Gaslighting Victimization as Reality-Anchor Wrong Attractor: A Displacement Framework Analysis

This paper applies the Displacement Framework to gaslighting victimization, examining it as a wrong-attractor state produced by systematic reality-denial from a trusted relational figure. Using displacement cost D(ξ), accumulated displacement Φ, and basin geometry, we show how repeated reality-invalidation erodes the victim's epistemic ground state, creating a self-doubt basin where the victim's own perceptions carry elevated displacement cost.

The paradox: the victim becomes dependent on the gaslighter as the external reality-anchor their internal epistemic ground state has been denied. Nine propositions formalize the reality-destabilization mechanism, trust-mediated basin deepening, paradoxical dependency creation, institutional gaslighting, and return paths through validation and epistemic reconstruction. Published as part of The Phronesis Issues preprint series.