Compulsive Self-Reliance as Dependency-Refusal Wrong Attractor: A Displacement Framework Analysis

This paper applies the Displacement Framework to compulsive self-reliance (Bowlby's term), analysing it as a wrong-attractor state in which asking for help, accepting support, or admitting need carries elevated displacement cost. Using displacement cost D(ξ), accumulated displacement Φ, and basin geometry, we show how vulnerability-avoidance drives the wrong attractor: dependency conflicts with a self-concept organised around strength and self-sufficiency.

Nine propositions characterise the vulnerability-avoidance mechanism, strength-as-identity capture, isolation accumulation, cultural reinforcement through masculine and individualist scripts, and return paths through vulnerability practice and secure attachment repair. Published as part of The Phronesis Issues preprint series.