The feminicide of Carolina Flores Gómez, a 27-year-old former beauty queen, murdered on April 15 in an apartment in the Polanco neighborhood, in Mexico City, has sparked a debate that goes beyond the criminal investigation.
The phrases that, according to the video broadcast on social networks, were spoken by Erika María “N”—singled as the main suspect and currently a fugitive from justice—have generated a discussion about a psychological concept little known to the general public: enmeshment, or family entanglement.
According to the recording, after the attack, the victim’s mother-in-law told her son: “Your family is mine, you are mine and she is not.” These words have been pointed out by mental health specialists as a possible expression of this type of dysfunctional relational dynamic.
What is enmeshment?
The term was coined by family therapist Salvador Minuchin in the 1970s. It describes a dynamic in which the emotional boundaries between the members of a family are blurred excessively, to the point that each member loses part of their autonomy and individual identity.
According to the American Psychological Association, these are situations in which two or more people—usually family members—become disproportionately involved in the personal activities and decisions of others.
Unlike a close and healthy family relationship, entanglement implies an emotional fusion that prevents the independent development of each person. In these dynamics, the emotions, decisions and conflicts of one member have an intense and direct impact on the others.
HE TOOK THEIR SUITCASES, ORDERED A TAXI AND RUN AWAY
The @FiscaliaCDMX He discovered that after killing Carolina, his mother-in-law left her gun in the kitchen, took her suitcases, ordered a taxi and left.
Her son did nothing to stop her.
Agents of @PDI_FGJCDMX They are after her.The case #C4OnAlert pic.twitter.com/JWUN6DlS4v
— Carlos Jiménez (@c4jimenez) April 24, 2026
Differences with codependency
Although they are often confused, enmeshment and codependency are not the same. While codependency describes the behavior of one person who constantly prioritizes the needs of another, entanglement is a group dynamic: all members involved lose their individual boundaries and function as a single emotional unit.
It should be noted that enmeshment is not classified as a mental disorder in diagnostic manuals such as the DSM-5. Experts describe it as a form of dysfunctional relationship that, however, can be associated with anxiety problems, depression, low self-esteem and difficulties establishing healthy relationships in adult life.
His relationship with the Carolina Flores case
Family therapy specialists explain that entanglement can generate what they describe as a conflictive emotional “triangle”: one of the adults—often the mother figure—perceives that her place in the child’s life is being displaced by the child’s partner, which can trigger behaviors of jealousy, control or, in extreme cases, aggression.
In this context, some mental health professionals have pointed out that the dynamics prior to Polanco’s crime—including the conflicts during Carolina’s pregnancy, the couple’s move to Mexico City to get away from the family environment, and the arrival of the mother-in-law days before the attack—could be consistent with patterns of severe entanglement.
Among the most recognized signs of this type of dynamic, experts identify the absence of emotional or physical privacy, the expectation of unrestricted access to the life of another, the difficulty in separating one’s own desires from those of the family group, and guilt when making decisions autonomously.
Consequences and approach
Research in the field of mental health indicates that those who grow up in environments with these characteristics tend to have greater difficulty regulating their emotions, lower tolerance for stress, and problems building their own identity. In adulthood, this can lead to relationships in which patterns of dependency are repeated.
The approach most recommended by professionals is family therapy, aimed at establishing clear limits, promoting assertive communication and promoting the autonomy of each member. In cases where working together is not possible, individual therapy can offer tools to identify and modify these patterns.