Author Topic: Do you have diagnosed mental/physical/senory- (Read 4340 times)

Bluegreenman · « **on:** March 26, 2004, 12:41:21 am »

-has influenced you in being a furry?

firefox_b · « **Reply #1 on:** March 26, 2004, 08:17:06 am »

I don't suffer from insanity...I thoroughly enjoy it!" --Groucho Marx

Savaaha · « **Reply #2 on:** March 26, 2004, 03:34:35 pm »

nope was a furry long before I went nuts

'>

Minel Arnavoni · « **Reply #3 on:** April 04, 2004, 06:44:45 pm »

ADD and Depression... Ha!

'> Apparently my Psyciatrist hasn't seen my furry side...

However I take pills for both of them, and I like it. It increases my furrieness and energy. (Secretly I think it makes me more nuts!

'> )

"Drugs will make it better." -(Uhhh... I forgot but congrats on the quote."

Arquin · « **Reply #4 on:** April 04, 2004, 07:06:04 pm »

A high percentage of the otherkin/furry/therian population have been diagnosed with mental illnesses, (depression being the most common, but others are prevalent as well.) Evidence indicates there is a link between the two.

(I am aware this doesn't answer your question directly, but I thought I'd offer it up anyway.)

~Arquin

« **Reply #5 on:** April 04, 2004, 07:23:20 pm »

I try not to search too deep between fandoms, subcultures, and mental illnesses.

I've got no allergies, no mental issues, no health issues, though am constantly bored. I haven't been diagnosed with anything, anyway.

User_of_Shadows · « **Reply #6 on:** April 04, 2004, 07:35:01 pm »

I think most people in america been diagnosed with eiter ADD or depresion. I was. I don't take anything for it because I do not think it to be neccessary

Bastian · « **Reply #7 on:** April 04, 2004, 11:25:43 pm »

I have not been diagnosed with anything, I came from a family with both parents who have been together for more than 32 years, I was raised Non-Strict Catholic by parents who, other than being a bit smothering, are very loving. I'm what you might call a child of a perfectly neuclear, upper middle-class society.

So where did all of my oddity come from?
Maybe the wuestion you should be asking is:
Who cares? I take responsibility for my own actions, my faults, my flaws. The things that make me into me. You like someone for their good things, but you love them for their flaws.

siiwolf · « **Reply #8 on:** April 05, 2004, 06:21:23 am »

Quote (Arquin @ April 04 2004, 7:06 pm)

A high percentage of the otherkin/furry/therian population have been diagnosed with mental illnesses, (depression being the most common, but others are prevalent as well.) Evidence indicates there is a link between the two.

(I am aware this doesn't answer your question directly, but I thought I'd offer it up anyway.)

~Arquin

Where actually did you find proof of any of this as I'd like to see it.

I know way more positive people personally then I know negative people, because if someone is always depressed that's not the kind of attitude I would want to willingly subjugate myself too, and I'm sure it's the same way for most people. Of course I also don't necessarily consider depression to always be a mental illness. It's more of a condition which I think can easily be controlled if given the right tools (and that doesn't mean drugs, though sometimes they really are needed, I think self worth and a sense of purpose are more powerful and important).

As for myself, the only thing I have is tourrettes (however you spell that) which is also known as the repetitive motion syndrome. Got it from my dad's side of the family which has a common history of it (thanks dad

'>) and surfaced when I was around 11, and since it was caught early I've been able to for the most part gain total control over it (and without the use of that nasty drug ridalin). Nobody knows I even have tourrettes unless I tell them, even my really good friends who I sometimes have reminded several times.

I don't see how any condition/illness could really influence being furry though. However I can see furry influencing a condition/illness in some cases. A classic and often repeated instance is the person that thought they were always alone and once they found the fandom become less withdrawn and more open about themselves

'>

Ulario · « **Reply #9 on:** April 05, 2004, 06:50:03 am »

I have severe depression, but I was a furry long before that!

Arquin · « **Reply #10 on:** April 05, 2004, 07:00:22 am »

Quote

Where actually did you find proof of any of this as I'd like to see it.

I have no proof except personal experience. I have been involved with the furry/otherkin/therian community since around 1998, and I base my assumptions upon what I have witnessed during that time.

I'll admit that when I stated "a high percentage of the otherkin/furry/therian population have been diagnosed with mental illnesses", this actually applies more to the otherkin and therianthropes than furries. (To clarify, I'm defining therians and otherkin as people who have heavy spiritual beliefs involving their furside/wereside/whatever, eg past lives, the soul of an animal, etc; and furries as people who lean more towards the role-play, fursuits, yiff, "furry lifestyle" aspect.)

