Lycanthropy is interpreted by the authors as a delusion in the sense of the self-identity disorder defined by Scharfetter. It is mainly found in affective and schizophrenic disorders but can be a symptom of other psychiatric disorders as well. Psychodynamically this kind of delusion can be interpreted as an attempt to project suppressed affects, especially with aggressive or sexual content, into the figure of an animal. Psychotherapy and/or neuroleptic medication can be effective.

Clozapine, the first atypical antipsychotic, is indicated for the treatment of therapy-resistant schizophrenia. It needs to be monitored closely because of its well-known potential side-effects, especially agranulocytosis. We present a case of a middle-aged woman with chronic schizophrenia, who was treated with clozapine and developed a clinical syndrome of asymptomatic pancreatitis and eosinophilia within the fifth week of treatment. Asymptomatic pancreatitis has rarely been reported up to now and is not recognized as a typical side-effect of clozapine. In our opinion, pancreatic enzymes should be monitored especially in the first 6 weeks of clozapine treatment.

Psychiatric day hospital treatment concepts have to deal with a wide spectrum of mental disorders. We raised the question, if day hospitals can be differentiated concerning their treatment concepts and if so how much this is reflected in their structural and procedural features. In 1999 a survey was initiated concerning structure, concept and method of treatment in psychiatric day hospitals for adults in Germany. Furthermore data concerning rate of utilization, patients' characteristics and aspects of referral and further treatment were ascertained. One hundred and seventy-three (63.4%) of 273-day hospitals contacted took part in the inquiry. The data were interpreted using multivariate as well as non-parametric procedures. The results show that treatment concepts of day hospitals can be specified as three main areas of function (psychotherapy, crisis intervention orientated treatment alternative, rehabilitation) and four therapeutic orientations (psychodynamic social psychiatric, behavioral social psychiatric, psychodynamic, sociotherapeutic). Structural features are predominantly comparable and the differences found concerning the treatment concepts are especially related to patients' characteristics and some procedural features. The conclusion is that the differentiation of day hospital treatment concepts should be taken into consideration in planning psychosocial treatment services as well as in day hospital evaluation research.

Intracerebral calcifications are a facultative symptom of hypoparathyreoidism in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22qDS). We describe a patient with 22qDS, basal ganglia calcification (BGC) and psychotic symptoms and discuss the etiological connection of BGC with psychiatric symptoms. Future work needs to determine the prevalence of BGC in 22qDS and psychiatric disorders.

The belief to be transformed into an animal is named Lycanthropy. "Zooanthropismus" is the German equivalent. Three case reports raised the question how this phenomenon, in our cases to be transformed into a frog, a bee or a wolf/dog, can be interpreted in a psychopathological and diagnostic regard. Is it pathognomonic for a special disease? With the three case reports and a survey of the literature this paper deals with Lycanthropy trying to put this perhaps neglected topic back into the focus of psychiatric interest and place it in psychopathology.