I'm not quite to sure how to start this post, so I'm just going to skip to the meat and gravy of it. So if anyone's read my journal, you would know I've befriended a human in a past life as a Cryptid, and my species has a lot of symbolism directly written into it which has caused a few things. I've come to the conclusion that because I befriended a human I've been cursed/blessed to be reborn as a human. This is my personal explaination for myself in this specific life, anyway. As for others, I have a belief that combines a lot of theories... I believe it's possible therianthropy can stem from a variety of reasons instead of just solidly one or two. For example, it's been documented the transgender identity is its own form of neurodivergence due to how the brain emits different signals... It's quite possible this is possible for a lot of therians as well. It's possible a lot of us are born with a brain that simply feels awkward stating it's human, and could potentially seek out other sources to identify with because it feels more right to the person. My ex has also done research papers on autism in afab people and has found one of the symptoms to be feeling disconnected to humanity... While they don't identify with therianthropy by any means, they used to speak so highly about jellyfish, and talk about how they wish they were a jellyfish, although it's potiental this behaviour is escapism due to the stressors our human society has put on us.

Another psychological theory I have being related to imprints. I know as a kid I was imprinted on... I take a lot of canine like forms, and throughout my entire life, I was practically raised by dogs, having one constantly by my side. I even had a wolfdog as a child. Adding onto this as a shapeshifter, I remember since I was a kid I was often met with media involving beings that could shift in a way. At first, it was werewolves, but while I cannot remember, I do know I started to make characters that could shapeshift. At first they were characters meant to represent specific parts of my life... Specifically, shapeshifting would represent how I've never known myself. I've done tons of searching, but it's like I cannot find myself. I don't know myself personality wise. But then I felt myself relating to these characters more and more. Believe it or not, when I was first met with what used to be my persona, I felt immediate connection with them and began to identify as them. I thought this might of been normal, up until I found out about Therianthropy and how it often intersects with the furry fandom (a lot of furries I've found identify directly as their persona).

I also believe in therianthropy being able to be a traumagenic thing. While therianthropy and trauma don't have a direct link, people with trauma and/or PTSD often find themselves feeling out of place, and/or there's been circumstances in their life that have led up to a point of identifying with a animal because of experiences (example being feeling "caged" by society, so they identify with a dog due to how dogs are often horribly mistreated)

As for spiritual, there's two I solidly believe it.

Obviously, I believe in recarnation/rebirth. Rebirth was written into my being, I may not be the personification of rebirth, but this is my story. Being reborn life after life, sometimes things can go awry.. leaving the soul un-content with its current form. A lot of the time, older Therians will find themselves adjust to this life.

Otherwise, I believe in walk-ins. Theres a lot of therians I know that have lived relatively normal lives up until a animals soul decided to walk into their life and body, and inhabit it together. Obviously this can be chaos. This usually is the result of there not being enough bodies to provide to souls.

What do you guys think? Do you have similar beliefs, or different beliefs?

(2024-03-22 13:19)Tdae Wrote:  I think the "problem" was due to a well intentioned mistake on @Siris's part. You gonna own up to it Siris, or tell me to eat crow if you can show me I'm the one who is mistaken?

I've not been around much lately as I've been on the recovery from said convention (I left from Dallas Monday morning and due to mechanical issues didn't get home till 5am Tuesday). Admittedly I have not read fully the therianthropy section on the research post but I was speaking with one of the doctors running the study while at the convention. According to them all their information is in the book/PDF so that's what I have to go by.

YES YES YES.

I swear in the 1 or 2 years I was previously on tiktok I saw NO ONE with the actual right definition. I knew about Therianthropy for years but only found out the true meaning after watching Therian Territory's videos.

I think the "problem" was due to a well intentioned mistake on @Siris's part. You gonna own up to it Siris, or tell me to eat crow if you can show me I'm the one who is mistaken?

Yeah, I realize that. I just wanted to point it out if anyone was curious on the second one. Sorry. I wasn't trying to start a problem or anything...

It's a different publication though, and the paid one is more in depth. I just impulse purchased a game lol, I'm considering the paid article.

The publication on the furscience site is free. It's at the top and if you click the book image is free to download on the site that comes up. The section specifically on therianthropy is in chapter 20. Hopefully that helps.

The link in the original post on here only goes to an abstract for the journal article, which means you need a subscription (through a college database or some other means) to the journal or to pay for the article to access the full thing.

The pdf for the book is free to download though.

It's a different publication. From the summary in the OP, what the authors call ontological doubling is a phenomenon I've attributed to structural dissociation of the personality. In theory structural dissociation is a result of trauma, but clearly there is more to it than that. I feel that the ontological doubling is the main cause of the feelings of otherness and dysphoria. Spiritually I even liken it to the sorrow of being separated from the divine expressed in some belief systems.

From my personal feelings and beliefs about therianthropy, I like the idea re-terming shifts as "embodiment shifts." The reason is because in my experience shifts have been so varied, but usually not fitting in the constellation called therianthropy. It's subjective and mostly non-verbal so sometimes fewer labels is better. The "soul" is embodied with various kinds of shifts, ie. interfacing with the body/brain. Is this an outsider's perspective?

Looking forward to seeing the report when I have a chance! May read it tomorrow since I am probably still gonna be at home sick.

(2024-03-20 16:45)Siris Wrote:  

(2024-03-20 14:46)Shipaxe Wrote:  

(2024-03-20 6:28)Siris Wrote:  The article and pdf is free only the physical book is sold. I actually had the oppoortunity to participate in these focus groups it was an interesting expirence.

The PDF isn’t free..? How do you access it freely?

https://furscience.com/publications/
Very top of the page. The portion you are reading from is towards the end of the study book. I was actually speaking with them directly about it at TFF this past weekend even. You only have to pay if you buy the physical book and they did that intentionally because they view it as giving back to the community that gave to the study.

Thank you!