Social Withdrawal as Connection-Avoidance Wrong Attractor: The Rejection-Sensitivity Loop, Anticipatory Isolation, and the Return to Calibrated Belonging

This paper applies the Displacement Framework to social withdrawal, analysing it as a wrong-attractor state in which the displacement cost of social engagement is elevated by rejection sensitivity, making pre-emptive withdrawal appear to reduce cost. Using displacement cost D(ξ), accumulated displacement Φ, and basin geometry, we formalise the anticipatory isolation loop: withdrawal prevents rejection-sensitive confirmation of rejection but also prevents disconfirmation, locking the person in a self-fulfilling isolation attractor.

Nine propositions characterise the rejection-sensitivity mechanism, anticipatory isolation dynamics, the confirmation-prevention paradox, comorbidity with depression and social anxiety, and return paths through graduated exposure and secure base experiences. Published as part of The Phronesis Issues preprint series.