APSATS — Multidimensional Partner Trauma Model

Trauma, not codependency.

For years, the standard framework for understanding a betrayed partner's pain treated her as "codependent" or "co-addict" — as if she had somehow contributed to or enabled the betrayal. APSATS exists because that framework was wrong, and because someone with the research to prove it was willing to say so.

APSATS — the Association for Partners of Sex Addicts Trauma Specialists — was founded by Dr. Barbara Steffens, whose doctoral research in the mid-2000s shifted the field toward understanding betrayed partners through a trauma lens rather than a codependency model. When APSATS was formally established in 2012, Dr. Steffens served as founding president alongside founding board members including Dr. Janice Caudill, Marsha Means, and Ella Hutchinson — together codifying the Multidimensional Partner Trauma Model (MPTM).

The MPTM centers nervous system safety and trauma-sensitive pacing above all else. It shapes how I approach pacing, safety, and structure across all of my coaching work — couples and individual alike. I'm an APSATS MPTM Trainee, consulting with APSATS-affiliated trainers as part of my ongoing training.