This is very interesting, and I think a pretty solid theory for some. Part of it fits my situation, but for the most part, this doesn't explain my experience as a therian overall. I also was fixated on animals at a very young age, long before I can remember, but this is where I diverge. While my parents have footage of me as a tiny, tiny pup imitating animals and I did continue to imitate them, for me it went beyond just pretend. I felt like an animal right off the bat, and I'm not neurodivergent or transgender, just asexual which doesn't cause dysphoria or disconnection. I never disassociated from myself until after I had pushed my therianthropy away.

I personally believe there are multiple things that cause therianthropy depending on the person and their situation.

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.

I will take a look at the 23andMe tests, also I will add that the psychological aspects of therianthorpy are symbolically adding on animal behavior with human behavior in a civil form for anyone that doesn't experience therian genetic traits. It could be used as conjunction with human consciousness as vicious civil therianthorpy as in court vicious, law enforcement vicious, self defense vicious, emotionally vicious, psychological vicious etc, without holding back accordingly; I my self could use more practice in controlling my psychology, but it's in progress.

I probably didn't specify my explanation the first time.

(2025-01-18 22:06)Nyqeth Wrote:  If so, where could these genetic tests be disclosed? I would like to know.

There is consumer-grade genetic tests available in the services of companies like 23andMe.

LP,
Dusty

I would like to add on to the points that Cygnus made, and also state that some of us are species which are not from earth at all. I'm an alien species. My kind have no earthly origin to go off of, nor would be connected to any earth myths. So none of these theories hold up in light of that.

That's a bit hard to understand, honestly..and I'm at least somewhat familiar with the things you're referencing.
We do try to keep our analysis somewhat grounded in what we can know, especially at the beginning when things are more new and intense.

Some points of contention:

I'm unsure whether parallels can be drawn between Tiamat's children and the Nephilim.. Even if the cultures they came from arose in the same region, the similarity seems pretty tenuous.

(2025-01-17 16:27)Nyqeth Wrote:  The spiritual stories tie to psychological influences of therianthropy as a symbolic practice for proper survival states of mind (etc), these psychological versions are facts, the spiritual versions haven't been proven yet.

I will note that the idea of therianthropy being "a symbolic practice for proper survival states of mind" isn't actually considered a fact. The idea has been suggested in the past, and I believe it was discussed here on the forum some time ago as one possible explanation for the expression of animal behavior and instincts in therians, but it is far from proven. Generally speaking, there has been relatively little academic research published thus far about therianthropy, and even less settled theories for psychological origination....though many of us have ideas (One prevalent view in academia is to view it as neurodiversity; Clegg and Gerbasi's research groups concluded that, but I don't believe they gave specifics on why it would develop). We just don't know much about the phenomena with any real certainty.

If you take a look around our forum you'll find a lot of interesting debates over ideas from our older members further back.

For the things about common ancestry and heredity (at least, from what I remember learning years ago..):
The survival behaviors and features most animals display were developed and/or specialized by those species(within their local branches) in response to prolonged environmental pressures that promoted the genetic expression of most-beneficial (or least-hindering) traits. Lineages with those specific traits were more likely to survive, reproduce successfully, and outcompete other lineages. The traits that we often attribute to specific species weren't all just primordially-extant traits inherited from a single common ancestor..The further you branch away from that ancestor the less of their original traits are retained..or at the very least, the less recognizable they are to their original form.

Because of this dynamic adaptation and distancing over time, all of the species are individully specialized to survive in their (and often only their) specific environment...that's why giant pandas became endangered instead of just switching to another food source when their environment was disrupted. There are exceptions of course...coyotes and foxes are extremely adaptable across environment types and temperatures.

So, following this..while humans might share a lot of their genetic code with wolves, they diverged so far back from a common ancestor with what evolved into Canidae that they wouldn't share many traits and the way they have specialized into their environment is completely different from the path primates took to survive. Same with fish, avians, insects, etc. An alternative view of this could be that, for the aspects humans do share with wolves, both developed those independently because they were the most-likely endpoint in the development of cognitive features in many animals (i.e. why the ability to experience depression is often observed in many animals and why play behavior appears to be wide-spread across numerous species).

If so, where could these genetic tests be disclosed? I would like to know.

