Theory of Therianthropy as a Developmental Adaptation to Trauma or Autism

Ok, I don't really care about this whole... thing. but I just want to bring up the line,

Quote:Trauma can pull apart the masculine and feminine aspects of the soul causing altered experiences or confusion about gender/sexuality.

Excuse me...? Sure sounds like you're saying being transgender, gender nonconforming, and bisexual/homosexual is some sort of disorder, which is.............
WOW.

First off, the concept of "masculine and feminine" is a human social construct, which changes all the time. There is no such thing as your soul being "feminine" or "masculine." You could be really into beauty and everything we associate with "femininity," or into being strong and protective, everything we associate with "masculinity" but thats all just stuff being divided into made up categories by humans.
And second, not fitting the made up norms of stuff doesn't make you disordered or someone who went through trauma to cause it, holy shit. So many species display homosexuality, even showing it to be a positive thing for offspring without biological parent to care for it, and gender only exists as yet anther social construct, only based on sex and otherwise being meaningless. Homosexuality is natural and being trans or not conforming to gender roles is far more natural than the constructed norms it goes against.

Honestly your explanation here sounds pretty flawed to me.

You say that you don't believe in the metaphysical and need a rational explanation for yourself. Okay, I think everyone can believe what they want, but it's unrealistic to say therianthropy is always caused by the same thing in every therian. I think there's a great range of causes, displayed by the great range of experiences therians have.

And again, if you don't believe in the metaphysical, what's all this talk about the breaking of the soul? If we're not believing anything spiritual here, ergo we don't believe in souls, why would our explantation still involve something spiritual? Also this idea that a soul contains masculine and feminine aspects. Seems like a lot of spirituality for a non-spiritual explanation.

I obviously disagree with you here. I can loosely trace some therian behaviors back to when I was a newborn, because my mom will tell me about it. I can't personally remember it, but I don't see why my mother wouldn't, or would be inclined to lie about it. Especially because she doesn't know I'm therian, so there's no confirmation bias. She just likes to complain about how much I sucked as a baby. My first memory regarding it was when I was two, which to my knowledge is before anything traumatic happened.

I've also found though interestingly, that as a lot of my mental trauma healed, my physical dysphoria went away. So perhaps you are right about that part, at least in my case.

I personally do believe in a spiritual explanation for my therianthropy, but if I was to theorize from a purely scientific standpoint I'd probably say genetic adaptation of some sort, or random fluke in brain wiring. Perhaps some humans having an animal side was useful for the tribe. Although this still wouldn't quite explain it, because my animal side is non-earthly. So how could an Earthly creature be genetically predisposed to mimic a non-earthly one? Seems unlikely.

(2021-08-15 13:32)Atlantis Wrote:  I think there's a great range of causes, displayed by the great range of experiences therians have.

I agree on that. Though it can be linked to trauma or autism, though some people with DID have alters that aren't human, it's not the same for everyone.
First of all, there's spiritual therian and therians that are both spiritual and psychological (like myself, the psychological side came after and is more than minor) and psychological therians that didn't suffer trauma and/or don't have autism.

(2021-08-15 13:32)Atlantis Wrote:  Honestly your explanation here sounds pretty flawed to me.

You say that you don't believe in the metaphysical and need a rational explanation for yourself. Okay, I think everyone can believe what they want, but it's unrealistic to say therianthropy is always caused by the same thing in every therian. I think there's a great range of causes, displayed by the great range of experiences therians have.

And again, if you don't believe in the metaphysical, what's all this talk about the breaking of the soul? If we're not believing anything spiritual here, ergo we don't believe in souls, why would our explantation still involve something spiritual? Also this idea that a soul contains masculine and feminine aspects. Seems like a lot of spirituality for a non-spiritual explanation.

