summary Two patients, a 38-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman, were admitted to a psychiatric ward. The first patient suffered from a mood disorder, personality changes and complained of several, hitherto unexplained physical symptoms. Finally the patient was diagnosed with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration associated with Hodgkin's disease. The second patient presented with psychosis and panic disorders, but the condition was later found to be caused by paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis due to ovarian teratomas. These cases illustrate that patients with paraneoplastic neurological syndromes may present with psychiatric symptoms which can hamper an early diagnosis.