The 5 Trauma Model Therapy Principles serve as the foundational logic for what happens to a person who experiences trauma. They help develop empathy and understanding of self.

#1: Attachment to the Perpetrator

Children are biologically wired to attach to their caregivers for survival—even if they are the ones doing the hurting. This creates a confusing knot where love and pain become linked, which often explains why adult relationships can feel so complicated or unfulfilling later in life.

#2: The Locus of Control Shift

It is terrifying for a child to realize their world is unsafe, so the brain makes a brilliant trade: It decides, "I am the bad one in a good world," rather than "I am a good child in a dangerous world." This gives the child a false sense of control (if I am bad, I can work harder to be "good" and stay safe), but it leaves the person carrying a lifelong weight of unearned shame.

#3: The Problem is Not the Problem

TMT doesn't view your symptoms—like depression, dissociation, or anger—as the primary issue. Instead, TMT sees them as the solutions the brain created to survive an impossible situation. TMT Clinicians look past the behavior to find the original wound that your system is still trying to protect.

#4: Addiction is the Opposite of Desensitization - All Addiction is a Form of Avoidance

Addiction is a way to anesthetize pain, but a person cannot heal what they cannot feel. To truly take the power away from a traumatic memory, the person has to stop using their "drug of choice" (whether that’s a substance, a behavior, or an emotion) so that they can finally encounter and process the feelings they’ve been running from.

#5: The Victim-Rescuer-Perpetrator Triangle

Trauma often traps us in a repetitive cycle where we play one of three roles: the helpless victim, the over-extended rescuer, or the critical perpetrator . This happens in our relationships with others and even in how we talk to ourselves. TMT helps people step out of this triangle so they can live with authentic power and clear boundaries.