I really want to say and believe it was isolation, as when I found myself suddenly alone in middleschool it left a trace in my psyche till this day. I want to say it was to deal with that, that I was weird on my own but my brain created an 'animal persona' so that my incompatability would be explainable. But I acted like this before middleschool. I acted like a dog since at least 7yo, that's the furthest I can remember. It was never big, a few things here and there, nothing to get anyone concerned. But it was always there. So now I have nothing else to say except I was born like this, still connected to my past life somehow.

When your spirit guide more or less clobbers you over the head and says "this is what you are." You kind of take note.

I want to answer this, but I don’t want to go into a lot of detail right now. But I believe mine is caused by several things- most of it is related to subconscious coping. The earliest reason I’d think of is being lonely as a child and not having many friends, and using animals, escapism, and imaginary friends to cope. I believe it had a part in causing my alterhumanity, as well as my neurodivergence and general “differentness”. I believe it also may have been caused as a way to subconsciously deal with trauma and stress. I also use escapism to cope and watch and play a lot of media, and I think it may have had a part in it, as I have a lot of fictionkintypes and fictionflickers.
I also believed I was a system for over a year, and some of my ‘alters’ stuck as kintypes, which I think could’ve been accidental copinglinks.

(2023-06-07 15:05)indoraptor Wrote:  So … perhaps I am in a minority here, but — I do not think there is any one explanation for therianthropy, just like I do not think there is any one explanation for sexuality, or gender identity, or any other such individual facet of one’s self. We experience and are influenced by so many different things, perspectives, & people throughout our lives; I find it reductive to attribute any one thing about yourself to any one other thing about your life. Reality, and personality, just doesn’t work like that.

That is not to say there’s no place for theory! There’s tons of space for theory. And I’d like to invite you all to tell me why you think you are therianthropic.

For me, I openly attribute isolation from, lack of socialization with, and trauma caused by humans from an early age to me identifying as & seeking community with other nonhumans. All of these things are related to my autism and PTSD, but I would not consider those the source of my therianthropy; rather, I consider them external factors that led me to discovering my therianthropy.

My therianthropy itself, I feel, is more psychological than spiritual, yes — but I also feel that it is innate. I can’t tell you why I feel, think, and do some of the things that I do; whether I was predisposed from birth to be this way, or if I would have been different had I been a happier child — but I’m inclined to think that, whatever it is, it was Always inside of me, inside of my brain, my heart, what many would call my ‘soul.’

My two-spirit identity also ties into this. Rather than a human male and human female spirit, I feel a vague, ambiguous animal spirit & an even vaguer and more ambiguous human spirit live inside of me.

That said — those are just my influences and self-interpretations!

What are yours?

My soul feels like one of my theriotypes, but I also believe I developed therianthropy as a young child, due to abuse and neglect. I only felt safe around my cats when I was younger, and I think that’s how it came about. Now, I feel much more spiritual, but that is subject to change.

I agree somewhat. Even as a mostly spiritual therian (“having the heart/soul of a fox/whatever animal my theriotypes are”), I feel like there is a scientific explanation for my therianthropy. And neurodivergence is basically any brain that is abnormal. I likely have AuDHD, and they do disable me in more ways then one, but they feel similar to my therianthropy in the sense that I know logically that my brain is different than most people’s. Most people don’t get such intense interests that they stay up all night thinking about them (despite REALLY not wanting to), and most people do not have sensory issues that make it impossible to wear most clothes, just as most people don’t think they have the soul of an animal, most people do not shift, etc.

