Thank you a lot for putting so much effort into adding on to my theory! I love that you've corrected some of my misunderstandings. And yes, I was referring to DID instead of Schizophrenia, my apologies for the erroneous statement. I was a little rushed and poorly-informed when writing this paragraph. Of course, it is only rough framework and I will be adding research and details to it later on when I've found more information. Thank you for the feedback and I must say that I'm extremely impressed by your attention to details. Great thanks and have a wonderful day!

P.S. If I haven't confused you with somebody else, you have a YouTube channel right? Called Therian Territory. I love the content and I'm looking forward to learning more facts about Therianthropy!

Hi Lycanthera. What an interesting post you have here, makes me rub my paws together to dissect it a little!

First of all, I noticed your mention of schizophrenia and supposed separation of identity, and wanted to correct some information there. Schizophrenia is often mistaken for dissociative disorders, but in general they are not the same thing. I believe you are referring to Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD, which is more of an umbrella for those who show symptoms but don't directly fit the diagnosis of the known dissociative disorders), which are disorders where one's identity (partially) scatters into several. For DID, symptoms like dissociation (episodes of disconnect from the self) and amnesiac barriers (when the different identities/headmates do not share the same memory) are a key factor of this. From what I have gathered over the years, this disorder is indeed a survival mechanism from early childhood. As a child, your sense of self is inherently more scattered over several types of emotions, which are supposed to merge into one sense of self as your brain develops. But ongoing trauma may make your brain prevent this merge from happening to preserve the ability to function, causing a more defined split in identity.

Knowing this, from your theory it sounds like that'd have to mean that from early childhood, all humans should already have some kind of animalistic side embedded in their brain. You mentioned this as a shared evolutionary animalsitic mindset that all animals share, but that the humans have come to suppress overtime. While it's true that many animalistic instincts of humans have toned down over the years, I think it's important to add nuance to this: evolutionary instincts do not appear out of nowhere, they are a result of longterm conditioning of a species to be able to survive. Therefore, all instincts can be traced back to a cause. The Uncanny Valley theory is not a random instinct, but instead can psychologically be traced back to a combination of the human's detailed perception of the human face (to be able to recognize emotions, and therefore to help with social survival), and the detection of danger when a person's face feels off (which also stems from xenophobia).

The fact that humans experience this only further proves that a set of instincts per species are more species-specific than you'd think, because no other animals have the ability to read and communicate with faces this well.
As per your theory, it'd leave me to question why some therians would experience prey-like instincts (flight and freeze responses to being attacked for example), while others experience predator instincts. Why some therians have the urge to swim, while others will want to fly. That's no one collective animal mindset, that is a whole respective framework for each individual.

I am a huge fan of dissecting natural human instincts from animalistic therian experiences. I solemnly believe there are overlaps and similarities, but also undeniable distinctions between the two. To pin therianthropic experiences purely on our shared human (or overall animal) instincts personally feels a bit like tarring it all with the same brush, as if all animal instincts come from the same source.

So please feel free to add your thoughts on this. Maybe you do have explanations to the nuance I've given, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.

Overall I think it's not an impossible theory, just one that deserves more attention in the detail

