Ritual homicide during dissociative trance disorder.

A case report is described of a man who developed a single period of recurrent episodes of dissociative trance disorder (DTD) during a family stress. The cultural environment was permeated by thoughts and beliefs in magic. During one trance state, the man performed an exorcism on the 6-month-old baby of his brother-in-law, and the baby died from cerebral hemorrhage.