@Lupus Ferox

Oops, sorry if it seems like that's what I was leaning on. I don't think you can turn therianthropy on or off, or be able to choose anything. That's what makes it not a coping-link.
Our brain triggers the therianthropy to help us process what we've gone through, not a way that we can choose. The disassociation causes our brains to need to latch onto something that is not human, often leading to some kind of (non-human) animal.
As well as when I refer to us becoming a type of animal, I mean something non-human.

Honestly I think the reason alterhumanity exists is for many distinct purposes. Psychological therianthropy is maybe becoming more common in youth, not because it's "trendy" but because the world is becoming a more mentally tolling place to live. And even if you don't have one set of traumatic experiences, life is just tough in general, and it might just be a way for our brains to take a step back from the ever changing society we live in.

I hope that helps clear it up.

This may sound like nitpicking. So, sorry in advance. I'm just kinda confused about this expression you're using "when we need it". Why'd anybody need something like therianthropy embedded into them to survive? As human beings, if you rule out the wolf aspect or any other aspect to ourselves, we're animals regardless of our theriotypes. What I mean to say is that we're animals even without our theriotypes. What kind of advantage/disadvantage would having a theriotype bring evolutionary speaking? I am not sure if human beings need a theriotype other than the mammals they already are because that would imply this something extra to the human psyche would have a purpose no? Plus, I already agree on therianthropy being some kind of neurodivergency so if everybody was neurodivergent, who would the neurotypical be? "When we need it" also sounds like a choice to my ears. Oh, I'm feeling the need to hunt, then from now on, I'd rather call myself a puma or a mountain lion. It's a rather far-fetched idea this, but you probably know what I mean. You can't expect a theriotype just to pop in whenever you need it.

This is actually kinda a good conversation because it made me wonder about the necessity of therianthropy in our lives. What's the purpose of it, if there is any?

@little wolf
I understand, I think that there are certainly a lot of reasons therianthropy exists. In fact I can relate, I am both a psychological and spiritual Therian for my Jaguarundi (most likely) theriotype, and I believe I've been like that since I was born, a lot of my theory branches off into my bird and housecat(?) Theriotypes.
Honestly there are so many reasons therianthropy can occur that anything can be possible. That bugs me though, I wish there was a sure answer. That's how it is though.

I've always pronounced it as "there-ian," though my boyfriend pronounces it like "theory-in."

In my head, I say th-ear-ee-an

Out loud I either pronounce it that way or th-air-ee-an.

The first I how I originally pronounced it but the second came from how I heard other people say it sometimes

This is an interesting theory, and I can definitely see where it could be true for a lot of psychological therians; for me, though, that's just not the case. You mentioned that some therians had their therianthropy before any trauma, and that's how it is with me. Where I deviate, though, is that I'm not neurodivergent, and while I am asexual, my sexuality had no relevance before age 5, which is when the trauma started. I was, by all intents and purposes, an ordinary kid aside from my therianthropy, which has always been there even before I could remember (my parents have home videos of me acting more animalistic than what's normal for a young kid).

My experience tells me that my therianthropy is ingrained in me; that I was simply born with it and that there is no other explanation beyond that I am simply a therian. I'm not at all invalidating your experience and theory. I believe there are multiple reasons why we end up as therians depending on the person and circumstances.

I’ve always pronounced it th-ee-rie-in - I thought everyone pronounced it that way until now lol!

@FogLikesFeathers14

Yes, my theory is based off of my experiences. While I won't get into too much detail I believe the reason I got my psychological therianthropy is because I felt disassociated from my family. My sibling has behavioral issues that were very apparent when they were younger, so they often got more attention and praise from my family, in return I ended up spending all of my time with my cat, I believe this lead to me acting more like a cat, as I learned how to act by copying him. Because of that I've had many different people tell me I act like a cat, friends, family, coaches, teachers, pretty much everyone. Because of that I'm also thinking I might be a domestic housecat as well as a Jaguarundi. Possibly even Clado.

I also mentioned my fainting which caused me to be even more disassociated, which I believe is because of the severe amount of negative emotions that did in fact make me feel much more animistic than I usually had before. While before that point I had had maybe a couple of shifts a month, and pretty rarely did I get phantom shifts, now I get phantom shifts at least weakly along with an almost constant sensory shift. I believe that experience, while may not the most traumatic necessarily cut my mind, causing my therianthropy "coping" to come to heal it. I do think I had woken up already in a shift because strong emotion can lead to shifting, which is why I was looking at my hands repeatedly as if confused why they were there along with the feeling of wanting to run away and hide from the people around me, even if they were trusted, I definitely felt trapped in my own skin.

Though I don't believe I had a berserker shift. I was able to fully control myself, I just had extremely strong urges. Also, correct me if I'm wrong a coping-link is voluntary, I believe therianthropy (at least psychologically) is a subconscious way to cope that is involuntary, it also gives you a stronger connection to your theriotype because that's what you really are, you aren't pretending to be something as a coping mech, you really are it.

I hope what I'm saying makes sense...

Hiya! Im Arden/Jack! I believe your theory is actually quite interesting!
Your comment of how it may be caused by a traumatic event could very well be something close to pet-regression and or coping link. however, the part that of loss of control makes it sound more close to therianthropy. It actually seems like maybe a berserker shift which can sometimes happen when strong emotion is triggered. Some cases, (from what ive heard) ,include blackouts. Is your theory out of expirience? Im quite interested in it actually :3