I obviously disagree with you here. I can loosely trace some therian behaviors back to when I was a newborn, because my mom will tell me about it. I can't personally remember it, but I don't see why my mother wouldn't, or would be inclined to lie about it. Especially because she doesn't know I'm therian, so there's no confirmation bias. She just likes to complain about how much I sucked as a baby. My first memory regarding it was when I was two, which to my knowledge is before anything traumatic happened.

I've also found though interestingly, that as a lot of my mental trauma healed, my physical dysphoria went away. So perhaps you are right about that part, at least in my case.

I personally do believe in a spiritual explanation for my therianthropy, but if I was to theorize from a purely scientific standpoint I'd probably say genetic adaptation of some sort, or random fluke in brain wiring. Perhaps some humans having an animal side was useful for the tribe. Although this still wouldn't quite explain it, because my animal side is non-earthly. So how could an Earthly creature be genetically predisposed to mimic a non-earthly one? Seems unlikely.

You are a person who challenges my beliefs with your otherworldly memories. It could be attributable to something like pseudo memories or inner world experiences. But I'm not trying to negate your beliefs so don't take it that way. The universe is a lot bigger than we can see. It's just my belief that everything we experience could be explained by earthly psychology/biology. If your mom says you "sucked" as a baby.... well. If she had a hard time then you certainly had a hard time! Babies are very sensitive and people often act like they're non-sentient things just because they cannot communicate very well and people don't remember what it was like. Of course babies can experience trauma, and most people wouldn't remember although I think it could affect a person more profoundly since it's so early in development.

I often refer to the self/psyche as the "soul." I just don't believe that it's permanent or immortal, but that it's impermanent kind of like physical matter. I've talked a little bit about my uneasy and guarded relationship with things I have no scientific explanations for, which predictably invited personal attack as well as support and information. It is possible my ghost wolf is (or was) what people call a walk-in since that's what I experienced at first. @House Of Chimeras said their system included spirits who had died and wanted to join with them, so it's possible my wolf self could be something like that. It's just that the psychological explanation of the wolf as an alternate aspect of a dissociative system actually helped me resolve some issues while a metaphysical explanation was not helpful. So you could say I have a utilitarian approach to spirituality- I believe things that are helpful for me to believe.

(2021-08-15 3:40)WolfdogPaws Wrote:  Ok, I don't really care about this whole... thing. but I just want to bring up the line,

Quote:Trauma can pull apart the masculine and feminine aspects of the soul causing altered experiences or confusion about gender/sexuality.

Excuse me...? Sure sounds like you're saying being transgender, gender nonconforming, and bisexual/homosexual is some sort of disorder, which is.............
WOW.

First off, the concept of "masculine and feminine" is a human social construct, which changes all the time. There is no such thing as your soul being "feminine" or "masculine." You could be really into beauty and everything we associate with "femininity," or into being strong and protective, everything we associate with "masculinity" but thats all just stuff being divided into made up categories by humans.
And second, not fitting the made up norms of stuff doesn't make you disordered or someone who went through trauma to cause it, holy shit. So many species display homosexuality, even showing it to be a positive thing for offspring without biological parent to care for it, and gender only exists as yet anther social construct, only based on sex and otherwise being meaningless. Homosexuality is natural and being trans or not conforming to gender roles is far more natural than the constructed norms it goes against.

Oh here we go again.
I've already told you I have no interest in arguing around in circles when you just want to come at me like a ragebot contradicting yourself and lecturing down at me like you think I was born yesterday. I'm not playing.

(2021-08-15 20:59)Tdae Wrote:  You are a person who challenges my beliefs with your otherworldly memories. It could be attributable to something like pseudo memories or inner world experiences. But I'm not trying to negate your beliefs so don't take it that way. The universe is a lot bigger than we can see. It's just my belief that everything we experience could be explained by earthly psychology/biology. If your mom says you "sucked" as a baby.... well. If she had a hard time then you certainly had a hard time! Babies are very sensitive and people often act like they're non-sentient things just because they cannot communicate very well and people don't remember what it was like. Of course babies can experience trauma, and most people wouldn't remember although I think it could affect a person more profoundly since it's so early in development.

