People know about the existence of werewolves from numerous fairy tales, myths and legends. But not everyone knows that there is a disease in which a person begins to consider himself a werewolf, most often a wolf, and experience a number of sensations and emotions that indicate the disease. This disease is lycanthropy, and the name comes from the fusion of the words "wolf" and "man" in ancient Greek.
Studies of patients with lycanthropy indicated that most of them used specific drugs, drugs, were smeared with ointments, supposedly causing a transformation of the body and giving superpower, but there were also completely different cases.
Historical facts
In ancient times, cases of this disease were described, considering that, according to one theory, there are four types of fluids in a person (blood, mucus, bile and black bile or melancholy), which, being in an imbalance, lead to a number of diseases and form character. Excess black bile also leads to lycanthropy, which causes mental disorders, hallucinations, depression and insanity.
In one of the medieval treatises, there was a description of "wolf rabies" or lycanthropy caused by melancholy. The characteristic signs of insanity were considered pallor of the skin and especially the face, dry tongue, loss of vision, a feeling of lack of moisture and constant thirst.
Lycanthropic patients themselves spoke of characteristic symptoms: fever, insane headache, constant thirst, shortness of breath, perspiration, swelling of the extremities, curvature of the toes that turned into wolf's claws, the inability to wear any shoes. There was also a complete change in consciousness, the appearance of a terrible fear, claustrophobia, esophageal spasms, a burning sensation in the chest.
The sick could not speak and made inarticulate sounds, wanted to move on all fours, growl and bite, and gradually began to transform, becoming "werewolves" who attacked people and wanted to bite through an artery and drink blood. After that, his strength left him, and the patient fell asleep for several hours.
Today's medical reports indicate that lycanthropy is a mental illness. At the same time, a person suffers from a special form of delusional disorder and presents himself as an animal, most often a wolf. In practice, there are real examples of patients with lycanthropy, when their behavior changed beyond recognition, and they really became like imaginary animals.
Lycanthropy in psychiatry
Nowadays, such a disease is extremely rare, but it is impossible to completely exclude its occurrence. It is not always caused by taking drugs and has a number of symptoms, including:
- complete change of consciousness;
- separating yourself from society, wanting to be alone or visiting cemeteries, forests or abandoned houses;
- persistent anxiety caused by acute stress;
- animal habits that are absolutely not typical for humans (the desire to eat human meat, drink blood, walk in the nude and attack people).
Medicine believes that the disease is caused by a malfunction of certain parts of the brain. It has nothing to do with psychology, low self-esteem or stressful situations that do not lead to pathologies. People diagnosed with clinical lycanthropy most often suffer from bipolar or delusional disorder, an acute form of psychosis, and epilepsy. It is worth noting that the disease can be inherited.
The diagnosis can be made in cases where a person claims that he is turning into a wolf or another animal, sees the face of an animal in the mirror, describes in detail his "transformation", begins to make terrible sounds, howls, gets on all fours, refuses any food except raw meat, throws off his clothes. Many signs of lycanthropy are very similar to schizophrenia, among them: insomnia, activity only at night, obsessive thoughts and desires, the desire to tell everyone about their feelings.
