Traditional Chinese religious beliefs and superstitions in delusions and hallucinations of Chinese schizophrenic patients.

Religious beliefs and superstitions have an important impact on the psychopathology of psychiatric patients. Traditional Chinese religious beliefs and superstitions, such as fortune telling, Buddhist gods, Taoist gods, historical heroic gods and ancestor worship, have important influence on subjective psychotic experiences, in particular delusions and hallucinations. By means of empirical phenomenological case narration, the writer shows that all these traditional Chinese religious beliefs and superstitions tend to affect the contents, manifestation and meaningfulness of delusion and hallucination. They also serve as a means to replace clients' self-identity. They appear in the form of a supernatural force to resolve all difficulties, cause of troubles and misfortune, stress and coping mechanisms.