Yes! I'd love to have a more nature-related name irl as it would help me feel more connected to my environment and my theriotype, but that name would be MINE, not my theriotype's as my theriotype is ME! :3
And of course I don't think I'd ever feel greatly connected to any name, as names are a thing of humans. They call me S0ngD0g, yet I, personally, am just me, and wouldn't refer to myself as anything specifically.

(2026-02-19 13:06)Artificial Fox Wrote:  Of course my therianthropy is more than shifting because of isolation. I would also be a completely different person without it. That's where the fear is coming from. I'm not suggesting that therianthropy needs to be cured either, but I think mine has been largely reliant on dissociation and isolation, so if those things can be healed, my therianthropy will have much less ground to stand on, so to speak.

One of my most integral expressions of therianthropy used to be daydreaming. All day every day I used to imagine that I was an animal. I wasn't able to do this so much anymore when school didn't allow me to zone out and ignore what was happening. This important piece of my therianthropy went away, but the whole did not. Even before this I would play pretend as an animal every chance that I got, but when I became a teenager I forced myself to stop because it seemed so childish. Every time my current manifestation of therianthropy goes away, I seem to find a new one. Maybe that means I just need to find a better way now too.

Exactly! The social isolation and daydreaming is not the only ground your therianthropy can stand on. In fact it's some of the most unhealthy ground it can stand on. You can adjust your living space, your actions, your environment, your style, your diet to fit your theriotype. There are many ways to be more like yourself, and you don't have to worry that your therianthropy will lose all its ground just because you stop socially isolating ^^

(2026-02-11 22:04)AriVB Wrote:  Still I feel like my therianthropy is not something that can just be "cured" by "escaping isolation" or anything. If you got rid of that part of me, I'd be a different person altogether. It has to do with so much more than starting to shift because of a lack of human connection.

Of course my therianthropy is more than shifting because of isolation. I would also be a completely different person without it. That's where the fear is coming from. I'm not suggesting that therianthropy needs to be cured either, but I think mine has been largely reliant on dissociation and isolation, so if those things can be healed, my therianthropy will have much less ground to stand on, so to speak.

One of my most integral expressions of therianthropy used to be daydreaming. All day every day I used to imagine that I was an animal. I wasn't able to do this so much anymore when school didn't allow me to zone out and ignore what was happening. This important piece of my therianthropy went away, but the whole did not. Even before this I would play pretend as an animal every chance that I got, but when I became a teenager I forced myself to stop because it seemed so childish. Every time my current manifestation of therianthropy goes away, I seem to find a new one. Maybe that means I just need to find a better way now too.

I also wanna add, just in case, that when I made my comment about “if you were actually X, you’d just be X,” I wasn’t referring to delusion, but literal fact. As was said earlier, a lot of these people are being metaphorical when they say “physical,” but for those who are being literal, I’m here to say “you are undeniably, verifiably wrong,” because if you were, say, physically a wolf, you wouldn’t be online justifying your existence, you’d be out in the wild doing your thing. But you inhabit a human body which is why you were able to get online in the first place.

(2026-02-17 9:42)Hemlock Wrote:  

(2026-02-17 8:00)FernFox Wrote:  I also agree with Neon Rosette's reply a bit above. If someone is experiencing true delusions, I don't think they would be seeking out a word that puts them into a little bubble like this. They would just 'be' the animal.

It falls into this weird grey area of "I delusionally believe I am a physical animal, but am self-aware enough to know that it is a delusion". This by definition, means that it is not a true delusion-- as true psychotic delusions typically involve a lack of insight. Having that degree of self-awareness, yet choosing to still feed into delusions / self-identify as being a physical animal -- and encourage it by taking on an 'identity' that specifically marks you as delusional -- is unhealthy and shouldn't be encouraged. (Especially among easily-influenced young people just trying to find words to explore their identity).


- Fern

I'll comment on this one as someone concerned.

It is not entirely impossible for someone to hold a delusional belief while knowing other people register it as a delusional belief. It's usually referred to as double-bookkeeping in psychiatric literature. You are correct that it is kind of on the grey line between what a medical professional would qualify as true psychosis or not, but it is not entirely uncommon in people with certain schizospec disorders (such as schizotypal), or in people who have been through the medical system for their delusions.

As a language shortcut, people usually refer to the belief held as a delusion when they know they are experiencing double-bookkeeping. Knowing other refer to one's belief as a delusion also doesn't necessarily means people do not act on the held belief : a lot of people will still to some degree follow rules imposed by the held belief, or continue obsessing over the subject. For a simple example : I am currently medicated and stable. I used to have a held belief that God talked to me to punish me. I currently am able to recognize this is a symptom of my disorder. Yet, even knowing this, it is very uncomfortable for me to enter churches or possess objects tied to a monotheist god, and to verbally denounce my delusion as fake. I wouldn't even consider my current state double-bookkeeping, I have experienced that too and it's a lot more severe, because in that case I did simultaneously hold the belief as true and try to react to people as if I did not believe it!

