The term lycanthropy was coined by joining two Greek words: lykoi / lycos (wolf) and anthropos (human). In mediaeval times the courts’ case files were overflowing with cases of people charged with werewolfism. Only in later times did a mental illness start being recognised in what to the Inquisition was simply witchcraft and liaising with the devil. When those ‘better’ times had finally come at the turn of the 17th century (although not everywhere), many werewolf criminals could be from then judged as mentally handicapped and sent to poor-houses or asylums. Those suffering from lycanthropy were then called lycanthropes.

The term has three meanings.

The first refers to the alternative way of naming werewolfism. Very often werewolves are called lycanthropes and both terms are now used interchangeably.

The second meaning, however, relates to a more complex problem. Thus lycanthropy is not only werewolfism, but means a mental illness/disorder and is known to those in the medical profession to this day as clinical lycanthropy - a rare psychiatric syndrome. One suffering from it is convinced that either one is a wolf, or some other animal predator – usually the most dangerous in the particular region – or believes that one undergoes change into this animal during a certain time. As with many other ailments, there are exceptions and if so, then the animal does not necessarily need to be an aggressive one. It is important to note here that clinical lycanthropy need not only concern alleged transformations into wolves, as it is used by many to describe also transformations into animals generally. But along with ‘lycanthropy’ there is also another term that is used to name the belief of changing into an animal in general, this being zoanthropy.

A person suffering from lycanthropy (here considered as a mental illness) claims that they can see with their very eyes as their skin is gradually covered with fur, fingernails turn into claws and teeth into fangs, although in fact their shape does not change, which allows the illness to be linked to altered states of mind that usually are commonly experienced in psychosis (delusions and hallucinations). After the alleged transformation, which, if a person claims to be a wolf, usually occurs at night during full moon, the person goes out, howls to the moon and walks on all fours. During this time they can be as dangerous as real wolves, because believing they are the animal and imitating its behaviour, they can go as far as manslaughter. Even more so, as in this state they are unable to recognise anyone, even from among their nearest and dearest.

Melancholic lycanthropy was described in the following way:

There is not even the smallest doubt that such people were tormented by the type of Melancholy which the Arabs call >> Chatrab << from the name of a tiny creature that swims here and there in water, carried by its unsteady movement. (…) Greeks speak of this illness >> lycanthropia <<, that is the change of a man into a wolf: some, beginning with Marcellus, use the terms >> melancholy << as well as >> wolf sickness << or >> wolf madness <<. People touched by it, by fumes of black gall, believe they have been turned into dogs or wolves. For this reason they leave their houses, mostly at night, imitating in every aspect and way wolves and dogs. *

Lycanthropy was also described by Priori who was writing about the beliefs of the Italian folk. In his work werewolfism loses its demonic character and takes on the characteristics of pathology:

(…) >> werewolf << means a wolf-man. The name refers to the imagined state which causes the sufferer to claim they have been turned into a wolf and because of this they are forced to roam at night, howling, until they find water into which they can plunge and thus return to human form. Due to this the family of the poor fellow ought to keep a bowl of water on the threshold of the front door, so that on their way back those who did not manage to dip their limbs in water while wandering through the fields can wet themselves with it and regain their human personality until the next recurrence of the illness. *

In yet another way is lycanthropy explained as the state of being transformed into an animal by means of magic or magical substances.

What is the cause of lycanthropy? Quite a few theories have been formed in an attempt to answer this question. One of them was published in the work of one Robert Burton – a monk and scholar – in 1621 and concerned lycanthropy as a form of insanity. It was known as The Anatomy of Melancholy. The writer blamed nearly everything for causing it – from witchcraft, through inappropriate diet, to unhealthy air, insomnia and lack of physical activity. According to this, nowadays almost each of us could come down with the “wolf madness”. More recently, however, clinical lycanthropy has been considered as an idiosyncratic expression of a psychotic episode whose causes may lie in other conditions, such as schizophrenia, clinical depression or bipolar disorder. There are also suggestions that also some neurological and cultural influences can lead to lycanthropy.
As far as neurological factors are concerned, in people suffering from lycanthropy an unusual activity can be observed in the parts of the brain responsible for the perception of the body and its shape. That is why it is possible that people reporting physical change can in fact feel as if their body shape was being altered.

As far as the treatment of it is concerned, there have appeared many various, sometimes bizarre, recipes. For example:

(…) Many doctors believed that excessive melancholy could lead to insanity, hallucinations and illusions. One such doctor recommended treating people suffering from lycanthropy with bathing, taking laxatives, blood-letting and proper diet, and even, in order to acquire a certain harmony and tranquility, rubbing opium into the nostrils. (…) * *

On a different note, in some modern film productions (and not only in them) it is popular to compare love to lycanthropy. It might seem that as noble and romantic a feeling as love should more appropriately be compared to the flower of a rose, hearts, red colour and so on. But in the comparison of love to lycanthropy there is hidden a reference to longing and madness, which are experienced by many a loving person:

Love in itself is not a sickness, but turns into one when it takes control of thoughts – describes Inhasm, a Muslim theologian – that a person touched by love does not want to be cured and romantic fantasies distort breath and fasten the pulse. The love melancholy, just like lycanthropy, causes wolf-like behaviour in its victims. The appearance of the lover begins to change, soon sight deteriorates, lips dry out and the face covers in pimples, scabs, scars resembling those of dog bites. The sick meets his end prowling at night in graveyards like a wolf. * * *

In our times cases of falling ill with lycanthropy are rare, yet they still occur.

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* - Erberto Petoia, Wampires and Werewolves, Sources, History, Legends from Ancient Times To Modernity
* * - Adrian Devine, The Magic of the Moon
* * * - The Name of the Rose, film version

{..Run away..}