diff --git a/backend/src/services/db.service.ts b/backend/src/services/db.service.ts
index f560f65..f7b2c3f 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/db.service.ts
+++ b/backend/src/services/db.service.ts
@@ -1790,16 +1790,16 @@ export class DbService {
    */
   async decayBeliefs(): Promise<number> {
     const res = await this.pgClient.query(`
-      WITH halflives AS (
-        SELECT profile,
-          CASE profile
-            WHEN 'longterm'   THEN 365 * 86400
-            WHEN 'obsession'  THEN 14 * 86400
-            WHEN 'discovery'  THEN 30 * 86400
-            WHEN 'negative'   THEN 180 * 86400
-            WHEN 'contextual' THEN 7 * 86400
-            ELSE 30 * 86400
-          END AS halflife_sec
+      -- NOTE: this MUST be a VALUES list, not "SELECT profile, CASE profile ...",
+      -- which has no FROM clause and is rejected by Postgres with 42703
+      -- (column "profile" does not exist) on every single run.
+      WITH halflives(profile, halflife_sec) AS (
+        VALUES
+          ('longterm',   365 * 86400),
+          ('obsession',   14 * 86400),
+          ('discovery',   30 * 86400),
+          ('negative',   180 * 86400),
+          ('contextual',   7 * 86400)
       )
       UPDATE listener_beliefs lb
       SET value = GREATEST(-1.0, LEAST(1.0, lb.value * POWER(0.5,