Psychosis is more complex than an off and on switch, and while what some people are saying online does register to me as exaggerated or incorrect, there is in fact a few people who do strike me as experiencing that sort of things.

Finally, for whether it is unhealthy to have a label that acknowledge delusional status : I don't think so personally. This is a complex subject, but psychotic experiences are often very shameful. Being able to take them back and talk about them can be powerful. I preferred how the endel movement (an identity caused, rooted in, or otherwise tied to a delusion per the coined definition) went about it personally, as it was a lot more safe both for other psychotic people (the holothere movement often posts things that can trigger other's psychosis by asserting them as true empirically), and for oneself (a lot of what I saw of it surrounded how to cope with experiences that are impossible, a lot of posts that made psychosis easier to understand and help with for non-psychotic).

I do also agree that these subjects are prone to being sensationalized by young people who are trying to cope with their own problem and tend to select the most severe sounding label they can. It is an understandable impulse in the face of pain you do not yet understand, and many young alterhumans are isolated, dysphoric, and experiencing things that for a lack of a better word, makes them feel insane. I don't entirely blame them. But where the endel movement's advice would probably not hurt someone who may be in the first stages of a delusional disorder nor would it hurt someone who was not, the holothere movement has a bad habit of... relying on pain as a measurement of how animal you are. The most animal are the ones in most pain, and i see a lot of holothere having blogs full of extreme distress that they do not wish to fix as they consider "being in a human world" the source of all their pain in a way they cannot fix instead of hoping for healing.

Hope this was easy enough to understand, I am not psychiatry professional, but I thought a bit of nuance on the subject was interesting to throw in.

This 100%. I also have a psychotic disorder and it is not as shallow as a lot of others seem to think. You cannot control how it will play out, or when it will stop and start. I mentioned this in spoon's group, but one small thing can explode into a lot of big things, fast. One could think that having the delusion of being physically an animal is harmless, but in reality is not-- It could quickly either proceed to enter the territory of "well i'm an animal, so therefore I should act like one" and the person could bite others or trash things just because it feels right to them, or it could then stem off into other harmful behaviours. Example, the desire to rid of ones physical body because it no longer aligns with how they see themselves.

If you or someone else recognizes you're having a delusion, You should be getting help. You shouldn't celebrate it and dance around labels to approperiate it or make it seem like some tame thing.

I also wanted to briefly mention, the creator of the holothere label is also a horrible person, they support some horrible creators and like a lot of horrible things. And it's purely made to the publics eye, too. I worry about pups seeing this and thinking what he supports is okay, when it isn't. I won't speak of it here, as i do not intend to slander this individual (and I want to mention... do NOT go to harass them if you do your research, I do not support witchhunting or slandering).

(2026-02-17 8:00)FernFox Wrote:  I also agree with Neon Rosette's reply a bit above. If someone is experiencing true delusions, I don't think they would be seeking out a word that puts them into a little bubble like this. They would just 'be' the animal.

It falls into this weird grey area of "I delusionally believe I am a physical animal, but am self-aware enough to know that it is a delusion". This by definition, means that it is not a true delusion-- as true psychotic delusions typically involve a lack of insight. Having that degree of self-awareness, yet choosing to still feed into delusions / self-identify as being a physical animal -- and encourage it by taking on an 'identity' that specifically marks you as delusional -- is unhealthy and shouldn't be encouraged. (Especially among easily-influenced young people just trying to find words to explore their identity).


- Fern

I'll comment on this one as someone concerned.

It is not entirely impossible for someone to hold a delusional belief while knowing other people register it as a delusional belief. It's usually referred to as double-bookkeeping in psychiatric literature. You are correct that it is kind of on the grey line between what a medical professional would qualify as true psychosis or not, but it is not entirely uncommon in people with certain schizospec disorders (such as schizotypal), or in people who have been through the medical system for their delusions.

As a language shortcut, people usually refer to the belief held as a delusion when they know they are experiencing double-bookkeeping. Knowing other refer to one's belief as a delusion also doesn't necessarily means people do not act on the held belief : a lot of people will still to some degree follow rules imposed by the held belief, or continue obsessing over the subject. For a simple example : I am currently medicated and stable. I used to have a held belief that God talked to me to punish me. I currently am able to recognize this is a symptom of my disorder. Yet, even knowing this, it is very uncomfortable for me to enter churches or possess objects tied to a monotheist god, and to verbally denounce my delusion as fake. I wouldn't even consider my current state double-bookkeeping, I have experienced that too and it's a lot more severe, because in that case I did simultaneously hold the belief as true and try to react to people as if I did not believe it!

Psychosis is more complex than an off and on switch, and while what some people are saying online does register to me as exaggerated or incorrect, there is in fact a few people who do strike me as experiencing that sort of things.

