PhronesisWe apply the Displacement Framework to Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD, DSM-5-TR 2022; ICD-11), formalizing it as W_grief — a grief wrong attractor in which D(ξ_loss) fails to diminish because yearning maintains the deceased as subjectively present rather than accommodated as permanently absent. The bereaved person's adjusted ground state S⁰_grief is defined as successful accommodation — functional capacity preserved, loss integrated, and the relationship with the deceased restructured around permanent absence rather than active reunion-seeking.
Normal grief is formalized as a healthy D(ξ_loss) trajectory following exponential decay toward S⁰_grief as Φ_grief accumulates; PGD represents trajectory failure when W_grief forms as a local minimum preventing this accommodation. Yearning is formalized as the W_grief maintenance mechanism — motivated reunion-seeking activation that cannot be satisfied generates persistent D(ξ_yearning), creating a maintenance force that holds the deceased as present rather than absent.
Nine formal propositions cover: S⁰_grief as adjusted ground state (P1), normal grief trajectory (P2), W_grief formation when yearning prevents accommodation (P3), yearning as maintenance mechanism with O'Connor's nucleus accumbens evidence (P4), the PGD/MDD/PTSD topological distinction — PGD is yearning-organized, not anhedonia-organized (MDD) or threat-organized (PTSD) (P5), attachment style as basin depth predictor (P6), traumatic loss as nested W_trauma ⊂ W_grief (P7), Complicated Grief Treatment as evidence-based return path (P8), and integration vs. forgetting — successful treatment integrates the deceased's absence rather than eliminating their presence (P9).
Cultural variation in grief norms, the continuing bonds debate, and grief's allostatic load effects are analyzed.