Chronic Pain as Wrong Attractor: Central Sensitization, Pain Memory, and Placebo as Displacement Framework Ground State Restoration

Acute pain is a ground-state signal: nociception reports displacement from tissue integrity. Chronic pain is a wrong attractor: the nociceptive system has converged to a persistent high-D(ξ) state even after tissue healing. Central sensitization, allodynia, and catastrophizing are properties of this wrong attractor. Placebo analgesia and mind-body interventions are mechanisms of return to S⁰_nociceptive.

Opioid therapy risks deepening the wrong attractor. We derive the formal structure of pain displacement and show chronic pain management as ground state restoration.