What it isn't:

  • • Therapy, coaching, or medical advice
  • • A replacement for professional mental health care
  • • A diagnostic system

TEG-Blue is designed to work alongside professional support—helping people understand their patterns so they can engage more effectively with the care they receive.

Who Created It

TEG-Blue was developed by Anna Paretas-Artacho, a visual designer and systems thinker with 25+ years of experience translating complex information into accessible formats. The framework emerged from personal experience navigating difficult family dynamics, extensive research across psychology and neuroscience, and a commitment to making emotional science genuinely usable.

Anna is not a therapist or clinician. She's a designer who saw that the science existed but the translation didn't—and built the bridge.

Where It's Going

TEG-Blue is currently in validation phase, with an international research consortium exploring pathways for empirical testing. The goal is to move from "this makes sense" to "this is measurable"—while keeping the framework accessible to everyone, not just academics.

Want to explore?

Start with the Four-Mode Gradient