I often refer to the self/psyche as the "soul." I just don't believe that it's permanent or immortal, but that it's impermanent kind of like physical matter. I've talked a little bit about my uneasy and guarded relationship with things I have no scientific explanations for, which predictably invited personal attack as well as support and information. It is possible my ghost wolf is (or was) what people call a walk-in since that's what I experienced at first. @House Of Chimeras said their system included spirits who had died and wanted to join with them, so it's possible my wolf self could be something like that. It's just that the psychological explanation of the wolf as an alternate aspect of a dissociative system actually helped me resolve some issues while a metaphysical explanation was not helpful. So you could say I have a utilitarian approach to spirituality- I believe things that are helpful for me to believe.

Yes, I think there will always be people who challenge our beliefs whether that's you or me, or anyone else. And I mean I don't expect you to believe me because I have no way of sharing the actual experience with you, only words. I think as long as we recognize that the universe does not begin and end within our realm of experience that's okay. As long as one leaves that door open just a little bit and isn't completely close minded it's healthy to have your own beliefs.

No, no you took that a bit too literally, my bad, those are my words not hers. She talks about how as a newborn I refused any sort of physical affection, like cuddles for example. My parents would try to cuddle me and I would push them away. That, in my opinion, is a very Avask thing. For the same reason dogs don't like hugs. Avask also don't bond with their parents which did create a lot of relationship strife but that was mostly later in life when it started to become a dominance issue. By which I mean the earliest I remember that happening was 6 years old. Obviously no longer an infant. I do wonder if as a baby I disappointed my parents, because a lot of people do view infants as objects. They want this adorable cuddly thing that depends on them. I don't think most people take into account all the downsides that come with a baby, including just not knowing who they're gonna be. But I know for a fact every baby has frustrated their parents at some point, probably a lot of points. That alone is not a source of trauma or everyone would be traumatized. My mom actually tells me care wise I was an extremely easy baby. I slept through the night from a very young age, and I was very happy and giggly. Not one of those babies who screams and cries all the time at all. So I really don't think I have any baby trauma.

What you would call the soul, I call the ego. The ego, our personality, what we view as ourselves dies when we die. It's just a figment of who we are, a collection of all of our memories shaped into a person. And that's why there's no "essential" Tdae that lives on after death. No one true version of yourself. But I do also believe in souls. In that we have some spiritual essence/ energy that lives on after we die. And I don't know why, but I feel connected to that part of myself. I feel like I can glimpse back and see other iterations of myself. Why that has carried with me into this life I don't know. Because it's a very different thing to remember past lives than it is to be therian. Clearly my Avaskness is something that extends past "Atlantis", this version of myself here that will ultimately be destroyed, my ego. And I just can't explain that.

I also understand struggling with spirituality, because I was raised atheist. I'm thankful I don't think that way anymore, because I was honestly not a very good person. Not good or bad in the societal/ moral sense, but in the sense that I was not very mature. I believed I was right about everything, and that anyone who believed differently was inferior and lieing to themselves. And honestly I don't think that's a very good place to be.
When I started getting past life memories it really shook that faith and made me start questioning things. Because it's a comfortable place to be when you think you're right all the time. And it is so hard letting go of that and stepping into uncertain waters, especially when that's been something you were raised with for as long as you can remember.

I'm very grateful I was born this way though, because it made me question that. Forced me to be brave and grow as a person. I think if I hadn't, I would be just another person following the flow of society without ever really taking time to stop and look where they're going. And you don't have to look around long to realize that's not a direction you really want to go. Leading a meaningless life fueled by consumerism, and fashion trends. That's not to say it wasn't hard, it was really hard. It has made nearly every aspect of my life more difficult. But I'm thankful for it nonetheless.

