Thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA, thermoelasticity) uses an infrared radiometer to measure local temperature fluctuations and relates these changes to variations in the stresses or strains in a material by thermodynamic principles. The recorded TSA signal is associated with a combination of the individual stress components. However, engineering analyses typically necessitate knowing the values of the individual stress components, and so it is necessary to 'separate the stresses'. The various approaches that have been used to evaluate the individual components of stress from the TSA-measured information are reviewed and compared, and some areas potentially worthy of further research are indicated.