[Funeral rituals, mourning and mental health]

11 informants who were mourning relatives or friends who had died during the last five years were interviewed by a priest, who asked about their relationship to the deceased, their participation in funeral rituals and their experience of their own mourning process. The respondents endorsed the following scales: SCL-90 Depression subscale, Intrinsic, Extrinsic and Quest Scales, Doctrinal Orthodoxy Scale, Liberal Belief Scale, Moral Conservatism Index and Humanistic Mortality Scale. Each respondent was evaluated hermeneutically in a pastoral-clinical way, and the whole material was treated statistically. The extrinsic person uses his religion to attain comfort, security, and social acceptance, and it is not deeply integrated in his personality. The extrinsic religious orientation correlated positively with a prolonged mourning process and depression. It can be tentatively concluded that extensive participation in funeral rituals seems to prevent a prolonged mourning process and resulting depression.