This article deals with the unique trauma experienced by families of abductees following the abduction of their loved ones from Israel to Gaza on October 7, 2023. Based on in-depth interviews with family members of the abductees, the study describes how this trauma is embodied in the families' daily lives, and identifies six core themes of harm and coping, which occur simultaneously and continuously, with close interrelationships between them: managing private trauma within a broad national trauma; coping with a state of "dynamic-static vague loss," in which life is frozen but the emotional experience moves in sharp and continuous oscillations between hope and despair; an ongoing civil struggle to return loved ones, which provides meaning and control but exacts a heavy price of attrition and loss of identity; building community and public solidarity as a resource for support and healing; a deep health and functional cost, both mental and physical; and maintaining an ongoing emotional connection with the abductee through rituals, messages, and symbolic actions.
The findings indicate that the trauma of abduction is not just a private experience, but a multi-layered process that extends from the individual to the family, community, and state. The article proposes a socio-ecological framework for understanding the trauma of mass abduction, and formulates a new concept relevant to situations of war and ongoing conflict – dynamic-static ambiguous loss – as a lens for understanding the severe and ongoing psychological harm to the families of the abductees. The research findings provide a data-based basis for professionals and policymakers to assess the multi-systemic consequences of this trauma, and highlight both the role of collective solidarity, public rituals, and civil struggle as resources for resilience, and the heavy psychological toll they exact. The study makes a significant contribution to understanding collective trauma and to outlining sensitive policy and therapeutic interventions for families dealing with enforced disappearance in situations of ongoing conflict.
source
Yehene, E., Israeli, S., & Levine, H. (2025). The trauma of mass kidnapping and ambiguous loss: A socioecological framework from the lived experience of Israeli hostage families. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0002049