Clinical lycanthropy is a rare psychiatric syndrome that involves a delusion that the affected person can transform into, has transformed into, or is, an animal. Its name is associated with the mythical condition of lycanthropy, a supernatural affliction in which humans are said to physically shapeshift into wolves.
Signs and symptoms
Affected individuals believe that they are in the process of transforming into an animal or have already transformed into an animal. This is also known as Species Identity Disorder or Species Dysphoria (also see Dissociative Identity Disorder). Clinical Lycanthropy has been associated with the altered states of mind that accompany psychosis (the mental state that typically involves delusions and hallucinations) with the transformation only seeming to happen in the mind and behavior of the affected person.
A study on clinical lycanthropy from the McLean Hospital reported on a series of cases and proposed some diagnostic criteria by which clinical lycanthropy could be recognised:
A patient reports in a moment of lucidity or reminiscence that they sometimes feel as an animal or have felt like one. A patient behaves in a manner that resembles animal behavior, for example howling, growling, or crawling.
According to these criteria, either a delusional belief in current or past transformation or behavior that suggests a person thinks of themselves as transformed is considered evidence of clinical lycanthropy. The authors note that, although the condition seems to be an expression of psychosis, there is no specific diagnosis of mental or neurological illness associated with its behavioral consequences.
It also seems that clinical lycanthropy is not specific to an experience of human-to-wolf transformation; a wide variety of creatures have been reported as part of the shape-shifting experience. A review of the medical literature from early 2004 lists over thirty published cases of clinical lycanthropy, only the minority of which have wolf (Lycanthropy) or dog (Cynanthropy) themes. Canines are certainly not uncommon, although the experience of being transformed into other animals such as a hyena, cat, horse, bird or tiger has been reported on more than one occasion. Transformation into frogs, and even bees, has been reported in some instances. The term ophidianthropy refers to the delusion that one has been transformed into a snake, of which two case studies have been reported. In Japan, transformation into foxes and dogs was common (:ja:狐憑き, :ja:犬神). A 1989 case study described how one individual reported a serial transformation, experiencing a change from human to dog, to horse, and then finally cat, before returning to the reality of human existence after treatment. There are also reports of people who experienced transformation into an animal only listed as "unspecified".
Proposed mechanisms
Clinical lycanthropy is a very rare condition and is largely considered to be an idiosyncratic expression of a psychotic or dissociative episode caused by another condition such as Dissociative Identity Disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or clinical depression. It has also been associated with drug intoxication and withdrawal, cerebrovascular disease, traumatic brain injury, dementia, delirium, and seizures.
However, there are suggestions that certain neurological conditions and cultural influences may result in the expression of the human-animal transformation theme that defines the condition.
Neurological factors
One important factor may be differences or changes in parts of the brain known to be involved in representing body shape (e.g., see proprioception and body image). A neuroimaging study of two people diagnosed with clinical lycanthropy showed that these areas display unusual activation, suggesting that when people report their bodies are changing shape, they may be genuinely perceiving those feelings.
Treatment
Because clinical lycanthropy is strongly associated with psychotic disorders, antipsychotic medication is often an effective treatment. It may also be treated with antidepressants or mood stabilizers, in cases in which it is a symptom of depression or bipolar disorder. Patients with clinical lycanthropy may also benefit from a cultural approach to treatment, as the syndrome is generally agreed to be culture-bound.
Related disorders
Clinical lycanthropy is a type of delusional misidentification syndrome of the self, and it often overlaps with other delusional misidentification syndromes. For example, there is a case study of a psychiatric patient who had both clinical lycanthropy and Cotard delusion.