PhronesisMorbid/pathological jealousy (Othello syndrome in its extreme form) is a wrong attractor W_jealousy in which perceived threat to a valued relationship generates self-sustaining surveillance, accusation, and control behaviors that confirm the threat they seek to prevent. We apply the Displacement Framework to formalize morbid jealousy. The healthy jealousy ground state S0_jealousy is defined as proportionate, episodic jealousy that motivates relationship maintenance without consuming relational resources or restricting partner autonomy.
W_jealousy arises when jealousy shifts from signal to attractor through a six-step self-sealing surveillance loop: hypervigilance detects ambiguous cues, threat interpretation generates evidence from innocent data, accusations provoke partner withdrawal confirming threat, controlling behaviors generate resistance confirming threat, and surveillance intensifies. Nine formal propositions cover: S0_jealousy as proportionate episodic mate-retention signal (P1), W_jealousy surveillance-accusation-control tripartite architecture (P2), the surveillance loop as self-confirming basin mechanism (P3), evolutionary substrate — mate-retention system sensitivity-over-specificity bias gone wrong (P4), attachment predisposition — anxious-preoccupied IWM as landscape enabling W_jealousy (P5), psychiatric spectrum — OCD, BPD, paranoid personality disorder, alcohol, and delusional Othello syndrome (P6), violence risk — intimate partner homicide as maximum-displacement endpoint (P7), cumulative Phi_jealousy across relational, safety, and mental health domains (P8), and return paths including CBT (Dolan-Bishay protocol), EFT, and antipsychotic medication for delusional variant (P9).