What is different?

Werewolves of today are portrayed as humans who are part wolf, sometimes being able to choose when to change into a wolf, or sometimes changing because of the cycle of the moon. They often look to totally transform into a wolf, rather than a person with very wolf-like characteristics. There is also rare cases where people are diagnosed with clinical lycanthropy, which is when a person believes they can transform or has transformed into an animal or believe they are an animal. While these cases are said to be connected to neurological conditions or psychological conditions such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, or clinical depression. 

The origins of lycanthropy in the 1500-1600s is very different from its current origins, whether it's a case of real life lycanthropy with reasonable origins, or lycanthropy in movies or books with magical or genetic origins. Henri Boguet’s theory for example, shows how big a shift that is; “Satan deludes humans into thinking they are wolves by confusing the humors of the body and by giving them an ointment to deaden their senses. Humans who suffer from hallucinations and delusions of metamorphosis are instruments of Satan. Witnesses to transformation of humans into werewolves are also deceived by Satan. Satan confuses their vision so that what they see and report is an illusion.” As seen in the previous quote, back then, lycanthropy was considered of Satanic origin, which allowed the destruction and elimination of large groups of people of who were accused in courts of lycanthropy. But perhaps in such a setting, as a person accusing another of “evils”, the accusing is suggested by “whispers” from Satan, and therefore lycanthropy as viewed then, was the idea of Satan spread to manipulate humans, a way to get people to do unthinkable things to other the humans they accused. And now rather than being used in an evil way, lycanthropy is a way of showing how humans how the different aren't so different after all.