First of all, this is only a guess, not a definitive fact and is only supported by what I believe. It isn't meant to hurt anyone or insult anyone, only to share my thoughts and theories. All of these ideas are original and have not copied anyone else's ideas, if I have, by coincidence, please let me know.
My main point is that Therianthropy has to do with mental abnormality and/or the primordial animal instinct. I will split this into two different parts, the 'Evolution Theory' and the 'Trauma Theory' which I will bind together at the end to explain the 'Instinct Triggerer Theory'
So first off, I would like to define what the Evolution Theory is. Its explanation to Therianthropy that is that humans and animals originated from the same source and are closely connected on the DNA level, meaning that some of the human population, also known as Therians today can be mentally affected by this biological connection. So far I haven't found any definitive pieces of evidences that support this but it is something that we can connect to some level to the Uncanny Valley. The Uncanny Valley is an effect that causes humans to fear anything that resembles a human but is not fully human. Anything further from that point and anything closer to humans from that point doesn't cause fear. It is collective, meaning that a vast majority experiences this feeling without having had any connection between each other. It is simply something stored biologically in every single human being's consciousness. Although even the Uncanny Valley is only a hypothesized idea, the resemblance in the genetical or collective imprint can be related. It's interesting to think that deep inside the subconsciousness, humans correlate to animals. Due to the long-term evolution that humans undergo, gradually this instinct has been hidden and dissolved, but sometimes it may be triggered.
This connects to my second idea, the Trauma Theory. Most Therians I have met in reality and talked to online have some kind of suffering, whether they experience it now or have experienced it in the past. I think that this mental suffering and experience has lead to certain degrees of trauma which call for the primordial animal instinct to protect the consciousness. This is when the instinct emerges and separates from the subconsciousness, blending into the consciousness of individuals. So why does this trauma call upon this distant instinct? I believe it is because in the ancient times, the animal instinct was to fight, hunt and protect, making the impression that this instinct can provide power for the individual. Then, it is only natural that the animal side starts appearing. Shifts, then, following this idea, would be the process of the formerly subconscious identity trying to protect the human identity. It is relatable to the concept of Schizophrenia, the separation of identity due to excessive trauma. The separate identities created by Schizophrenia help the main identity carry mental burden and experience the pain for the main identity instead. I believe that this animal instinct does similar things, protecting the human identity by taking on the suffering. Both can be seen as a defensive mechanism of the human mind, triggered when harm is experienced. It can also be related to the generally well-accepted knowledge that first experiences of Therianthropy are during the times of puberty, and in most people's experiences, middle school and high school, times of puberty, are the most traumatic because of bullying and academic pressure etc. It is even statistically supported that puberty can be very upsetting and hurtful.
In conclusion, the Instinct Triggerer Theory is a combination, or rather umbrella for the two theories. It is the idea that a collective, biological and subconscious animal imprint within the human mind can be triggered when trauma is experienced in order to protect the individual's human identity. This awakened primordial instinct then connects with the human consciousness to form Therianthropy.
In all, this is the small article I have been able to sum up based on my thoughts. Feel free to comment, share and add to this if you think there are variations or extensions to this theory. Thank you very much and have a great day!

Staff Identification
Here on TG, we make it easy to identify staff. All staff members will have an underlined name. No other role uses this underline so it is very clear to see. On the Discord, we appear as Staff on the member side bar, but you can also check in the Meet the Staff channel under Introductions.

I had a feeling for a while that was non-human and was searching to work out what that was. I came across TG and the descriptions of therianthropy appeared to fit what I was experiencing very closely. I would say I *knew* I was a therian when I joined the site/discord and talked to other people here and related very closely with other people's experiences.

Might not work for everyone since there are many unique types out there but just existing in the group and seeing if you fit in is a reasonable indicator most of the time. As long as you stay critical and skeptical!

My story on why is somewhat complicated. I kind of have more of a set of nonhuman "parts" to my soul/spirit/whatever name you prefer to call it. Part being vampire, part lynx, and part fox. Those are the ones I know of currently. There may be more but it's been pretty stable since I found the vampire part recently. I think my soul partially originated in a separate/parallel plane of existence to this one, which is where the vampire part of my soul is from. It's relatively similar to this one, tbh. The vampire part of me knows I was once at least partly a human-shaped soul too (before being turned in said reality). The animal parts originated from here though, I believe. I also have psychological basis for identifying as nonhuman, being autistic and drawn more to animals or other beings than humanity. That and having trauma from my bipolar disorder.

i have an "all of the above" kind of ordeal XD

im autistic and always had a special interest on animals, and feeling more empathy torwards animals than humans is common for autistic people. i never liked talking and didnt understand social cues, and animals dont have any of that stuff so it was just easier. pair that with imprinting from being raised with dogs, then trauma from being bullied and treated as if i wasnt a person due to my disability added more to it animals felt more like family than family did, and the lifestyles of a wild animal just make more sense. i dont understand society

its also spiritual !! maybe those spiritual beliefs came from the psychological stuff but honestly i feel like i wouldve had the same beliefs either way ;p not sure what i think about past lives, but i used to really believe in them when i was younger. i just know i am anything but human in this one. its not much of a "i was meant to be born an animal" but more of "i am an animal and people cant know". i just dont seem like one physically. sometimes i like to think i am the way i am and not an animal physically so i can advocate for the animals that cant speak like i can. also to make art :3

this is a really interesting conversation 2 have !!

