Enmeshment as Individuation-Blocking Relational Wrong Attractor: A Displacement Framework Analysis

This paper applies the Displacement Framework to enmeshment, analysing it as a wrong-attractor state in the relational landscape where the differentiation boundary between self and other is structurally absent or actively prevented. Using displacement cost D(ξ), accumulated displacement Φ, and basin geometry, we show how enmeshed systems configure around merged identity and shared emotional regulation, making individuation carry prohibitively high displacement cost through loyalty binds, guilt induction, and implicit rules against separate needs.

Nine propositions formalize the boundary-dissolution mechanism, loyalty-bind architecture, guilt as basin-maintenance force, intergenerational transmission, the distinction from healthy closeness, and return paths through boundary work and individuation therapy. Published as part of The Phronesis Issues preprint series.