TL;DR: i feel like a community for this specific overlap would be cool because of historical tensions and mental illness being mental illness, tell me about it if you know of one
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There is a very unfounded and stigmatizing over-association of otherkinity to being mentally ill, and I feel like this creates a double bind in the otherkin community.
I am not here to entertain the discussion of "if you have a mental illness it must be something else, stop bringing this into the otherkin community!" because I'm here with my nuance shirt and nuance shoes, and if you do not have your Nuance Shirt and Nuance Shoes on I will not give you any Nuance Service.
To get it out of the way as shortly as possible, there are certain kinds of mental illnesses that affect the aspects of identity and and the sense of self in various ways. For psychosis specifically, I know the endel community exists for those whose otherkin identity is based in delusion (though honestly I am only aware it exists as a label but haven't found any actual community for it). The mental illnesses that tend to lean toward these experiences are also some of the most stigmatized disorders that are hard to find genuine community for - especially in the case of dissociative disorders and the schizophrenia spectrum, it is hard to find communities not swathed with misinformation.
But on the side of the otherkin community who do not experience this for reasons tied to mental illness the stereotype ends up downplaying their experiences and outcasting them along with other mentally ill folk. I feel like this creates a shitty situation for both of us, that non-mentally ill otherkin have to constantly put up with being reminded that people think there's something wrong with them and it flattens the discussion and enjoyment. And when I come to talk about the ways I enjoy and experience my otherkin identity not tied to my mental illness, I do not want to come and be reminded about all of the negative experiences that are part of it for me, I want to gush about my gear or something that gave me species euphoria or how much I love my kintype and talk to/about others of that kintype!
When you are a mentally ill otherkin, at least in my experience, there is a sort of acute awareness of this fact. I am part of the oppressed class that the saneism you are being dismissed with discriminates against in every day life. When you are dismissed as mentally ill you are catching strays of the systemic oppression I have had to navigate my entire life. There is a sense of liberation in having a space free from outcasting eyes to just be able to enjoy who you are in the way you are and talk about it to others who are similar in some broad aspect. And thus, since my experience is tied heavily to mental illness, I do not talk about the negative side of my experiences. There is a very treasurable part to having an otherkin space free from this weight, and I enjoy it when my experiences overlap with the broader community. I do not want to perpetuate the stigma that 'the otherkin community is mentally ill,' especially because the people who actually believe that stigma are never for one second going to offer any time or understanding to when it IS caused by mental illness (since, at their root, they just want to scapegoat Weird People to outcast them, and they have the ingrained saneist belief that mentally ill people are Weird and okay targets to bash and outcast). It feels like even mentioning my mental illness in most otherkin spaces is not allowed or heavily discouraged, which is both a shitty feeling to have and understandable as to why some non-mentally ill otherkin folks are so guarded.
I think, obviously, both mentally ill and non-mentally ill otherkin can agree that there are both upsides and downsides to being otherkin. Even if you're not mentally ill that does not mean the feeling of species dysphoria is any less awful. But there are negative experiences that come with the mental illness part that I at least feel are so tied to that it being mental illness I don't always feel comfortable bringing it into this space, and for good reason.
I don't think anybody here would take kindly to a vent about my dollkin identity and how it stems from a pervasive lack of autonomy and control over my life due to repeated incidents of severe abuse starting from literal toddler ages and that shifts for me can be highly upsetting and put me into an extremely volatile and vulnerable state - with just one example out of the way, I hope that it can communicate the gap in this experience. I feel like these are things I'd rather discuss with people who are both mentally ill and otherkin and want to talk about how those two experiences are tied together, because bringing that to the just otherkin table is a bit much and can bring up a lot of those feelings of dismissal from saniest attitudes, but also, bringing it to the just mental illness table usually begets some form of 'take your fucking meds' without any attempt to understand it as an involuntary coping mechanism and/or delusion.
I mean, I would post about that to the DID subreddit, they would tell me I need to work through it in therapy. I would post it to the schizophrenia subreddit, they would tell me I am delusional and need medication. They say this not out of bad faith or misunderstanding but because reminding of the most ideal situation of being able to access working mental health care is the only thing they can do, and that leaves people like me without access to those things without support or community to understand. There is no discussion to be had about being mentally ill - only about how you can and should get better, even if that isn't possible for you. There are some niche discord servers that I largely only found from year old friend groups and/or formed around people from those year old friend groups, but that's really it. But we can post a hug emoji and share any similar experiences to feel less alone without having to type out this entire fucking post as an exhausting disclaimer, especially when we are already so drained and limited by our experiences already. The understanding and expectation and nuance of the history and overlap between these experiences is already in the air and we do not have to debate the ways we choose to conceptualize ourselves in an effort to describe our experiences and learn to live with them more stably.
I can count on one hand how many people I know who I can actually do that with.
Does that sound like something you would like to be able to do as well?
