How does someone know what is or isn't a shift? I guess where is the line between animalistic desires and a shift? With phantom shifts that's clear, but mental shifts seem a bit confusing.

I suppose I should give an example. It's not much because I am not confident in where the boundaries are, but the only thing I am sure is probably a shift is something that happened years ago, though I couldn't say when. But I remember the feeling of having phantom fur. It didn't last long, but for a while I felt so soft and fluffy. For things I am less sure of... Occasionally I have the desire to lay out in the sun and warm my fur, only to be slightly dissapointed. But I have never experienced any state where I wasn't aware I was human.

Here are some other threads that talk about what shifts are like:

https://forums.therian-guide.com/Thread-Can-you-describe-your-most-memorable-shift-as-an-alter-human
^ I even commented on this one, a while ago

https://forums.therian-guide.com/Thread-What-was-your-first-shift-like--23004

https://forums.therian-guide.com/Thread-Is-this-a-shift-animalistic-urge

https://forums.therian-guide.com/Thread-What-To-Call-This-shifting

There are many, many more but these are the more recent and informative ones. Nothing will help you more on here than learning how to use the search function efficiently


For me, I'm usually in a constant canine mentality. Human behaviours are something I have to actively think about and analyze which is exhausting. It's easier when I'm in dog form but if I'm feeling more wolfish, I prefer not to interact with others. If I'm with someone I trust or am going through strong emotions, I stop being able to keep up the human mask well which is usually what I refer to as a shift. I can act normal with effort but I'd rather not.

Shifts are tricky for me since obviously canines have different body language than humans do. I don't have a solid way to communicate without expressive ears and a tail, because facial expressions and speaking don't come naturally to me. Typing with canine emojis on discord is usually how I get through them.

I'm fairly new here even if my profile is 5 years old. (Things got busy and I forgot about this website.) I have heard a lot about things like shifting, and was curious. As I have no basis for what a shift means without examples I must ask; For people who do experience them, regardless of degree, what are they like for you?

I figured it might help not only me, but others who are unsure or knew if we could get some stories about shifting. For the most information if possible I'd like to find stories of shifts people have had from small ones to large ones, and in a variety of situations.

I looked to see if another such topic exists. I am sure one probably does, but could not find it.

My short, simple (personal) interpretation: therianthropy drives misanthropy, not the other way around.

Unless perhaps you've experienced something incredibly traumatic at a formative age, and it ended up significantly altering your brain chemistry to the point you absolutely cannot trust humans (which is honestly fair).... nothing, misanthropic or not, is going to 'cause' therianthropy — going under the rhetoric, of course, that it is not a choice. Why would it be? It's totally miserable half the time, you feel permanately alienated, dysphoria is a daily struggle, a constant longing for something you'll never have...

I do believe, however, that therianthropy can definitely drive misanthropy. You are an animal, therefore you think like an animal (regardless of how often), you see the world through non-human eyes and so when humanity is putting extra effort into doing something disgusting, the failures feel 10x more appalling. At least for me, it's almost like its personal. Humans and their money, their moralities, their issues, are the cause for 90% of the world's problems, and when bad people fail, it feels like they want to drag every other human (or creature) down with them. It's not a struggle of morality; it's a struggle of involuntary self-separation. There's nothing more isolating as an alterhuman than being forced to suffer as every other person does knowing you never belonged here either way.

Regardless, I definitely don't hate humans. I partially see their problems from a human perspective, but that also allows me to feel empathy in a way that many animals can't. I acknowledge the good people, the great people in our world. I know the bad people will all eventually sputter and die as they are meant to, 'karma' (or whatever you prefer to call it) will always catch up in the end. The feline in me is disgusted and will probably only continue to be, but the human that I ultimately am in this life can always recognise and appreciate goodness when I see it.

XX,
KK.

