Clinical lycanthropy

Clinical lycanthropy
Other namesZoanthropy
SpecialtyPsychiatry, Clinical Psychology

Clinical lycanthropy is a rare psychiatric syndrome that involves a delusion that the affected person can transform into, has transformed into, or is a non-human animal. Its name is associated with the mythical condition of lycanthropy, a supernatural affliction in which humans are said to physically shapeshift into wolves. The term is used by researchers mostly in the broader sense of transformation into animals in general, that, strictly speaking, is described as zoanthropy.