Honestly I can respect that. If that's what you need to believe to resolve issues and trauma, and you're clearly not deluding yourself about why you believe that. Again as someone who was raised atheist I used to worry a lot about exact truth. Especially these last few years. I would fret about it internally almost constantly. How can one be absolutely sure that their spiritual beliefs are the truth? And I would try to think of how to prove it. But I realized very recently you can't, ever. It's a waste of energy. That's sort of a lie of the atheist thinking; that there is one truth that dictates everything, and it can be the only one. Or even that truth is the most important thing in our beliefs. I think now that all we can do is be as authentic as we can be, with ourselves at least if no one else. Because ultimately no matter how far you wander you will come back to truth. Even if it takes death to bring you back, you will come back. Truth is like death in that sense, it's ultimately unavoidable. As much as we (as a society) love to hate it, I think that when you can accept that as part of life it sets you free.

Anyways I know this is long, sorry. I just find it an interesting discussion to have in a thread about the truth of therianthopy.

Complex stuff here, I like it. I'll throw my experiences into the hat.

I had a good childhood, and wasn't diagnosed with any kind of mental disorders. I have my first memories of therianthropic feelings before things ever started getting hard for me... and I honestly feel like a lot of my developed issues are an adaptation because of my therianthropy than the other way around. Things like antisocial behavior, bottling up my feelings, having a hard time making friends and sharing anything with people... all of those can be tied back to when I was a kid digging into these feelings for the first time and just having those societal pressures like they were wrong.

I definitely think that trauma could amplify or bring out laden therianthropic mental traits, but I don't think that it could create them. I personally think it's a physical difference in wiring of the brain, which is why a lot of therians seem to have autistic traits since they're similar in a lot of ways.

I feel weird chiming in with this, but... yeah, my childhood was, well, charmed. I had some medical issues come up when I was very young, and around the same time I developed a very close bond with the family pet, a large mastiff, Monty. So, there's room there for things about myself to have developed at that specific time. But, overall, I wasn't bullied as a kid. My parents weren't perfect but they cared and were overall pretty good. I did well in school. I was popular enough, I played sports. And, it just doesn't line up that the medical issues or that stuff with Monty would be involved, given the specific ways I experienced therianthropy growing up. It's hard for me to figure why that would lead me to having urges to chew and gnaw on things, for example. I didn't maintain that close relationship with dogs after Monty passed away; I actually kinda disliked them for most of my adolescent years. My grandma was afraid of dogs and so were some of my friends, so I stayed away as well.

(2021-08-16 17:12)Werewulfra Wrote:  I definitely think that trauma could amplify or bring out laden therianthropic mental traits, but I don't think that it could create them. I personally think it's a physical difference in wiring of the brain, which is why a lot of therians seem to have autistic traits since they're similar in a lot of ways.

I think I mostly agree with this. It definitely seems like there's some underlying thing, at least for me, that was around independent of the nurture half of things. I also think that trauma might cause people to repress those traits, as well -- it doesn't cut the same way every time. I just don't think there's necessarily *one* thing that every therian has in common that caused them to be therians, especially when we consider how different therianthropy can end up playing out from one person to another.

A year or two-ish after, still a very very good read.

I love the tossles and waves of discussion and argument, even with touchy subjects such as trauma. As well as me practicing my open-mindedness with everyone's response or rebuttal. I think everyone here had a good amount to say, thou I think the main issue is having the reassurance that this is just their own belief and not the fact of life. Or misinterpretation. For example, something I'd like to note is when Tdae said, " Trauma can pull apart the masculine and feminine aspects of the soul causing altered experiences or confusion about gender/sexuality." and another took it in a rather different approach. In the context that it's in, it makes a lot of sense and I have personal experience with it. My dad is ( or was ) an alcoholic, narcissistic ( I'm inclined to believe he just has CPTSD rather than born Narc, that is just my observation, perhaps even both idek fuck him ) man-child who is me me me and swore he would care for me. He was also very misogynistic and as an autistic AFAB it affected me deeply. The thought process is like -

Why would I want to be a girl? The same women that are objectified and belittled by my dad and on TV, when I could be cool and like my dad and be with the favorable group.