(2025-01-17 16:27)Nyqeth Wrote:  My theories revolve around spiritual, psychological & biological traces, they root to the biblical stories of fallen angels mating with human women to offspring nephelim giants; they also resemble & root to Babylonian teachings of Tiamat offspringing half man & half beastial creatures; that sounds like the stories of dark alchemical magicks being used to transform beasts into human form to serve in civilization & order, since they don't have freewill to disobey. The spiritual stories tie to psychological influences of therianthropy as a symbolic practice for proper survival states of mind (etc), these psychological versions are facts, the spiritual versions haven't been proven yet. The biological influence & theory of therianthropy is based on Charles Darwin's "theory of common descent" where all living beings descended from a common ancestor. It's not difficult to believe that both apes & mankind descended from a common therian (beast) ancestor, while apes evolved in one direction staying therian beasts as their own branch & humankind evolved in another direction into humanity as their own branch. If that would be true that could explain that humanity has therian genetics & that could explain the phenomena that I & orher people claimed. Also if apes & mankind descended from a common descent, it is not difficult to believe that there were/are other therian beasts that also descended from the same currents of the same or older common ancestors. Leading to multiple branches of therianthorpy with their theriotypes, not only one. Meaning, their genetics tie to therianthropes as half man & half beast.

I have only begun to experience my therian side when awakening to see our reality through another point of view. Seeing through the illusionary veils is what caused me to realize the hidden reality that most cannot see behind optical illusions. My awakening continues & I seek to collaborate with the therian world to prove more facts in the spiritual & biological aspects of therianthorpy. I offer service & a supportive hand to assist the therian communities how I can & where I'm needed.

X. Nyqeth Qirata

There are many spiritual traditions associated with therianthropy, not all of them directly tied to Biblical constructs. Your example of Tiamat was a reflection of the source of many such beliefs that spread worldwide, some remain reverential to their followers.

Consider Eshu, a trickster horned god of the Yoruba tradition who lays misfortunes on those who do not respect him and one who is alternately benevolent and mischievous. Eshu is also considered the keeper of the crossroads (often referring to the world of the living and the dead), to which those in Biblical tradition in the Deep South ascribed to "making a deal with the Devil at the crossroads." However, in this context, the attribution of good or evil qualities is ultimately subjective to the audience.

You mention spiritual traditions not being proven yet, aren't spiritual beliefs by their very nature unproveable? My own path starts having met a spirit guide when I was six, and having grown and found further enlightenment through focus, patience, and self-effacing discipline. To the extent I can prove it to anyone -- I can't, but it's a sincere personal journey and I find it to be one of those endlessly rewarding mysteries of the cosmos.

I've very much considered the role of states of consciousness as a psychological basis for therianthropy, I do think there is a strong connection to Flow state psychology
and different states of consciousness, atleast in the experiences of some therians I have talked with and my own, we do see to be able to filter at differing levels of the emotional and intellectual mind. For instance, I used to ride a bike downtown in a major city as a daily commute, I could 'pull back' on sensory information and reflect on philosophy during the quieter moments and engage at a higher level when I was in more dangerous spots where I needed my wits.

Lastly, I guess I don't understand your genetic basis for therianthropy deriving from separate common ancestors. Wouldn't genetic testing have discovered all of these separate genetic ancestors by now?

My theories revolve around spiritual, psychological & biological traces, they root to the biblical stories of fallen angels mating with human women to offspring nephelim giants; they also resemble & root to Babylonian teachings of Tiamat offspringing half man & half beastial creatures; that sounds like the stories of dark alchemical magicks being used to transform beasts into human form to serve in civilization & order, since they don't have freewill to disobey. The spiritual stories tie to psychological influences of therianthropy as a symbolic practice for proper survival states of mind (etc), these psychological versions are facts, the spiritual versions haven't been proven yet. The biological influence & theory of therianthropy is based on Charles Darwin's "theory of common descent" where all living beings descended from a common ancestor. It's not difficult to believe that both apes & mankind descended from a common therian (beast) ancestor, while apes evolved in one direction staying therian beasts as their own branch & humankind evolved in another direction into humanity as their own branch. If that would be true that could explain that humanity has therian genetics & that could explain the phenomena that I & orher people claimed. Also if apes & mankind descended from a common descent, it is not difficult to believe that there were/are other therian beasts that also descended from the same currents of the same or older common ancestors. Leading to multiple branches of therianthorpy with their theriotypes, not only one. Meaning, their genetics tie to therianthropes as half man & half beast.

I have only begun to experience my therian side when awakening to see our reality through another point of view. Seeing through the illusionary veils is what caused me to realize the hidden reality that most cannot see behind optical illusions. My awakening continues & I seek to collaborate with the therian world to prove more facts in the spiritual & biological aspects of therianthorpy. I offer service & a supportive hand to assist the therian communities how I can & where I'm needed.

X. Nyqeth Qirata

I reckon I probably got weirdly attached to a particular animal during my horrendous teen years as some sort of comfort thing. Developed species dysphoria and then it stuck and irriversibly changed how I saw myself. That's my best guess.