I am difinately very misantrhopic and I dispise the human species as a whole with all my heart and want nothing to do with them to a point where if somone says I have a human part it feels like an insult it stems for me from psychocological reasons where I felt abandoned by humans as a pup and decided that if they don't acknowledge me and want me to conform and would 100% if given the chance deny that I am one of them then why should I acknowledge them or think of them as a part of my family I don't think it caused my theriantrhopy or the other way around but it definetly helped it in a sense that once you refuse to see yourself as human yyou look for a diffrent sort of guideline on how to behave what sort of morals you should have etc and one such guidline could be animals with wichich you develop a more animalistic sort of thinking and point of wiev

Yes, at four levels:

First, human civilization has always been supremacist and has been waging war against everyone and everything that does not fit into their power structure. You don't even have to be non-human to realize that and find it repulsive, but as people who find ourselves looking outside in from non-human perspectives it should be obvious from the start. Non-humans and humans alike are only allowed personhood and livelihood in accordance to their utility to the human hierarchy and its reproduction. For most non-humans the only role allowed is to be a resource to be consumed, or a pest to be exterminated. This is The Most Horrific Thing To Ever Be and I find it strange to not despise humanity in light of it. There are well meaning humans who try to end this, but they are such a small minority that I don't see a problem with painting a whole species with a single brush stroke. Unwilling or ignorant participation is still participation.

Second, humans take too much space and make it hard for anyone else to exist in it. For thousands of years natural environments have been gradually replaced by artificial ones made to suit human economic interests to the detriment of other species' existence. It's often difficult to find a place that hasn't been made barren and stinkied up by human recklessness and greed, a lot of the "natural grassland" around me is straight up disgusting. I need to go a long away from human settlements until I see plants that I would be even willing to put in my mouth. Everything around towns stinks and is sick, it's horrible. And then finding some good proper meadow worth spending time in is even harder, because even "remote" areas (I live in the middle of Europe lol) get ruined by herbicide runoff, commercial forestry and thoughtless landlords.

Third, humans are just kind of freaks? And they are often unpleasant or straight up dangerous to be around. Again, I know, #NotAllHumans, but in general it holds true. Many of the nice ones also look at other animals with possessiveness in their eyes, unwanted petting and "looking after" may not be as scary as outright abuse, but it comes from the same mindset.

And lastly, the cycle of domination of violence I described above also affects humans, including therians. Most of us here are in some way marginalized, neurodivergent or queer and I hope you all at least feel on some level that a major source of our alienation from human society is their insistence on us conforming ourselves to certain roles whether we like them or not, for the sole purpose of reproducing the power structure which may or may not benefit us in any way other than "at least we are not the ones at the bottom who are being devoured". That constant pressure of cruelty pushes us away from humanity, and since we are therians we have somewhere to escape to, at least in our minds, if not in our lives.

I don't think this is what causes therianthropy, because most of this perspective isn't even therian exclusive, compassionate humans who care about the existence of others also see the gargantuan scale of violence perpetuated by human civilization and feel alienated because of it. Which is also why I would advise against qualifying your beliefs as "just your point of ciew" or preempting pushback with #NotAllHumans. Things are very bad right now and we are in an unique position of responsibility to heal the Earth.

<Rex, Pokemon and Manned-Wolf Hearted> As a whole we believe were always going to experience nonhumanity and fictionality. Our system as a whole reflects that with almost all of us having both nonhuman and fiction experiences.

Ever since we can remember, we've experienced animality and nonhuman traits. Luckily we grow up with some friends who encouraged it, we always wanted to play fight and do any sort of game that involved pretending to be animals.

We never had a specific identity, but in retrospect, we can place many of our current headmates to past events. I know I was a canine as a child, and we actually know I was one of the most destructive headmates as a pup (Thankfully I mellowed out a lot haha).

The exact reason none of us can fully agree on. We were born with abnormal brain wiring because of genetics and passed down mental illness. We also believe there could be a spiritual cause to it. In either case, it's something we've likely just felt from birth or at least too early for any of us to remember. It's just a core identity regardless of the cause.

Most of this also applies to our fictionality and fictionkin adjacent experiences as well, hence why there's such an overlap with fictives also identifying as therians. My identity as a therian for being a Pokemon is complicated but much of it is because I've always identified as an animal to some extent and it didn't go away because my identity shifted as I got older.