(2024-01-08 2:56)d0ggie_dr00l Wrote:  this topic is super cool! sry in advance if this question was answered already. is it ok that when i get an involuntary shift, it turns into a full blown shift? like the feeling intensifies, or im at least more focused on it. i dont wanna be seen as a fake ya know XD

I understand your concern for asking, but honestly... Don't sweat it too much. I'm not here to gatekeep anything, just spread awareness

(2024-01-08 2:56)d0ggie_dr00l Wrote:  this topic is super cool! sry in advance if this question was answered already. is it ok that when i get an involuntary shift, it turns into a full blown shift? like the feeling intensifies, or im at least more focused on it. i dont wanna be seen as a fake ya know XD

Absolutely! None of this thread is about being a fake more how we can fool ourselves, bother therian and non-therian alike. If that shift comes on its own and you just explore it that's natural and normal. Shifters disease would be more like you start reading up on someone having wings and so you think about it really hard and suddenly you induce a shift of having wings rather than it being due to say your theriotype. Or the more common example, a younger person finds therianthropy and while looking for a place to belong only does some surface level research before letting their imagination run away with themselves.

this topic is super cool! sry in advance if this question was answered already. is it ok that when i get an involuntary shift, it turns into a full blown shift? like the feeling intensifies, or im at least more focused on it. i dont wanna be seen as a fake ya know XD

(2024-01-07 8:16)Tdae Wrote:  I've been thinking about this topic of the authenticity of experience and shifter's disease being compared to medical students' disease. A doctor wrote about his experience:

Quote:Fear of death lies at the heart of both medical student syndrome and hypochondriasis in general. As medical professionals, we are confronted with death in our work regardless of which field we wind up in. With passing years and added perspective, however, the depth of my fear has diminished to a significantly shallower, more manageable level.

https://www.aamc.org/news/i-contracted-medical-student-syndrome-you-probably-will-too

Fear of death. I'm moved by the intensity of feeling expressed here. Syndrome. Shifter's syndrome is more descriptive and accurate. The doctor's commentary suggests to me that shifter's syndrome could also have existential undertones. I relate it to being a social animal. Your group is your identity. I think it's human instinct. But identity isn't the same thing as self. They overlap but they're different. Without identity you still exist. You feel, you experience. The wolf/fox/cat etc. doesn't identify as such, does it? It just is.

A long, long time ago I had auditory hallucinations. I'd hear distant music playing, the phone ringing, etc. It was unnerving and scary because I couldn't tell whether or not it was real. So I started to concentrate on listening to the hallucinations, and listened until I could tell the difference. And then I stopped hallucinating. So I guess that's my advice for dealing with false experiences. Just take your time, pay attention and analyze your internal experience.

While I cannot change the label of something already preexisting (once more), I also agree with this. Otherwise, I suffer from the same exact problem (hallucinations), it's just on all forefronts sadly. I agree that you must be conscious of your feelings in and out of the moment (apologies if this isn't directly what you said, I was trying to summarize it XD)

I've been thinking about this topic of the authenticity of experience and shifter's disease being compared to medical students' disease. A doctor wrote about his experience:

Quote:Fear of death lies at the heart of both medical student syndrome and hypochondriasis in general. As medical professionals, we are confronted with death in our work regardless of which field we wind up in. With passing years and added perspective, however, the depth of my fear has diminished to a significantly shallower, more manageable level.

https://www.aamc.org/news/i-contracted-medical-student-syndrome-you-probably-will-too

Fear of death. I'm moved by the intensity of feeling expressed here. Syndrome. Shifter's syndrome is more descriptive and accurate. The doctor's commentary suggests to me that shifter's syndrome could also have existential undertones. I relate it to being a social animal. Your group is your identity. I think it's human instinct. But identity isn't the same thing as self. They overlap but they're different. Without identity you still exist. You feel, you experience. The wolf/fox/cat etc. doesn't identify as such, does it? It just is.

A long, long time ago I had auditory hallucinations. I'd hear distant music playing, the phone ringing, etc. It was unnerving and scary because I couldn't tell whether or not it was real. So I started to concentrate on listening to the hallucinations, and listened until I could tell the difference. And then I stopped hallucinating. So I guess that's my advice for dealing with false experiences. Just take your time, pay attention and analyze your internal experience.