Finally, for whether it is unhealthy to have a label that acknowledge delusional status : I don't think so personally. This is a complex subject, but psychotic experiences are often very shameful. Being able to take them back and talk about them can be powerful. I preferred how the endel movement (an identity caused, rooted in, or otherwise tied to a delusion per the coined definition) went about it personally, as it was a lot more safe both for other psychotic people (the holothere movement often posts things that can trigger other's psychosis by asserting them as true empirically, which endels didnt do), and for oneself (a lot of what I saw of it surrounded how to cope with experiences that are impossible, a lot of posts that made psychosis easier to understand and help with for non-psychotic).

I do also agree that these subjects are prone to being sensationalized by young people who are trying to cope with their own problem and tend to select the most severe sounding label they can. It is an understandable impulse in the face of pain you do not yet understand, and many young alterhumans are isolated, dysphoric, and experiencing things that for a lack of a better word, makes them feel insane. I don't entirely blame them. But where the endel movement's advice would probably not hurt someone who may be in the first stages of a delusional disorder nor would it hurt someone who was not, the holothere movement has a bad habit of... relying on pain as a measurement of how animal you are. The most animal are the ones in most pain, and i see a lot of holothere having blogs full of extreme distress that they do not wish to fix as they consider "being in a human world" the source of all their pain in a way they cannot fix instead of hoping for healing.

Hope this was easy enough to understand, I am not psychiatry professional, but I thought a bit of nuance on the subject was interesting to throw in.

I've had my nose in the therian tiktok scene for a couple of years now, so I've watched this term gain traction and evolve. Based on how I've seen it most often used, I'd like to chime in.

---

I think the huge divide between those who use holothere and those who hate it, tends to stem from two main uses of the word. You'll notice that neither of these uses reflect holothere's original definition including delusions, but these are how it's been re-appropriated and how it is most often used today:

• 1) A holothere is someone who feels viscerally or wholly non-human. (Not physically in the literal sense; I'll get to that) Or,
• 2) A holothere is someone who feels that they should be physically non-human, or who voluntarily perceives themselves to be non-human (rejecting or ignoring reality, but not experiencing true delusions).
  

• Trying to redefine the word physical (to mean wholly or viscerally, as opposed to 'based in physical reality'), or
• Through leaps of logic, such as "I identify as a cat, I have a body, therefore my body is that of a cat"
  

Can't wait to link new people that show up labeling themselves as holotheres to this thread

I agree with @starwingedwolf and many others that the holothere label feels like just another attempt to section the community into "fakers" and "actual therians". Those that use it are usually either trying to claim they're more animal than everyone else or have delusions. I have more to say but it's nothing that hasn't already been said here or on the Discord.

(2026-02-17 0:51)Galaxy_Shake Wrote:  No, this is not the reason why i made this theory. I really like to engage in discussion (though i admit i can step down if i do not actually agree with everything that's being said but understand why the person would say that and am overapologetic to not sound rude), and i love to see what are people's personal beliefs and opinions in all sorts of topics. I believe in this theory because i genuinely think almost all alterhumans have a different "source" that caused their alterhumanity. I should have probably worded the original thread better; No, i do not believe in all theories, but if that makes sense to the person, i'll believe that this theory is true, at least for them. I think i may be sounding a bit confusing? I need to find a better way to word this.

I like to assume that most ideas, my own included, are probably wrong.

That said, there are many reasons why a person might identify as a therian but we can go beyond that and observe characteristics and traits that develop a more solid taxonomy.

(2026-02-17 0:34)Thorn Wrote:  The rise of physical alterhumanity is fascinating to me. I get critique on my videos because I exclusively have called alterhuman identities "non-physical" in the past, but that's because I feel like that was just what I had been taught over the years, and suddenly there's an uprise of people labeling their experience as "physical". People tend to forget that content creators can move with the development of the community and learn new things, but I digress.

Unless it's based on clear zooanthropy or delusion, I so far have not been able to wrap my head around how it works exactly (not that I'm not accepting of it). Perhaps it is a more spiritual-centered identity, or the concept of physicality is being pushed. I have heard a lot of physical alterhumans claiming to be physical while they really just meant not identifying as human, so perhaps it's could be an exaggeration of the concept as well, in a way. It's something I've yet to uncover, so if anyone wants to share their experience on that, they're free to.

Maybe I'll one day interview some holothere's to ask about their experiences and make a video about it.

Nonetheless, I've heard the term enough to decide to add it to my personal alterhuman termlist. Thank you for sharing this information!

if its not based on zoanthropy it tends to be metaphorical, listing examples below

for example "my brain is that of a wolf, so my body is a wolf's body", "i dont identify with my current body and id much prefer/identify more with a wolf body", "this feature of my body resembles something nonhuman", "My phantom shifts are so strong it feels like theres genuinely something there", or someone whos planning to modify their body to match their species better. A lot of it is just regular therianthropy.

Throwing in my opinion. A lot of physical therianthropy is portrayed as literal, when 90% of it is actually metaphorical so I dislike the label, and I think it should be labelled as metaphorical instead of acting like its literal. Some also consider Holotheres and physical Therians to be "more animal" than regular Therians, when neither are ACTUALLY LITERALLY physically their theriotype so it just feels a bit competitive and trying to be "the most animal" to me. I have more issues but I won't list them here