I've Identified (and still do, up to a point) very strongly with wolves, to the point that I've occasionally felt the presence of phantom limbs that I would not normally have, like tails, or rotatable ears. As respectful and eloquently put as your post was, you're either saying that me feeling the way I feel is wrong and I shouldn't 'validate' others... OR you're saying that I'm mentally ill... which I assure you, if I were, they'd have discovered such an illness by now.
A lot of Therians... or 'Therianthropes' Realize they are in fact humans. Most will not actively try to emulate more animalistic behavior than what they'd normally be doing, and I would dare say most of them would look weirdly on those that try too hard at that. While it may seem odd to you, it's not nearly as odd as some (very human) behavior that goes on in the dark underbelly of the internet, and I feel that if people want to talk about how they feel about a harmless (YES! Harmless!) phenomenon that they have in common, they should be able to do so without people breathing down their necks whispering warnings of mental illness and the dangers of enabling.
From the boards I visited, it's often very clear who the mentally ill are, and those are usually recommended to go see doctors by the very people you seem to dislike. In a way, these people found a place to open up to about their feelings, detecting real problems before it becomes a true issue.
All in all... I think you might have the wrong idea, mixed in with some (understandable) prejudice. I'm glad you uphold at least the spirit of civility, but please realize you're potentially upsetting people who've done nothing wrong, despite being, in your eyes, a bit nutty.
Oh, I won't even try to deny that there's likely some prejudice going on here on my end. I kept the language as civil as possible to mitigate it, because I'm fully aware of it. I've seen a lot of extremely deranged people who identify with animals (and other things, as previously mentioned), and they do rather awful things to civil rights issues, which Hellis already touched on. The main bad thing they do is linking their issues with those of transgendered people, which gives simple-minded bigots an avenue to say that transgendered people are just as nonsensical as people claiming to be a parakeet in a human body. I've also seen therian types who make similar comparisons between their own struggles for acceptance and those faced by homosexuals, racial minorities, and women. It's just not okay in my opinion, and that's a large part of why I don't care for therians as a group. Definitely has potential to be an unfair bias against the harmless ones, but I try to do what I can to avoid that.
As for potentially upsetting people, yes, I can see your point. I wouldn't have bothered posting here, but the OP invited debate, so I went for it. I wasn't trying to upset people, rather I was trying to put out a cautionary word about those who are seriously ill and need help that can find refuge in therian communities. It's great to know that places dedicated to such communities actively police themselves in watching out for the people who need help, and I did not know that they did so. I think it's fantastic that the harmless and reasonable folks are looking out for the well being of people hanging out on their boards.
Now, about you in particular, yeah, sorry to say it, but if you're experiencing phantom limbs that you do not now and have never had, then you probably are mentally ill. Or, well, the definition of "mentally ill" is kind of flexible and changes depending on what source you're reading. Some say all mental disorders are mental illness, others (like the Mayo Clinic for instance) say that you can have disorders without being mentally ill and that it only becomes officially labeled as mentally ill if such issues start to affect your ability to go about your day to day life. I would say, as a person with no official psychological certifications, that your phantom animal limb thing falls into the mental disorder category, but not the life-affecting mental illness category. So yeah, I am saying that. However, the two categories aren't mutually exclusive. You could also, simply by talking about these things as if they are normal and not signs of mental disorders, be encouraging and enabling people with serious mental illnesses and influencing them to not seek the help they need. It's just the nature of the internet at fault there. You have no idea who's reading it and what they might be going through or thinking.
It can certainly be harmless, yes, but that does not mean that it should be encouraged or promoted as normal and healthy. That's basically my whole point. It may not be harming your life, and you in particular may not be harming others by thinking this way, but it doesn't exactly make you the poster child for mental health. As long as you're not harming yourself or others, sure, do your thing. Just be aware that you're probably diagnosable and you should be careful about encouraging others who think this way, that's all.
