Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011570 (depression)
 172,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In this paper, the original Greek language texts of the Byzantine medical literature about lycanthropy are reviewed. The transformation of a human being into a wolf and the adoption of animal-like behaviour, which were already known from mythology and had been presented in the scientific works of ancient Greek and Roman physicians, were examined by six Byzantine physicians and explained as a type of melancholic depression or mania. In spite of the influence of Byzantine medicine, its rationality in the interpretation of lycanthropy was forgotten in medieval and Renaissance times when it was replaced by explanations based on demonic possession and witchcraft. More recently psychiatry has treated the phenomenon as a subject of medical inquiry and has again explained the condition in terms of mental disorder.
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PMID:Lycanthropy in Byzantine times (AD 330-1453). 2048 Nov 33

We present a case of psychotic depression presenting with lycanthropy (being converted to a pig) and Cotard syndrome simultaneously and treated with electroconvulsive therapy. A 37-year-old female patient developed psychotic depression after a stressor (a possibility of having a malignancy). As her depression worsened, she developed delusional belief of self being metamorphosed to a pig and her children also being metamorphosed into pig. In addition, she had the delusional belief that her own body and body of her children was rotting away. She was treated with electroconvulsive therapy along with venlafaxine and olanzapine, with which she improved completely.
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PMID:Electroconvulsive therapy for lycanthropy and Cotard syndrome: a case report. 2056 36