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This article is based on the results of a study conducted in partnership between a multidisciplinary team of mental health clinicians in Montreal specialised in working with people attracted to or involved in violent extremism (ve), and a research team documenting and studying the team’s interventions. The survey documents the emergence of increasingly dystopian, heterogeneous and violent belief systems, particularly among young people. A loss of confidence in institutions and unease about gender roles and representations are recurring themes. An analysis of family and social dynamics in the trajectories of patients attracted to violent extremism suggests the existence of traumatic processes involving a quest for meaning and belonging that echo mechanisms of loss, regression and mourning. The authors propose to conceptualise this mechanism as ‘epistemic mourning’, which could help explain the emergence of hybrid ideologies in ve landscapes.