[The occurrence and possible etiopathogenic interrelations regarding the belief in the return of the dead]

In order to comprehend the wide determinateness of mental disorders psychiatry increasingly turns to findings assembled in other sciences. The importance of ethnography for contemporary psychiatric practice is demonstrated by the author using it for diagnosis when encountering the phenomenon of faith into reversion of the dead. The author investigated the widespread faith associated with animistic forms of thought, known already in the remote past, in a group of 50 probands from a traditional gypsy ethnic group. Of those 13 (26%) did not believe in the possible return of the dead to the living; 9 (18%) were not certain and 28 (56%) believed in the return of the dead. Twenty-five (50%) experienced an encounter with a gnost. The investigation which served only orientation is used by the author as one of the arguments drawing attention to the importance of becoming familiar with subcultural faith, as the psychiatrist can use it for further psychopathological reflections.