Since ancient times, the idea of turning into an animal has been in control of human consciousness. And only nowadays, cases of such a phenomenon have been logically explained. In some mental illnesses, for example, with schizophrenia, it seems to the patient that he is turning into an animal. He is convinced that he transforms into a cat, a frog, a bear, a fox, but the wolf is the most popular animal. It is the transformation into a wolf that explains what lycanthropy is. From the Greek language the word "lycanthropy" is translated as "wolf-man."
The description of this "mythical" phenomenon contains the most ancient texts. In the seventh century, Paul Ogineta, a Greek doctor, wrote about this condition, who believed that bloodletting was the most effective way to help cure lycanthropy.
This treatment method was explained by the spread of the theory that one of the four liquid elements prevails in the human body: blood, mucus, ordinary or black bile. Each element is associated with a certain character trait. The ideal equivalent presence of these fluids indicates the physical and mental health of a person. If one of them is in excess in the body, an imbalance occurs, which becomes the cause of physiological and mental abnormalities. With lycanthropy, black bile predominates , it is with its excess that mania, various mental disorders, depression, madness, and hallucinations develop.
Lycanthropy in legends and history
The first mention of what lycanthropy is registered in the legends of ancient Greece.
According to one version, the disease was named on behalf of the hero of the ancient Greek legend - King Lycaon. As a joke, he decided to feed Zeus with humanity, the meat of his own son killed by him. As a punishment for such atrocities, Zeus turned him into a wolf and condemned him to eternal wanderings with a pack of animals.
The story of Lycaon is the first legend that mentions a werewolf in writing. But it should be noted that in ancient Rome and Greece, the attitude towards wolves was supportive and respectful, they were considered fair and wise animals. And in ancient Rome there was even a cult of wolves - it was the she-wolf who fed the founders of the city of Remus and Romulus with milk. And now the image of the Capitoline Wolf in Italy is the standard of motherhood.
Ancient legends describe both the complete and partial transformation of man into a beast - minotaurs, centaurs, sirens.
In Scandinavian mythology, wolves also played a significant role - the supreme god Odin was accompanied by two wolves, Jerry and Frecki. The destructive power of the wolf was embodied in Fenrir (a giant wolf that was chained and hidden in the dungeon until the end of the world, when it will be freed from the shackles and take part in the battle of the gods, which will destroy the world).
In the legends of different countries, different animals became werewolves, depending on the fauna of the area. In Western Europe, most of the tales are about wolf werewolves, in Central and Eastern Europe - about bears, in Japan - about foxes, in African countries - about monkeys or hyenas.
All sins were attributed to wolves during the Middle Ages; this animal became an image of evil and demonism. Inquisition began, and as in the case of witches, lycanthropy was only accusatory. On charges of werewolf in the Middle Ages, tens of thousands of people were tortured and executed. Most of these accusations were the result of settling personal accounts between people and had nothing to do with real patients. Under torture, people agreed and testified. There were, of course, cases when real patients with lycanthropy fell into the hands of the Inquisitors, but they were rare and only heated the executioners' ardor.
After the dawn of the Inquisition, the attitude towards werewolf became more even, attempts to study this phenomenon began. In the 18-19 centuries, studies have been conducted on the nature of this disease. The first described real cases of lycanthropy disease belong to the same time.
The essence of the disease
So what is lycanthropy? This is a disease in psychiatry. It came from the Middle Ages when it was associated with mysticism. Currently, the disease has clinical signs, symptoms and treatment methods.
Therefore, today, any psychiatrist or psychotherapist can answer the question of what lycanthropy is. This is a mental disorder in which self-perception and behavior are disturbed, in which a person feels himself to be an animal and displays his characteristic habits. It is impossible to convince.
Causes of the disease
From a medical point of view, the cause of lycanthropy is a malfunction of some parts of the brain that are responsible for sensations and movements. That is, it is a mental disorder, but it has an indirect relation to psychology: this disease is not associated with a temporary imbalance due to low self-esteem or stress. In a complex, patients with lycanthropy have paranoid delusions, bipolar personality disorder, acute psychosis, epilepsy.
How to get lycanthropy? Even in ancient writings it was argued that a hereditary transmission of the disease is possible. That it can be inherited by inheritance was proved after finding out the cause of the disease - mental illness, for example, schizophrenia.
Symptoms of the disease
Currently, in medicine, lycanthropy is considered a syndrome that occurs with several mental illnesses. Clinical lycanthropy is diagnosed with the following symptoms:
- Paranoid delirium about transformation - the patient claims that he is turning into an animal, indicates who exactly, claims that he sees not his face in the mirror, but the face of the beast. Often he accompanies the story with the details of the transformation, describes the sensations.
- The behavior of a person completely copies the habits of the animal into which he "turns". Patients howl, bark, move on all fours, scratch, take off their clothes, sleep on the ground, eat only the food that, in their opinion, the beast eats.
The patient shows signs resembling schizophrenia:
- obsessive thoughts;
- activity at night, chronic insomnia;
- desire to tell your secret to the whole world.
