(2025-02-06 8:21)House of Psychos Wrote:  I also am entirely a cat, see myself as one 100% of the time and don't identify with humans in any way, although I'm fully aware my body is human and others perceive me as human and I cannot change that. But this is a normal therian experience. Everyone who's an actual therian should at least be confortable seeing yourself as your theriotype, cause that is literally what therianthropy is: identifying as an animal. On a non-physical level, because physically we all are human, if we like it or not. IMO this term doesn't make sense, mainly cause it's a new tumblr-term, also cause it just says what the word therian already does.

Yes, I do agree, though using it makes me feel more comfortable than therian itself, as I've seen therianthropy watered down a lot recently, and to me, it's more serious than I see how most are using the word therian nowadays. But that's just my opinion. It's a little similar to transspecies in that regard, wanting to be / identifying as your theriotype physically, and so I identify as such, a holothere (which was created as a useful alternate term to replace how some are saying "physical therian" which doesn't make sense as therianthropy is inherently nonphysical), even though I know I am biologically human. Again, biological and physical in this context mean different yet slightly similar things, so I can see where the confusion stems from. It has nothing to do with p-shifting, which everyone should know is impossible. Refer back to "I am a dog, and my body is mine, so my body is a dog's body, albeit it doesn't look so." Can I put links/URL here? If so, this thread on Reddit is basically what I'm trying to say, summed up. If you have any other questions let me know. ^^

(2025-02-06 6:40)owlsgardfan96 Wrote:  Hello!

Apparently I can’t respond to you guys all in one message, or at least quote you all, but know I am trying to hit many down with this one message, I would like to reduce my own spam if possible :p


A holothere is someone who identifies physically as an animal, they do not believe they are biologically an animal (unless they have clinical zoanthropy) but that’s the gist of it. Personally I do not think I am biologically an animal as I do not have any delusional disorder or anything that would cause me to believe this, but I do identify physically as my theriotype (Biological and physical are not technically the same thing).

One explanation I’ve heard for it is, for example, “I identify as a dog, and my body is mine, so therefore this body is a dog’s body, even though I may not look like a dog, I am still entirely dog.” This is my personal explanation as well.

Holothere means “entirely animal” meaning one does not identify as human in any way. There’s a good few websites with more information on this. It can be equated to transgender, while obviously not the same thing, it’s compared as so: “A transgender individual is 100% their internally perceived gender(s). They may be biologically their AGAB, but they are still 100% the gender(s) they identify as.”

Hope this explanation works for y’all!

I also am entirely a cat, see myself as one 100% of the time and don't identify with humans in any way, although I'm fully aware my body is human and others perceive me as human and I cannot change that. But this is a normal therian experience. Everyone who's an actual therian should at least be confortable seeing yourself as your theriotype, cause that is literally what therianthropy is: identifying as an animal. On a non-physical level, because physically we all are human, if we like it or not. IMO this term doesn't make sense, mainly cause it's a new tumblr-term, also cause it just says what the word therian already does.

(2025-02-05 14:37)House of Psychos Wrote:  Hello and welcome on TG! I'm Psycho, a cat.

What is a holothere?

Hello!

Apparently I can’t respond to you guys all in one message, or at least quote you all, but know I am trying to hit many down with this one message, I would like to reduce my own spam if possible :p


A holothere is someone who identifies physically as an animal, they do not believe they are biologically an animal (unless they have clinical zoanthropy) but that’s the gist of it. Personally I do not think I am biologically an animal as I do not have any delusional disorder or anything that would cause me to believe this, but I do identify physically as my theriotype (Biological and physical are not technically the same thing).

One explanation I’ve heard for it is, for example, “I identify as a dog, and my body is mine, so therefore this body is a dog’s body, even though I may not look like a dog, I am still entirely dog.” This is my personal explanation as well.

Holothere means “entirely animal” meaning one does not identify as human in any way. There’s a good few websites with more information on this. It can be equated to transgender, while obviously not the same thing, it’s compared as so: “A transgender individual is 100% their internally perceived gender(s). They may be biologically their AGAB, but they are still 100% the gender(s) they identify as.”

Hope this explanation works for y’all!

This is a great theory. Of course, a theory is a theory and there isn’t a true reason why there are so many canines/felines, but there’s no harm in there being so many of them either. It does propose an interesting point though. What matters most is we experience non-human instincts, and we band together as a community as such. Thanks for the post

im not entirely sure how to explain my therianthropy because im still new to the community and granted, im also still learning things about myself. i kinda just see it as something ive experienced for while but didn't really think about until a couple years later. i think i've always had non-human tendencies when i was younger, i never really related with people as much and i've always wanted to be around animals more and even wished to be one. obviously i would do typical kid things like pretend to be an animal when i was playing with my friends but i never really stopped outside of that. i was especially more vocal as a kid and would often hiss or meow but im not very vocal as i was when i was a kid, im even hesitant to practice vocalizing because im afraid its something people will be weirded out by.

i would often be teased because of this and overall i was just a really weird kid so it was pretty common for my own "friends" i considered at the time to treat me like a personal pet or something. as i got older these feelings didn't really go away and it actually made me question my identity. on the bright side, im not as ashamed about it anymore its something that im still trying to come to terms with.

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.