(2025-07-05 12:45)Lupus Ferox Wrote:  Thanks @KevinLightning! That was an interesting take on your therianthropy I enjoyed reading! I don't have a narcissistic personality (I think that's what you meant - correct me if I'm wrong) myself but can relate to isolation in childhood and the struggle with connecting to people in general. I didn't have many friends either when I was young nor did I want to connect to others really. Not wanting to connect at the time is the reason why I think that nowadays my current struggles are so severe and my skills at socializing lackluster. I got blamed easily for either being emotionless or even selfish back then. Deep down, at my core, I know that that's not entirely true though. I do feel pretty intense emotions from time to time, as a matter of fact. Things that I don't want to feel all the time and therefore shield myself from them as a means to protect myself. Maybe it was better after all to learn how to connect, instead of being interested in things that were a bit out there, to be frank.

I think it takes a lot of effort to see yourself in such a realistic and matter-of-fact way, and know why you disagree with how some people see you. Very humble and tactful yet confident. I'm not sure if I have a narcissistic personality, that's just how people made me feel, it's probably true but I've learned how to focus on my inpact on other people because I really don't like being the center of attention.

I think all of us that withdrew from society when we were younger probably missed out on a lot of valuable experiences and things to learn, but I don't regret how I've gone so far. I've been lead down a pretty good path in life that I enjoy and I'm super grateful for it. I don't regret all the issues I had with people when I was growing up. But there's been a massive hole in my personality my whole life and I think it's from not feeling like I have a place I belong aside from in isolation. Never found my 'pack' ya know. But I've been doing a ton of work pushing myself outside of my comfort zone and I've gotten good at it. It's always important to recognize good progress. We all gotta keep pushing to find our kind of people I guess.

Thanks @KevinLightning! That was an interesting take on your therianthropy I enjoyed reading! I don't have a narcissistic personality (I think that's what you meant - correct me if I'm wrong) myself but can relate to isolation in childhood and the struggle with connecting to people in general. I didn't have many friends either when I was young nor did I want to connect to others really. Not wanting to connect at the time is the reason why I think that nowadays my current struggles are so severe and my skills at socializing lackluster. I got blamed easily for either being emotionless or even selfish back then. Deep down, at my core, I know that that's not entirely true though. I do feel pretty intense emotions from time to time, as a matter of fact. Things that I don't want to feel all the time and therefore shield myself from them as a means to protect myself. Maybe it was better after all to learn how to connect, instead of being interested in things that were a bit out there, to be frank.

(2023-06-07 15:05)indoraptor Wrote:  For me, I openly attribute isolation from, lack of socialization with, and trauma caused by humans from an early age to me identifying as & seeking community with other nonhumans.

My therianthropy itself, I feel, is more psychological than spiritual, yes — but I also feel that it is innate. I can’t tell you why I feel, think, and do some of the things that I do; whether I was predisposed from birth to be this way, or if I would have been different had I been a happier child — but I’m inclined to think that, whatever it is, it was Always inside of me, inside of my brain, my heart, what many would call my ‘soul.’

I relate to so much of this, specifically with how it feels innate, and that it's something that's always been a part of you or your 'soul' as you put it (I don't have a better term). Also with how your discovery of your therianthropy was the result of your upbringing and not that you became one.

I felt very isolated through my childhood, very few friends my age. A lot of that is my own fault, I never learned how to be a true friend to people early on and I was kind of narcissistic and indifferent to classmates growing up. It wasn't til high school that I learned what a true friend was like and I became even more disconnected from people around me after that. I'm lucky not to have experienced real trauma or abuse, but I always felt like I was less than human. I never felt a strong need to "fit in" and weird personalities were mostly accepted where I grew up but I was still singled out as the creepiest in school, I was made to feel like there was something extra wrong with me.

Since I was real little I always had some kind of strong canine connection. I feel it closer to my core than anything else, like a deep gut feeling. To let out wolf like movements and behaviors would just feel comfortable and please me in a way nothing else could, just felt right with my bones in a way I guess.

As I got older I started experiencing shifts but I didn't take myself seriously, I was already so weird why would I want to push that further? So I tried to bottle up and suppress what I believe what was my therianthropy for years, but it never left me, the urges to express the canine in me kept coming back stronger. Now I'm just trying to find people I can share these things with. I have some good friends nowadays but they don't relate to what I'm experiencing. But it feels great to read threads like this and everyones replies. Anyone else think there's a strong correlation between struggling to connect with people early on and discovering you're therian?