The older I get, the more distant I become, f.ex. to let anyone enter my world. I don't trust people all that much. Throughout the years, they've been judging and telling me how I should live my life as though I can't make those decisions myself. Through observations they've made on me, I got the impression that they don't see me as quite a whole person, a person who has rights, desires, needs... At times, I feel like I'm not even trying anymore to make my opinion known. Who'll understand? Who will take me for full?
Something quite personal happened recently which proved that they don't have the slightest clue what's wrong with me. As far as I'm concerned, they are just gambling with my life and taking my support away without asking what my needs are nowadays. Right now, I just happen to suck it up and live with it anyway, but I'm well aware life could have been better if they'd just let things be the way they were. In this society, I'm reminded over and over again that I'm neurodiverse, need support, can't decide for myself how I can fill in my life to the best of my ability etc. etc. It makes me feel like I can't do anything right, you know, like I'm being blamed for being disabled, that I'm faulted and flawed. It's suppression, really. It's discrimination. And if you look at how society marginalizes and discriminates smaller groups of individuals that don't fit their idea of just, I can't say that that comes much as a surprise there. If there was just a little sentiment of sympathy in their systems, they would have asked me for what I needed instead of GUESSING. I don't like smart-asses -excuse the language- who believe they know what's right for me without doing inquiries. Specifically when they go over financial support, I think it's very important that, if they want to do adjustments, they ask the parties involved what those parties actually need. I dislike slip of the finger work. This is just one of the couple of examples I've got that prove that they haven't got the slightest clue who or what they're working with. All my life, they have jeered at me, made fun of me and tried to put me on the sideline. Quite frankly, I'm done with that kind of treatment.
As to the question asked, I'm not quite misanthropic, but I have my moments where I loathe my humanity and want it to be gone. I can be very embarrassed when I hear the news and ask myself a lot if that's the species I really want to identify with, if I could. But nah, thank you very much.

EDIT: Sorry, I'm still mad over it. After all that's happened so far, that doesn't come as a surprise much.

(2025-01-23 1:32)UniqueUsernameTADA Wrote:  I don't believe in souls, and I don't believe that we are born therians. Some of us may be predisposed to therianthropy, but it is not guaranteed to develop. So what does it take to become one? I see two main ingredients necessary for therianthropy to develop. Those being a connection to an animal, and a disconnect from oneself. The connection can come from a variety of places. People prone to special interests and hyperfixations are far more likely to have this connection. The same goes for people with pets, especially those who had a deep bond with the animal, potentially due to trauma. The disconnect from yourself or reality seems to have several common causes. The first of which is being transgender, which causes you to be uncomfortable in your body and life. Another one is being neurodivergent, which causes you to feel out of place in the world. Trauma and dissociation are very common causes as well, but it can be from anything really. When someone feels disconnected from the world, they will latch onto the animal that they feel connected to for a sense of security and identity. They will begin to project themselves onto the animal, then they will eventually see themselves as the animal. I feel that this recipe for therianthropy explains why so many therians are neurodivergent, mentally ill, and LGBT.
My experience certainly falls under this pattern. I had a special interest in animals from around the age of three, maybe younger. I would play pretend as an animal as much as I possibly could, and learned all that I could about them. Once I started school, I couldn't act like an animal visibly anymore. The school environment was incredibly overstimulating and overwhelming, so I dissociated frequently. I spent hours every single day at school zoned out. While I was dissociating, I engaged in maladaptive daydreaming. In these daydreams I would imagine myself and everyone around me as an animal. I never saw myself as a human, not even once. I wanted to be someone else and somewhere else, and being an animal was my escape. Eventually, this pretending wasn't pretending anymore. I really did see myself as an animal on the inside. That has never gone away.

well I have to slightly dissagree my earliest memories are from being 1 and a half and I still remember havig dysphoria and dissconnection from humans mainly because they looked at me as if I was a trheat or treated me like a ghost so unless I imprinted all of these wolf behaviors when I was a 1 year old or less I find it unlikely I also remember that unlike most kids aka the normal ones I didn't cry or scream when another animal was eatean by another I just saw it as part of life so to speak I also vaguely supressing my animal side because I knew it wouldn't be precived as normal just so you know I don't remember all the stuff that happened just the ones my brain demed important and my meomeries from early puphood are more like a straight line wiouthout dates upantyl the point where I go to school and even then they might be slightly incomplet because I was a pup that generally while very observabt was focused on 4 things mum my dog Fluffy this one horse on therapy and other people's emotions everything else be damned lol

I found myself to be a misanthrope long before I discovered theranthropy. Humans have a cruleness that goes beyond nature. Yes there are other highly intelligent animals that do hunt and kill for sport but nothing on the scale of humans.

Years ago I cam across a quote by aristottle "The misanthrope, as an essentially solitary man, is not a man at all: he must be a beast or a god...” this spoke to me deeply as a lost teen who had been abused and traumatised like so many other creatures are. I think that's when I rejected humanity and opened myself up to finding what I really was. Even now I heavily reject the notion of being human even if my body is. Humans after all and weather they like it or not are still animals.
On that statement alone I would say theranthropy is connected, without one I wouldn't have found the other. Due to my ingrained fear of people I have adapted better to being my kintype because I know spiritually and psychologicaly im not human