F.A.Q.

• Are otherkin mentally ill?

That’s a hard, and slightly unfair question with a few parts to the answer.

First off, there is no evidence or reason to believe that otherkin have mental health problems more than any other demographic. Otherkin experience (or don’t) the same range of mental health concerns as anyone else. Some have no issues, some have depression, some have more serious mental health issues, but those seem to be at the same rate as the population as a whole and are not a result of their identity.

Secondly, does the belief in the identity make otherkin mentally ill? No. While armchair psychologists armed with ten seconds on Google might disagree, actual psychiatrists and psychologists say otherkin are not mentally ill for their belief. (And as otherkin has more or less the same mental health concerns as anyone else there are many otherkin who have spoken to their therapists about the belief, and were not deemed insane due to it. There are also many otherkin who are involved in mental health fields.) The DSM-5, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is essentially the definitive guide to mental health, used by psychiatrists worldwide (though it is published by an American organization). It contains the criteria used to diagnose any mental disorder or condition. The most recent publication has the following definition for a mental disorder:

 

“A mental disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning. Mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress in social, occupational, or other important activities. An expectable or culturally approved response to a common stressor or loss, such as the death of a loved one, is not a mental disorder. Socially deviant behavior (e.g., political, religious, or sexual) and conflicts that are primarily between the individual and society are not mental disorders unless the deviance or conflict results from a dysfunction in the individual, as described above.”

The two most salient points to take from that definition are “clinically significant disturbance” and “Socially deviant behaviour (e.g., political, religious…)…are not mental disorders.”

The criteria for any mental illness is that it causes a “clinically significant disturbance” in someone’s thoughts, emotions, or behaviour. If the belief in being otherkin does not disrupt someone’s ability to live, hold a job, have friends, it cannot be, by definition, a mental disorder. Secondly, to break down the jargon, “socially deviant behaviour” referring to religion merely means religious or spiritual beliefs. A spiritual belief is not a mental disorder if it again does not disrupt someone’s ability to live, hold a job, have friends, and the like. Believing oneself to be otherkin is no more or less mentally ill than a Christian believing in the power of prayer, or a Hindu believing in reincarnation, or a pagan performing a ritual to call upon their god.

 

• What’s with the star?

Over the years a variety of symbols have been suggested for and used by the otherkin community. Not surprisingly for such a diverse group there has never really been a consensus. That being said the seven-pointed star has acted more or less as a de facto symbol of otherkin, and has probably been the widest spread, and most enduring of the symbols.

 

• If otherkin are real why is this the first we’ve heard of them?

The term otherkin is new, but not necessarily the phenomena. For two loose parallels, people sometimes make comments like “Why are there so many trans people all the sudden? We didn’t use to have them.” or “Autism is really on the rise, where did it come from? It wasn’t a thing when I was young.”  (Please note: The parallel is not intended to take away from, or co-opt the struggles of trans or autistic people, merely to illustrate how new terms reflect older experiences)

We have always been here. It is merely the naming and the framing of the identity that has changed. There have always been trans people, in fact, we have archaeological records of people we would call trans going back to at least 2900 BCE, it is not a new phenomenon. But the word is new, the specific way the identity is understood is new, the growing acceptance is new, but trans folks have always been part of humanity. Same with autism, when you look at the traits you can see it’s always been part of humanity, but it used to be understood and labelled differently.

Otherkin are much the same in that regard. Most cultures have some form of a not-quite-human person. In western Europe, you find mention to people who are “fae-touched” which meant either their family had fae ancestry, or that the person spent time in the realm of Faerie and came back changed.

Buddhism and Hinduism have tales of different classes of beings incarnating as human or otherwise being transformed into humans, and that it was an important part of that person’s journey.

Shamans were seen sometimes as not-quite-human, part of the spirit realm and shifting between forms.

In Judaism and Christianity, you have the children of the Bene ha’Elohim, people who were part angel and part human.

There have always been beliefs that could be paralleled to otherkin, in pretty much every culture, it is only the name and modelling that is new.

 

• Who runs this site?

My identity isn’t important, the site is. I have been part of the online otherkin community for over 15 years, and part of the offline community for even longer. In that time I have made many friends, but I may have also pissed people off too. I want this site to be open to all otherkin, but if someone who always argued with me knew I ran the site, they might be less likely to frequent it or recommend it. As such who and what I am will remain undisclosed because I want this site to be about otherkin and the community, not about me.

 

• How do you know if you’re otherkin?

That’s definitely not an easy question to answer. There is no one answer. I would personally say if you suspect you are otherkin then find ways to explore it. If your kintype is connected to a past life memory try to explore that memory, also record it in as much detail as possible. Then research and see if your memory matches up, or conflicts with accepted history/mythology, if you can have someone else do the research even better so you don’t colour the memory. If your kintype is connected to something instinctual explore that, find a time and place where you can indulge those behaviours and see what happens. If you feel it in a certain place, go there and explore it.

In the long run, otherkin is a belief, and there is only so much you can prove about a belief. My advice is take it slow, and record everything. Then over time you might have a better sense of if you’re kin, or what was happening to make you consider that.

 

• Are therians otherkin?

This has been another issue of debate in the community for quite some time. Some therianthropes (animal otherkin) do not believe or call themselves otherkin, as their identity is less otherworldly than most kin. Other therians recognise that otherkin is a broad umbrella referring to people who don’t wholly identify as human, and that includes them.

 

• Are vampires otherkin?

Yet another issue of debate. Are vampires otherkin? In general, the community consensus as a whole is no. Vampire, meaning psychic vampires, are people who for whatever reason have a heightened need for external energies. Generally, most vampires are otherwise normal people. They’re not otherkin because they’re human, just with a different energetic need. That said there are some types of otherkin that tend to be vampiric in their own ways or for their own reasons. In that case, they’re vampiric because they are otherkin, not the other way around.

 

• How do I become otherkin?

You don’t. Otherkin is something you are, an intrinsic part of yourself. It is part of who you are, not something you become, or are given or anything like that.

 

• Aren’t otherkin just unhappy people seeking escapism?

Like mental health, this is a bit of an unfair question. Are otherkin unhappy people seeking escapism? As a whole, no. Like any other demographic group you can think of though, there will be some otherkin who are unhappy with things and seek escapism, just as you’ll find most of us are not like that. Those that are seeking escapism aren’t kin because of it, it is merely they are otherkin and they are seeking escapism.

 

• Do they think they’re really elves or dragons?

Depends on who you ask. Some otherkin think of mythology as being at least somewhat representative of other realities. They might see something in mythology and realize “Yes, this is what I am, exactly.” Other otherkin see it more as a close analogy. That is they’re not necessarily claiming to be an elf right out of Norse mythology, merely that those type of elves are the closest example of who they are that they have found. So in that case “elf” might be used less to describe a distinct species but rather it is a good term that works as a short form in describing who they are.

 

• Is being otherkin a cult or a religion?

No. While many otherkin might be religious or spiritual, it is not in and of itself a religion. While some otherkin are more ambiguous or agnostic in their spiritual beliefs, many otherkin are part of established religions (including being ordained figures) such as Catholicism, paganism (used in an umbrella sense), or Buddhism.