A problem appears. You apply a fix. The problem goes away — for now. But weeks or months later, it comes back, often worse. So you apply the fix again, harder. And the cycle continues.

This is the 'Fixes that backfire' archetype — one of the most common patterns in human systems.

The structure: - A problem symptom appears - A symptomatic fix relieves it quickly - But the fix has an unintended side effect (often delayed) that worsens the original problem

The fix works in the short term (balancing loop). The side effect makes things worse in the long term (reinforcing loop, delayed). Because the fix works immediately and the side effect arrives later, we keep choosing the fix.