I had a case. A person who approached the issue formally could be diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The girl was brought, five years old, afraid to remain without her mother, can not (refuses) to attend kindergarten, swirls spikes into the sockets, demands to close all the fronts in the house. The child's sight is frightened, sitting, looking at the floor, turning the socks - pulling off the tissue on the knee and gliding into a ball. I see the child is scared.
I send my mom to the hallway and say to the girl, giving her a pencil and paper: draw me your fear. She paints quickly, and then tells me about a man named the Nail, who consists of a skeleton, and he is dressed in a pink shirt filled with balls, he is of enormous height, he knows how to fly, he has no head, and his eyes and his mouth in the neck, he has a huge tail and from him you need to close all the forks, and only his mother can save from it. When asked how to defeat the child, he replied:
Throw them with electrified toys.
I ask, “How long has she been afraid of him? The answer is how much he remembers. Judging by the picture - there was no schizophrenia there, I call my mother, I ask the child to tell my mother everything, telling the girl that we have an antifungal protection here and we do not let him here, the child whispers to his mother and tells him what he is afraid of. Mom is in shock.
Mom begins to recall that three years ago they were at her sister’s house and there was a cousin who could intimidate her sister and the shirt was pink synthetic and balls. We send the baby to go for a walk in the hallway and I gave my mother the advice that she will not explain to the child now for anything that this nail does not exist, that it is necessary to let her see the cartoon "Hunters of Guides". Then invite someone from your dad’s acquaintances home, say that it’s a ghost hunter, and then turn the toaster into the socket and say that the Nail was caught and killed. And you know, it worked. Then they came and thanked.
A psychiatrist, as an investigator, must understand the root cause. Especially a child. And not always the cause of such statements and strange behavior is disease.