Dynamics

Structure tells you where the system stands. Dynamics tell you where it is heading, how fast, and what forces are shaping the journey.

Why Dynamics Matter

Two people can have identical Atlas readings — the same centers displaced, the same traps active, the same coherence score — and yet face entirely different futures. One system is moving toward center with low resistance. The other is locked in place, oscillating between states, with every disturbance propagating across all Domains.

The difference is dynamics: the forces acting on the structure.

The Six Dynamic Factors

Six forces act on the Atlas. Each operates independently, but their combined effect produces the system’s overall dynamic character.

1. Cascade

What it measures: How readily disturbance propagates across the system. Does a shift at one center stay contained, or does it ripple outward into neighboring centers and across Domains?

Low Cascade means the system is compartmentalized. A problem at one center stays there. High Cascade means local disturbance becomes global disturbance. A shift at one gateway can propagate through the entire grid.

Cascade is not inherently destructive. In an improving system, high Cascade means gains propagate as readily as losses: a blocked gateway opening can produce sudden, widespread improvement. In a deteriorating system, the same interconnectedness amplifies collapse. Cascade determines the scale of intervention effects — in a high-Cascade system, a single well-chosen leverage point can shift the entire structure.

Cascade is measured by the degree of cross-center and cross-Domain covariation in the profile. When centers in different Domains shift together, Cascade is high.

2. Patterning

What it measures: How organized the system’s difficulties are. Are the person’s struggles many separate, unrelated issues — or variations of a single underlying theme?

Low Patterning means off-centering is distributed and disconnected. High Patterning means the difficulties are organized around a central theme, often traceable to a single structural feature that generates the entire constellation.

A graduate student presents with chronic jaw tension, difficulty accepting praise, obsessive grade-checking, fear of being seen as incompetent, and inability to pray. High Patterning reveals every problem traces to blocked Open across all five Domains: the person cannot receive. One structural feature, five expressions.

Patterning is measured by the ratio of organized variance to total variance. When off-center positions follow a single directional theme, Patterning is high.

3. Inertia

What it measures: How resistant the system is to change, regardless of direction. A high-Inertia system is heavy, stuck, difficult to shift even when the intervention is well-targeted. A low-Inertia system responds quickly and adapts readily.

Inertia is neutral with respect to direction. A Thriving system with high Inertia is firmly stable — difficult to dislodge from its healthy state. A Crisis system with high Inertia is firmly entrenched — resistant to every attempt at change. Same factor, opposite implications, depending on where the system stands.

In a high-Inertia system, the clinician must expect slower progress and may need to target the Inertia itself before attempting to move specific centers. In a low-Inertia system, progress can be rapid but equally impermanent — a system that shifts easily toward center can shift easily away from it.

Inertia is derived from entrenchment indicators: the depth and duration of displacement, the presence of load-bearing defenses, and the degree to which the system has organized around its current configuration.

4. Compensation

What it measures: How much the system relies on substituting strength in one area to avoid addressing difficulty in another. The Icosa model defines twelve named compensation basins, each pairing an Under Capacity with an Over Capacity.

Low Compensation means the person faces difficulties directly. High Compensation means the system has organized itself around avoidance: strengths are systematically deployed to circumvent weaknesses, producing a functional surface that conceals fragility.

An attorney presents as professionally competent and emotionally attuned, with strong Bond across multiple Domains. Assessment shows severely Under Open across the same Domains. He is Clasping: unable to receive, he compensates by over-attaching. The surface looks like relational strength. The structure reveals relational dependency masking receptive shutdown.

The risk of high Compensation is decompensation: when stress exceeds the compensating Capacity’s ability to absorb displaced energy, the arrangement collapses suddenly rather than degrading gradually.

Compensation is detected from the twelve named compensation basins. When an Under Capacity is systematically paired with an Over Capacity across multiple Domains, the Compensation factor rises.

5. Trajectory

What it measures: The direction of change over recent time. Trajectory is the only dynamic factor on a bipolar axis — from significant decline through stability to significant improvement.

Negative Trajectory means the system is deteriorating. Positive Trajectory means centers are moving toward center, traps are loosening, coherence is rising. Neutral means stability with no net change.

Trajectory modifies how every structural feature is read. When Trajectory is negative, active traps are deepening and basins are settling. When Trajectory is positive, active traps are loosening and basins are in climb. Same trap, same severity — different futures.

Trajectory is derived from temporal comparison when multiple assessments are available, or from within-assessment trajectory indicators (behavioral signals, self-reported change direction) when only a single assessment exists.