Behavior features
People suffering from lycanthropy, while in a trance, are sure that their body has become different. Moreover, when they come to their senses, they remember in detail their reincarnation. They describe that before the onset of the attack they experience a slight chill, which gradually turns into a fever. The condition is accompanied by a terrible headache and thirst.
Also during the attack, shortness of breath, severe sweating are noted. Hands, according to patients, are lengthened, the skin swells and becomes rougher. Toes are very bent and resemble claws. It is difficult for a lycanthrope to wear shoes and clothes during an attack, so he gets rid of it.
Changes also occur in the consciousness of a sick person, he begins to suffer from claustrophobia, he tries to leave the house, room. After this, cramps occur in the stomach, nausea and burning appear in the chest area.
The patient's speech during the attack becomes slurred, a guttural murmur appears. After which, as the patients describe, coarse hair appears on the face and head, and it begins to look like an animal.
As soon as metamorphosis occurs, the werewolf craves blood, he cannot overcome this desire and rushes in search of the victim. He attacks the first person that comes across, after which he goes to bed, and in the morning, he turns back into a person.
Secrets of Lycanthropy
Throughout the history of the disease, patients admitted that they used drugs, rubbed with special ointments. In such cases, they had an expansion of consciousness, a feeling appeared that they were incredibly strong, both mentally and physically. They experience hallucinations that remember and consider reality.
But if a person is convinced that he is a werewolf, without taking hallucinogens, psychiatrists make a diagnosis of Clinical Lycanthropy.
Prevalence of the phenomenon
Despite the wide popularity of the term and its frequent mention in the media, most of which are based on historical, "esoteric", mythological studies, medical research, taking into account the symptoms, treatment methods - very few.
Over the past decades, several cases have been described in the literature. The first is registered with a young soldier who took drugs for a long time, after using which he saw that he was turning into a wolf. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, after treatment his condition improved, but then the ideas of obsession returned, he disappeared, and the doctors of this patient did not investigate further.
The second case is a middle-aged man, whose intelligence decreased, the following symptoms gradually appeared: a tendency to sleep on the ground, eat raw meat, howl at the moon, move around on all fours. It was investigated and revealed degeneration of the cerebral cortex. Thanks to drug treatment of exacerbations, he was not noted, but he could not be completely cured.
Medicine pays little attention to this disease, which is considered one of the options for a hallucinatory and delusional state. Another reason for the poor knowledge of the phenomenon is the rarity of its manifestation.
Hypertrichosis and lycanthropy
A possible reason for the spread of legends about werewolves is a disease called hypertrichosis - increased skin hydration, in which the hair densely covers the body and face, and the sick person begins to resemble an animal. This disease is hereditary. Many cases have been described. It is especially common among peoples who have closely related marriages (for the manifestation of gene defects, their repeated appearance in several generations is necessary). Doctors still find it difficult to answer the question of how to recover from lycanthropy and hypertrichosis. They derive knowledge about the symptoms, manifestations, causes of these diseases from medical sources of the past, and the connection between lycanthropy and hypertrichosis is still poorly understood.
How to cure lycanthropy?
This disease is not always cured. Schizophrenia is corrected by antipsychotics and antipsychotics, but this method of curing lycanthropy leads to a subsidence of manifestations, but there is a high risk of relapse, in which all symptoms return.
The consequences of taking drugs, hallucinogens are treated poorly. The maximum that can be achieved is to reduce attacks of aggression and threat to others.
With bipolar disorder and depression, it is possible to recover from lycanthropy using tranquilizers, but there is also a high probability that some symptoms will persist.
There is no special cure for lycanthropy. Her symptoms are treated with antidepressants, insomnia medications, and conversations with a psychiatrist. The disease can be stabilized, but it is completely impossible to cure.
Myth or reality
The debate about whether lycanthropy exists exists regularly in the medical community. Treating her like porphyria is a vampire disease that occurs due to genetic disorders caused by family marriages. With this disease, the production of hemoglobin is disrupted, which leads to the destruction of the skin under the influence of sunlight.
Porphyria and lycanthropy were previously considered mythical phenomena. However, with the development of medical knowledge, they began to believe that lycanthropy is a violation of the human psyche. She was recognized as a disease only in 1850, from which 56 cases were recorded.
Lycanthropy: real cases nowadays
The most studied and well-known remains werewolf syndrome of the Spanish serial killer Blanco Manuel, who was sent for compulsory treatment in 1852. He managed to get the court to admit that part of the crimes was committed by the wolf in which he turned. He proved himself right, showing imaginary fangs, eating only raw meat.
The manifestation of lycanthropy in real time is the Asievo family (more than 30 people), who live in Mexico. They suffer from a genetic disease, which is inherited and manifests itself in a strong change in the human appearance. Their body surface is covered with thick hair, even in women. Changed posture, facial expressions, gestures.
According to scientists, this disease is caused by a genetic mutation. For many hundreds of years, they have entered into only clan marriages. Now they live in northern Mexico in the mountain city of Zacatecas. Local residents and neighbors are very hostile to them. Currently, medical studies of this disease are underway, doctors hope to isolate the lycanthropy gene and give the descendants of this family a full life.