We apply the Displacement Framework to Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), formalizing it as a perceptual wrong attractor W_BDD in which D(ξ_appearance) is generated by the perceptual evaluation system P rather than by the appearance itself — the defining structural feature that explains why cosmetic surgery systematically fails to provide lasting relief. Nine formal propositions are derived covering: BDD as stable perceptual wrong attractor where the source is the evaluator not the body, checking behavior as wrong-attractor maintenance that monotonically increases Φ despite momentary relief, the direct derivation that cosmetic intervention cannot reduce D(ξ_appearance) when the source is the evaluator (source mismatch theorem), the shared wrong-attractor architecture with OCD (threat vs. appearance domains, same serotonergic mechanism), attentional displacement amplification (D = A(attention) × D_base with positive feedback), compound displacement via social withdrawal accumulating Φ across BDD, social, occupational, and relational domains simultaneously, return path complementarity of ERP, cognitive restructuring, attentional retraining, and SSRIs as mechanistically non-redundant, muscle dysmorphia as direction-reversed BDD (same attractor structure, reversed defect vector), and insight impairment as attractor depth indicator (delusional BDD as asymptotic deep-basin case).
Phronesis