[Concepts of anthroposophic psychiatry and their contribution to understanding schizophrenia]

A concept of central importance in alternative forms of psychiatry, namely the concept of the etheric body, is elaborated in reference to disturbed body sensations of schizophrenic patients. In the non-orthodox approach the etheric body, i.e. a spatial organisation of forces active in the organism that is perceived only under specific circumstances, is a mediating medium between body and soul. The concept of the etheric body proves to be associated with both, the still unsolved body-mind-problem and the problem of conceptualising psychic energy. Schizophrenia is interpreted as a disorder in which the connections between body, etheric body and mind have come loose.