Clinical lycanthropy
Clinical lycanthropy is a rare delusion in which a person believes they have transformed into, or are transforming into, a wolf.
Delusion: A fixed false belief that persists despite strong contradictory evidence and is not explained by shared cultural beliefs. The belief of becoming a wolf is classified as a delusion.
Lycanthropy: The belief or folklore motif that a human can become a wolf or wolf-like creature. Clinical lycanthropy takes its name from this broader motif while describing a psychiatric symptom.
Clinical zoanthropy: A delusion that a person has become, or is becoming, an animal of any kind. It broadens the wolf-specific syndrome to animal transformations involving other species.
Psychiatric assessment: A structured evaluation of mental health symptoms, history, functioning, and safety. Assessment distinguishes the wolf belief from metaphor, role-play, and other explanations.
Case report: A detailed account of one patient's symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and clinical course. Most evidence about clinical lycanthropy comes from individual case reports rather than large studies.
Psychosis: A mental state involving impaired reality testing, which may include delusions or hallucinations. Clinical lycanthropy can occur within psychotic disorders, though it is not itself a diagnosis of psychosis.
Werewolf: A human who transforms into a wolf or wolf-like creature in folklore and popular culture. The delusion's wolf identity echoes the familiar werewolf figure.
Boanthropy: A delusion in which a person believes they are an ox or cow. It is a parallel animal-transformation delusion with bovine rather than wolf identity.
Differential diagnosis: The process of distinguishing among conditions that can produce similar signs or symptoms. Clinicians consider psychiatric, neurological, substance-related, and medical explanations for the presentation.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: A handbook published by the American Psychiatric Association for classifying mental disorders. Clinical lycanthropy is not a standalone diagnosis in this manual.