Defining myself

[Sne]

 Until now I never really looked into details of furriness and surroundings, but this forum made me want to dig on this a bit more than I ever did. Obviously, I know the basics, like furry interest in anthro/feral/taur animals, fursonas, fursuits etc. Now, as I read the forum, I find things I never really knew about. Otherkin and therian.

 You see, I'm not interested in anthro animal stuff by itself. I'm interested in it because I am, deep down, the fursona I say is mine. Or it'd be more true to say I have a fictional persona, a mask which I wear everyday, as I can't easily take it off. It's pretty difficult to explain but I guess you of all people know what I mean.

 I see the generalized otherkin definition - "people who identify themselves as non-human in all but outward form, contending that they are, in spirit if not in body, non-human animals or creatures traditionally associated with mythology or folklore." - fits me except the last part. Therian seems to fit better I suppose, as I do experience species dysphoria (however the theriotype for me would be an anthropomorphic animal), except I don't fully understand the "shifting" part, but I see it's said to not take it literally as the definition is largely flexible and also a bit outdated.

 So is it that I am therian and, just as a side consequence, a furry? Analogically to human interested in human fandom? I don't know if I got it right. I mean, I know what I am, just don't know how to name it... heck, just now I wondered if it's a good idea to put a label on it, but I don't have to use the label anyway even if there is one. The label won't affect anything I do or how I do this, but it'd still be better to know and I'd be glad if someone would shed some light on it as if I'm ever going to tell someone what I am I'd like it to be at least relatively accurate.

Let's assume a hypothetical person feels like a tigress.

 And something else:

Keck et al described one patient as a depressed individual who "had always suspected he was a cat" and "laments his lack of fur, stripes and a tail".[11] Except for the persistent feeling of being feline, the patient's "thought processes and perception" were "usually logical".

Well, I could literally and honestly cite Dr. Sheldon Cooper: "I'm not insane! My mother had me tested", but that quote from Wiki feels dangerously familiar. I always knew that there's something wrong, but always thought of it as a body issue and not mental issue. If I had a chance of permanently changing my appearance to reflect my mind, I'd do it instantly, but not if it came with even a slightest change in my mind. Should I be worried or I'm just overthinking this?

[___]

Sounds about right, I think you got it calling yourself a therin if you're a tigeress inside.
If you're an anthro tigeress, then you'd be otherkin.

[Sne]

Yes, it's still anthro, not feral. So you say it's treated as a mythological creature, right? That would clearly mean I'm otherkin

[___]

(Nods) Exactly.

[Sne]

Okay, I thought it's definite, but the more I read about it, the more confused I got, so I decided to research it until I got something cleared up. If it wouldn't been done before I'd be actually surprised. I didn't look for someone else's results, though, just got my own. So:

Key properties of a therian:

• strong connection with a creature

Otherkin:

• strong connection with a mythical creature
• memories from nowhere

Common:

• shifting (sudden enhancement of the connection in some way)

The connection is (and therefore shifts can be) Spiritual (phantom limbs and/or fur), Mental (desires to bite or hunt, unusual instincts) or Physical (keener senses and increased strength or at least self-placebo enhancing those traits; I'd presume the latter).

The only actual differences between otherkin and therian seem to be mythical theriotype and sourceless memories. I went to analyze the problem of defining the difference between mythical and non-mythical theriotypes -- I presume fantasy prone personality (FPP) (which explains all the effects) influences the perceived theriotype and the actual theriotype may have not been originally mythical. It may even apply to all therians (and that means that otherkin are a subset of therians -- yes, not the other way), however there's no way to tell without wide-scale scientific research.
The fact that variations of therians result in acquiring all the other categories, made me coin a new term: "zoan" ("therianthropy" -> "therian" -> "theriotype", synonymous "zoanthropy" -> "zoan" -> "zootype") for the purpose of this post. Therefore:

• Zoans with human zootype and without FPP are just classical humans. [type 0]
• Zoans with human zootype but with FPP are the most prevalent kind of otherkin (angels, vampires etc.). [1]
• Zoans with animal zootype and without FPP are just classical therians (tigers etc.). [2]
• Zoans with animal zootype but with FPP may be considered classical otherkin (drama werewolves etc.) [3] or something more ambiguous (classical werewolves, anthro tigers etc.; low magnitude FPP [4a] and/or intrinsic anthropomorphization not associated with FPP [4b]).

I do not claim my results are ultimately true, however I couldn't get it any clearer and make it into more complete hypothesis. Results are intriguing as you can see that logically there should be not 3 categories: human [type 0], otherkin [1,3,4a] and therian [2,4b] but more likely 6. The controversial issue may be about counting 4b as therian as I did or as otherkin, too, however otherkin is characterized by the FPP and 4b is not influenced by it but by human brain which makes everything look like human (even fursonas), that's why it fits more to therian definition. Also, for the sake of simplicity let's not call humans zoans the same as humans are usually not categorized as animals even though they technically are mammals the same as monkeys.

Anyway, an example (me ):

• strong connection with a creature which was affected by some  intrinsic anthropomorphization due to me being in a human body which influences my mind.
• shifting - I'm shifted almost always (S type) and I "unshift" when the reality hits me

Therefore I conclude I'm type 4b, i.e. therian The details will definitely vary for every single zoan, but I think the approximation above is more than sufficient to cover all cases.

@TheRedeemed, I was torn between 4a (otherkin) and 4b (therian) it seems, but I didn't know about the FPP which causes effects I don't experience.