Quote

I don't see how any condition/illness could really influence being furry though. However I can see furry influencing a condition/illness in some cases. A classic and often repeated instance is the person that thought they were always alone and once they found the fandom become less withdrawn and more open about themselves

Escapism. (Again, this applies to otherkin/therians more than furries.) The individual has some difficulty in their life, be it family problems, school problems, job problems... they could be neglected, bullied, abused, etc. Thus, the depression and/or other mental problems. Most commonly, they will feel unaccepted, "different", as though they don't belong with the rest of humanity. Identifying as a therian or otherkin is a convenient explanation. "My peers don't accept me, therefore I must be a dragon", to put it rather crudely. The online otherkin/therian communinity, providing a wonderfully easy way of escaping reality, sucks them in... the person has finally found somewhere where they belong; people that understand them. And so begins the vicious cycle: person neglects RL, furthers depression and sense of "not fitting in", looks to online otherkin/therian community for support, RL is neglected, and so on and so forth.

~Arquin

siiwolf · « **Reply #11 on:** April 05, 2004, 07:34:52 am »

Quote (Arquin @ April 05 2004, 7:00 am)

Quote

I have no proof except personal experience. I have been involved with the furry/otherkin/therian community since around 1998, and I base my assumptions upon what I have witnessed during that time.

Nice, same time as me actually (April, 1998)

'>

I was going to say something reguarding lifestylers/therians but before I did I just wanted to make sure I understood where you were coming from and what you meant. Third paragraph does make a lot of sense. The furry/were community does provide an excellent means of escapism. But I don't know if it would really be fair to point the finger at just therians/lifestyler's, or just at furry in general for that matter.

On one side, yes, you do have the people who don't fit in so they latch on to the therian/furry community just so they have some place where they can be accepted as long as they "do the act" so to speak. I'm sure there are also some people that really wish they could change how they looked and be animals/anthro and realizing they cannot do so might actually be detrimental to their self image and cause them to be depressed.

On the other hand though, there are a lot of people who are not furries or therians and would never choose to be if they even knew they were around who, instead of using furry or therianropy as an emotional crutch, take to drinking alcohol or doing drugs among other things. And it's common enough to be a huge social issue. That's why I said I don't know if you could really prove any correlation between any mental condition/illness and furry because there are many people who share that who aren't in the fandom, and if the people who are in the fandom never found it there really is no guarentee they would ever have gotten any better. They would have most likely found some other means of escapism.

I think the biggest reason things seem so negative could be due to the fact that compared to many things the online furry/therian communities are still largely underground and if you see a place that has nothing but depressed people on it, the nondepressed isn't going to be very likely to want to interact with it. And being two groups with so few people whose interests are so vastly different, it makes it that much harder to really get a clear understanding of how it's members are defined.

Those are just my thoughts on the issue anyway

'>

SatisWindpaw · « **Reply #12 on:** April 06, 2004, 09:50:15 pm »

I have a couple diagnosed mental problems (ADD, mild-severe depression), as well as a few minor phys. ones like asthma. However, I refuse medication because 16 years gives you so much practice at dealing with things, and because I don't have the dang money, and because my family already thinks I'm screwed up enough as is.
So back when I was seeing a psychologist, I never let on about the fact that I also have MPD, rage problems, schizophrenic tendencies (auditory, visually, and mentally) , and various bordering-on-obsessive-compulsive tendencies, not to mention what may/may not count as an eating disorder. I'm also terrified of telling any legal officials this because they could put me under supervision or stick me in a mental hospital, and I can function about as well as your "normal" average everyday person, and being in places like that would drive me crazier than I already am.

*hide*

(But I don't think that's had too much influence on the furryness. I was that way at least a year before everything started happening when I was 5.)

Ecco · « **Reply #13 on:** April 22, 2004, 07:09:32 am »

I just have a nasty habbit of holding back emotions. That's why I draw...nothing bad...yet

'>

Drake Blackpaw · « **Reply #14 on:** April 22, 2004, 08:06:56 am »

I've suffered from bouts of mild and severe depression myself. It is something that I have been working through since early childhood and for awhile I was on Zoloft and in the last several months just weened myself off of Effexor.

