August 24, 2017
*Adapted from Psychological Otherkin ≠ Copinglink
From what I’ve seen in my time in the otherkin community, a majority of otherkin identify as some variation of spiritual otherkin, which is all good and spiffy, but I get the feeling psychological otherkin are left out of the conversation a bit more than we’d like, and there seems to be a decent bit of confusion over what psychological otherkin are. So, as a psychological otherkin myself, I’d like to put psychological otherkin in the spotlight.
First of all, I think it’s important to point out that psychological otherkin is not another term for copinglink. A copinglink is an identity consciously chosen as a coping mechanism for mental illness, trauma, or other stressor. Psychological otherkinity is simply a hypothesis as to why one identifies as non-human, and, just like spiritual otherkinity, is not a consciously chosen identity. Some folks attribute their otherkinity to abnormal brain wiring, the unconscious result of mental illness, imprinting on a non-human at a young age, or other psychological cause. Do we necessarily know our hypotheses are correct? Not really, since it’s hard to prove any of these hypotheses without solid scientific research, but otherkin science may be a long time off still, so I’m personally happy to say “eh, I probably just have a weird brain”, and be done with it until we have more opportunities to learn about ourselves.
I’d also like to point out that psychological otherkin ≠ mental illness, as the two are not mutually inclusive. One can be a psychological otherkin and not be mentally ill.
Anyway, I certainly can’t speak for everyone, but as a psychological otherkin, I experience my otherkinity just as any spiritual otherkin does, but with a different explanation as to why I identify the way I do. My identity isn’t and never was voluntary, nor did it manifest as a way to cope with mental illness or uncomfortable situations. I experience phantom and mental shifts, I have a mental image of what I should look like, and I have habits and preferences I attribute to my draconity. Why do I identify as psychological instead of spiritual, if our experiences are similar? Well, for one, I’m not particularly spiritual or religious and I experience a few brain-weirds that don’t fall under mental illness including a couple kinds of synesthesia and mild misophonia, so I don’t think going a step further and saying my draconity is a part of these brain-weirds is too farfetched.
Really, the only notable difference I’ve seen between myself and how many spiritual otherkin experience their otherkinity is the absence of past life memories. Because I believe my draconity stems from a psychological cause, and not reincarnation or a misplaced soul, I don’t have any past life memories, nor do I feel like I was non-human in another lifetime. I’m just me, here and now, with a strong desire to be something I’m not.