6. Cycling

What it measures: How much the system oscillates between states. A low-Cycling system is steady. A high-Cycling system swings between states, never settling into a stable configuration.

Cycling is distinct from Trajectory. Trajectory measures net direction; Cycling measures variability around that direction. A person can have positive Trajectory and high Cycling — improving overall but swinging dramatically in the process.

A college student has made real progress: positive Trajectory, centers moving toward center, two traps resolved. But high Cycling means each gain is followed by regression. The net direction is upward, but the experience feels chaotic. The work shifts from opening new territory to holding ground already gained.

Cycling is measured by variability in responses and internal consistency indicators that suggest oscillation between states.

The Six Factors at a Glance

Momentum: The Derived Property

Momentum is the ratio of Trajectory to Inertia. It measures how much actual change is occurring, given the direction the system is moving and the resistance it faces.

A system with strong positive Trajectory and low Inertia has high positive Momentum — improving rapidly with little resistance. A system with moderate negative Trajectory and high Inertia is deceptive: the decline is slow, but the Inertia that slows decline also makes recovery difficult.

The critical distinction: two systems declining at the same rate may have radically different Momentum profiles. One is declining rapidly against low resistance (easily reversible). The other is declining slowly against enormous resistance (a massive commitment to the downward direction that will be extremely difficult to reverse).

Momentum is computed as the ratio of Trajectory to Inertia, modified by coherence-based dampening.

Five Urgency Levels

Momentum, combined with Trajectory and Cascade, produces the Atlas’s urgency classification:

Urgency classification also incorporates coherence-based dampening: a Thriving system with temporarily negative Trajectory does not receive a Crisis classification because the coherent structure provides runway. Conversely, a system with low coherence has no such reserves, and even moderate negative Momentum can produce Crisis-level urgency.

Factor Interactions and Emergent Behaviors

The six factors interact, producing emergent behaviors that no single factor generates alone. These interactions are among the most clinically consequential readings in the Atlas.

Cascade x Patterning: Amplification. When both are high, the system’s difficulties are both highly organized and rapidly propagating. A trap in this configuration does not merely have high severity — it is organizing the entire system around its self-reinforcing cycle. The Atlas uses this interaction directly in trap severity calculation and in hidden trap detection.

Cascade x Cycling: Chaos. When both are high, the system enters chaotic instability. Each oscillation propagates across the system, triggering further oscillation. The system oscillates and propagates the oscillation, producing global instability that prevents any equilibrium from forming.

Inertia x Trajectory: Momentum asymmetry. Positive Trajectory against high Inertia means slow, grinding improvement — every inch costs enormous effort. Negative Trajectory against high Inertia means slow, grinding decline that produces a dangerous false sense of stability. This asymmetry has a specific clinical signature: the person who reports “nothing is changing” while the Atlas shows slow deterioration.

Three-way: Cascade + Patterning + Negative Trajectory. This combination is dangerous because it closes every exit. High Patterning means the difficulties share a single root, so there is no unaffected region to anchor recovery. High Cascade means any further deterioration at the root propagates instantly to the periphery. Negative Trajectory means the root is actively worsening. The system is organized, interconnected, and heading down — a configuration that accelerates itself.

Three-way: Inertia + Compensation + Low Cascade. The most deceptive dynamic profile. The person functions adequately: compensations work, compartmentalization prevents spreading, Inertia locks everything in place. But underlying deficits are unaddressed. If any element fails, decompensation can be sudden and severe.

Same Structure, Different Dynamics

This is the practical heart of dynamics: two identical profiles need completely different approaches depending on the forces acting on them.

A system in the Holding formation (Centered / Centered / Coherent / Struggling) reads differently in three scenarios:

• Positive Trajectory + Low Inertia — Holding is about to break toward improvement. The position is temporary; consolidation is the priority.
• Negative Trajectory + High Inertia — A deteriorating stall. Centered positions maintained by rigidity. The person appears balanced while the foundation erodes.
• High Cycling — The centered average conceals dramatic oscillation. The person never actually occupies the centered position the formation name implies.

Same formation. Three different clinical situations requiring three different responses.

Dynamics Transform the Atlas

Dynamics modify every structural feature. Trap severity adjusts for Cascade and Patterning. Basin stability adjusts for Inertia and Cycling. Coherence incorporates dynamics through its System Vitality layer. And at the Thriving band, where directional distinctions flatten, formation classification shifts entirely to dynamics-based labels.

The Atlas without dynamics is a photograph — a frozen moment. The Atlas with dynamics is a time-lapse — it shows where the system has been, where it is going, and how fast. Reading the dynamics alongside the structure is how you move from description to prediction, and from snapshot to story.