If depression played a role in my furriness, it did it by a very roundabout way. My depression was a factor in feeling alienated as a child in school and from my family. This feeling of alienation led me to bury myself in books and fantasy, which in turn led me to identifying with anthropomorphic characters as a child.

For those of you with depression, remember that there is a lot of support for you from the Furtopia community and that it is alright to ask for help when needed. We all care about you and many of us understand how it feels as we have been there ourselves.

Drake

Yume · « **Reply #15 on:** April 22, 2004, 10:09:55 am »

Autism (more specifically Aspergers Syndrome) and mild to moderate depression. Oh, and a tendancy to just "snap" for no apparent reason. Those are the mental problems. Physical Problems: Mild asthma, but no prescribed medication. And no, I don't think any of these affected me in being furry; I am what I am and nothing can or would have changed it. What probably did affect my furryness is that I was right into animal stories and just about nothing else from the day I started learning to read. That's still true of me today

'>

Lascivus_Lutra · « **Reply #16 on:** April 22, 2004, 01:09:53 pm »

I'm perfectly normal, Its all those doctors at the hospital that are nuts.

Lobar! There are nuts at the hospital! hehe

Honestly, I have always been shy towards people I do not know and definitely some kind of anxiety issue.(undiagnosed) Over time I have shed some of this but not completely. On the other hand once I know someone they usually try to gag me.

No Bastian, not because I want them to. hehe

rezzit · « **Reply #17 on:** April 22, 2004, 05:05:03 pm »

In my personal experience, every person I've ever met could be diagnosed with SOMETHING at some point in their lives. In fact, I'm having a very difficult time sitting here and trying to think of ONE person in my circle of aquaintances who has never had a bought of depression, for instance. I would even venture to say that the chronic shopping, self adornment, and obsessive social planning of my 'oh so perfect ivy league' cousin is a form of escapism... or at least OCD. Seems to me that a lot of what's called mental illness this day is really just an over-reaction to the human condition.

On the topic of mental illness vs. self-identification as furry/otherkin/therianthrope, my personal theory is that all three of these (dare I say related?) groups tend towards introspection. Hell, if the only time it affects you is when you're sitting there trying to figure out what animal suits you best, then you've got one up on a few folks I've met.

Introspection is a very positive thing, but I think that sometimes inner quirks and machinations get disturbing. I think it's that that leads furries/otherkin/therians to seeking help, and becoming 'certified' more often.

Though this is simply a theory and unique to me, I will use this observation to give it some creedance:

Long before I identified or knew about any of the above groups, I was involved heavily in the beat poetry and other modern spoken word circles. I attended an art school as a child, with every major imaginable. As long as I can remember I've been aware that the visual arts majors and creative writing majors were all but expected to someday have mental rough patches. In fact, I think it's just as common an association to say 'Crazy Artist' as 'Crazy Furry.' (If not more so!

'>

The introspective nature of Artists, Poets, Furry, Otherkin, and Therians are the only way that I can explain this to myself. *chuckles* Take into consideration that many of the latter are also the two former, and I think the correlation is very understandable, but not causal.

P_Z · « **Reply #18 on:** April 23, 2004, 06:38:17 am »

Heck no... I'm as stable as a rock ':cool:'

KiyoshiAkita · « **Reply #19 on:** April 29, 2004, 02:48:27 am »

I have not been diagnosed with anything....probably because I will not see any doctors......it doesn't matter who you are or what you do, doctors will always tell you that something is not right in your head.......I don't believe that I have any problems...just get depressed sometimes, but who doesn't.....I am generally a happy person....

Jenahfriya · « **Reply #20 on:** April 29, 2004, 03:31:01 am »

I have never been diagnosed with anything, except a trace of asthma. [Basically, if I laugh a lot or get myself worked up, I'll have a coughing fit. I don't need an inhalor, though.]

I grew up in a small town, population 1,163. I didn't fit in. I could pretend to most of the time, but I would slip up every now and then and get teased for a while. Thankfully, my friends thought the catpeople I drew in class looked cool and didn't make a big deal out of it. The town itself was [and is] very closed-minded about some things.

I've been depressed before, but I've never been treated. I don't see any need of it. I have my own ways of dealing with it. I may sound crazy saying this, but I hear my muses. They talk to me and make snide comments during my classes and whatnot. I don't see that as crazy; they're important to my creative side.

Anyway, any problems I may have have no connection to the fact that I'm a furry. I found furry fandom while prowling the internet looking for stuff outside of my town. I liked it, and I'm one now.

And don't mind me... I'm just being rambly tonight...