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My knowledge of what a therian is is actually fairly sketchy... buut, I can offre this.

It's all three.
Some "therians" are just teenagers who want something cool. Like the angsty morons who believe their soul is a four-thousand-year-old demon lord's soul, or that they are a 'trueblood' vampire (never really worked out the biology behind that, but hey) and so on, these "therians" simply want to be different, amazing... and better. They're the ones who believe that being a normal human is stupid, and humans are somehow beneath them.

<.< Actually, as a psion I've encountered people like this; people who believe that their skills with the supernatural make them better than the rest of us.

Then there's the ones with the mental disorder... but really, there's people with mental disorders that cause all sorts of things. MPD, schizophrenia, hyper-paranoia, delusions, and so on.

But ultimately, my belief is that souls are all, at the base, made of the same stuff - when one dies and comes back for another loop, perhaps they choose to spend time as another animal, for the hell of it. To me, when souls are broken down into their basic elements, it's all the same. Just like if you took a hydrogen atom from oil and a hydrogen atom from water, you couldn't tell them apart - same here. It's simply how they're put together that changes them, makes each soul individual.

So, following that... calling someone a therian is like saying they're alive. A soul is a basic similarity across the spectrum of life, a level upon which we can all communicate and relate. Sure, some souls may retain animalistic tendencies and memories after living in an armadillo's body for three or four standard lifespans of said armadillo (Good grief... you'd think eating ants all day would get boring after one lifetime) but in the end, it's still a soul.

Nothing more, nothing less. Just a beautiful soul.

I definately believe in Therians... well, because I am one. <(^_^)>

But I don't even see myself truly as an 'animal' or better than anyone else. I'm a human, and nothing is going to change that. (and anyone that claims p-shifting must be a schitzo, as Nii-kun said.)

From a christian perspective, therianthropy is like a spiritual gift in a way. It doesn't really make people really special or different, but a person's theriotype helps form their personality and who they are. In turn, this affects how they react in certain situations and a basic structure of values. (I've noticed since I have a "wolf" side, I have a very pack-like mentality. I have my close members whom I will defend and die for, don't mess with them. Any one else I will not be hostile to, and fighting is always my very last resort for conflict, along with some other similarities I've seen.)

Unlike furries, therians don't live out their animal personality fragments except in special cases. They just choose to quietly and nonobtrusively use that side to enhance who they are as a human being.

And to Foo, it is possible, if not probable, that the 'sides' are not litteral animal parts in a person's mind, but more of a symbolic form that a part of that person's mind has taken when they feel a certain affiliation to an animal. They don't necissarily have to be supernatural to exist.

I know Foo was wanting to know the history of how the 'therians' came to be, here's an information site made by one of my friends in the CT forum. (see my sig).

It describes what a therian is and how the rise of the modern subculture came to be, as well as the ancient history behind 'weres' and such.

Here ya go: The Therian Timeline

My pleasure dear. ^^ *wolfie lick*

Does anyone else what to participate or add anything to this subject...?

Another therian here, and Ro has already made a few excellent points I would have pointed out myself.

Every therian has a different retrospect on what therianthropy is to them. Mine, personally, is a very spiritual thing; but I have spoken with other therians who believe that therianthropy is a mental disorder (though, not as severe as say, 'lycanthropy') and some who relate to animals that have inevitably become their therioside, or 'animalside' for lack of a better word.

I've always felt lupine growing up, and could never shake that feeling no matter how hard I tried. I realized I was human, and that's what would confuse me more. To this day, I know I am human in body. There is nothing I can do to change that. I was born human in this lifetime and I've come to accept that over the years; however, I feel like a wolf in mind and spirit. To me, I am as much human as I am wolf, except for on the physical side of things, but that is to be expected.

It was a little tough for me coming to terms that I was a therian at first. I struggled with the idea for many years, but brushed it off as me being 'crazy', because everyone else would say that you were if you felt as if you were an animal. I was picked on a lot growing up, and I would keep repressing that feeling because I just didn't want to get picked on more. But the feeling would keep coming back, stronger each time around. Finally, I did come to the acceptance about being a wolf, but I ended up supressing it again, until it came back so strongly that I ended up searching 'werewolves' on the internet, which I knew wasn't the most accurate term to describe how I felt, but it was the closest thing I could think of. That is when I stumbled upon the word "therianthropy" and reading into it, it just seemed to fit. What amazed me more was that there was an entire community of people who felt the same way. At last my soul felt at peace with my full acceptance of it, mind you I did poke around and looked into it more just to be sure.

As for how therianthropy affects me today, it actually has put some of my behaviour in an understanding light, though I do not bring harm to myself or others with said behaviours. Just the way I think, act, feel, reason, ect. It just all seemed to fit more naturally. The only time I find my therianthropy a 'hinderance' in any way, is when I have severe 'mental shifts' where I end up going into more of an animal mindset. This has thankfully only happend twice and very briefly. It seems to be triggered by immense states of anger within myself, which thankfully I never really elevate to all that often (and it takes a LOT for me to get to that point).

Overall, I still have much to look into about my therianthropy, I do not know everything about it; just my personal views on it. I certainly do not feel more 'special' than any other person, but I certainly feel more at peace with myself because I am no longer lying to myself, or denying who I am. There are unfortunately the other incidents that have been stated on here, such as rolplayers that have gone a little too far, but very little is known about therianthropy in the general public. I'm sure one day, there will be enough insight to have everyone 'understand' what it is, but until then, the most anyone can get from someone who experiences therianthropy can only get a personal account. And again, these accounts differ from therian to therian, so you can't just take one view and say 'that's it.' it's far more diverse than that.