That of course sent me on the path to gender identity for most of my childhood, even to the point where I thought I was trans. ( THIS IS NOT SAYING ALL TRANS PEOPLE ARE TRAUMATIZED OR HAVE SOME CHILDHOOD ISSUE, I HAVE SEEN IT MYSELF ) But alas, when I got to 18 and did my internal work, I realized this connection and became more content with myself as just... me. No need for labeling. But yes, long example but something that made me relate to what Tdae said. Some are born feeling another gender, some are not born with that feeling, and some have other reasonings, it's the complexity of life.


Most of what was discussed originally were things I've noticed about myself already, as well as others. I am only 20, but I recognize the years' worth of undoing, breaking, and self-loving I have to do. It is a journey only I and the Lord my God will walk together, and I've already learned so much. I've mentioned it somewhere on here, but how my autism goes hand in hand with my animalistic behavior. My - atypical behavior - and how it would be interpreted as out of the norm. I definitely struggle with this even when I'm masking at work and in public, though I'm trying to stop masking so much and just be me. These acts, gestures, and noises that I do are wolf/primate orientated than, ig you can say, " stereotypical stimming" and it helps me calm down. It comforts me to mentally shift when I can, and I recognize that to be disassociative or a coping method. Whichever one, deep down I know the root is trauma. Because in the calmer hours of the day back then, I would run in my backyard on all fours and pretend I was a variety of animals.

Also, one last thing before I create a whole article, what was mentioned in the beginning, "Early trauma can profoundly effect a person later in life even if it's not remembered. I think it's very common because people are cut off from their instincts and don't understand children's developmental needs. I think this is a major contributing factor to mental illness, addiction and antisocial behavior." The body keeps the score is what I thought of. Its really dark to discuss, but that's something I am struggling with currently. I feel it in my body something happened, but I don't remember because it was just so long ago. So early... it is disheartening to think. My earliest memory is seeing the black void, the womb of the universe, and a gradient light into existing as a 6-year-old. Not all together, but those are the two memories I have.

Anyways, I feel like I could elaborate more on what I wrote, but I think that's enough. Really great to think about and ponder on if you're at that level of the self. I love to read other's perspectives and comprehensions of aspects of life.

This is such a subject of intrigue to me, as an autistic critter myself & a teacher to those with autism — many of whom don’t know that a nonhuman identity is an option, but express similar behaviors & seem to perceive the world on a level similar to ours as animalfolk.

It is notable that I also have clinically recognized PTSD; considering the ‘trauma’ portion of this equation.

On one paw, I feel that my therianthropy and my autism + trauma are different things, with distinct and differing causes. My autism, for example, is genetic, and my trauma is obviously the result of … well, trauma; and I would not consider ‘genetics’ nor ‘unstable and violating childhood’ to be the cause of my therianthropy.

On the other … I feel that without my autism, I would not fall so easily into certain habitual behaviors, focus so hard on perfecting things like vocalizations, or fixate so intensely on information pertinent to my theriotype(s). I also doubt I would have sought community with other therian at all, were it not for the feelings of isolation and otherness — of dissonance from humankind — that led me to researching what a ‘therian’ was to begin with, & I can’t sit here and act like my autism and PTSD didn’t have something to Do with all that pain.

I’m happier here, though, with a much better understanding of All the parts of who I am. So theory or no theory, I think that’s what matters. ^^

As an autistic therian, I think therianthropy actually leans more towards the side of being common in those with ASD or Autism Spectrum Disorder.
A lot of therians, myself included, are on the spectrum. There was atually a poll on this specific topic done a bit back and what was found was that the "Comorbidity rate" between ASD and Therianthropy was extremely high.
Whether or not they are directly linked, this is definitely something to think about.