Psychosis in adolescence - an anthropological approach

Certain young men may react with psychosis to the Eriksonian developmental crisis of identity vs. role diffusion. In its symptomatology, this decompensation belongs to the category of schizophreniphorm psychoses, and may be reappearing within a given timeframe. This can be termed as a "psychosocial moratorium". Approached from a socio-anthropological viewpoint, in our culture deprived of myths and rites, these psychoses may be interpreted as analogous phenomena to initiation rites. The triad of segregation-liminality-reintegration may come useful in the therapeutic interpretation of these phenomena.