ā€œThe War Against Drugsā€ initiated by former Mexican President Felipe CalderĆ³n Hinojosa, led to a sudden rise in the number of people arrested, detained, or abducted against their will by organized groups which refused to disclose the fate or whereabouts of these persons, a situation known as ā€˜disappearancesā€™. Relatives of the disappeared comment that people in Mexico disappear as if the earth had swallowed them. In 2021, official records showed that a total of 90,035 people had been reported disappeared. Relatives of the disappeared who continuously search for their loved one, struggle to successfully find their relative, due to a lack of forensic, and governmental support The sudden loss of their relative added to the factors previously mentioned, has often a traumatic impact on the relatives.

Socio-political research conducted on American populations, conceptualised disappearances as an ambiguous loss, which can have more severe psychological consequences than those following the death of a loved one. None of the studies on disappearance was conducted on the Mexican population. This study is informed by psychoanalytic thinking applied to in-depth interviews of relatives of disappeared in Mexico who were actively searching for their relatives. Following the results of a Pilot Study, a brief interview was conducted with members of society who lived in the same states as the relatives. The study describes the particularities of the trauma caused by disappearance. It also found that the relatives of the disappeared suffer from negative thoughts about the world and themselves, often develop somatic illnesses, see their mental state deteriorate, and experience a continuous feeling of criminalisation. Future research is needed to deepen the understanding of the psychic effects disappearances have on the relatives who search for their loved ones.