Traumatophobia

Traumatophobia causes your cat to involuntarily move 1 tile away from the source whenever it takes damage. This reactive flinch movement creates automatic kiting behavior, pushing the cat away from its attackers after every hit. For ranged cats, this is essentially a defensive bonus that maintains distance. For melee cats, it is a nuisance that constantly pushes them out of attack range.

Traumatophobia is heritable and can pass from parent to kitten through breeding. It can also be acquired through events or applied with a Disorder Syringe from the Organ Grinder. The 1-tile retreat triggers on every damage instance, so multi-hit attacks can push the cat multiple tiles away. This is the opposite of Stockholm Syndrome, which moves the cat toward the attacker. The retreat distance is limited to 1 tile per hit, so it is a moderate repositioning rather than a dramatic displacement.

Strategically, Traumatophobia is beneficial on ranged cats and casters that want to maintain distance from enemies. The automatic retreat keeps the cat at arm's length without spending movement actions. It is counterproductive on melee fighters who need to stay adjacent to targets. Pairing Traumatophobia with Anxiety (+10% dodge, run from source) doubles down on the kiting behavior for a fully evasive build. The disorder is relatively mild and can be either helpful or harmful depending on the cat's role.