Place Attachment Disruption: Emotions and Psychological Distress in Mexican Land Defenders

Land defense is crucial in the face of the current ecological crisis. From a qualitative perspective, this work describes and analyzes the relations between place attachment disruption, emotions, and psychological distress among a group of Mexican land defenders in El Salto and Juanacatlán, Jalisco. Following an ethnographical methodology, the data was collected through seven individual narrative interviews, two discussion groups, and participant observation during four years of fieldwork. The resulting qualitative data was transcribed, coded, categorized, and analyzed using qualitative software and narrative analysis perspective. Results: Place attachment disruption is associated with unpleasant emotions, leading to psychological distress. Through organized actions and emotional management strategies, land defenders produce emotions of resistance that help reconstruct place attachment and overcome psychological distress. Repeated disruptions and changes to place increase psychological distress; in response, restorative actions of place attachment strengthen emotions such as love, pride, and joy. These findings highlight that observing the simultaneity of place attachment disruption and reconstruction processes is central to understanding the emotional impact of prolonged territorial damage and the double role of psychological distress: increasing vulnerability while also contributing to positive action. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for mental health, ecology, and public policy, and highlight the need for interdisciplinary approaches in designing effective, community-based and collaborative strategies to sustain land defense and ecological activism.