Filling a lexical gap: dysphoria & euphoria in alterhumans
Dysphoria and euphoria are a defining facet of alterhumanity for many people, but the current prevailing terms, species dysphoria and species euphoria, are highly limited in scope and carry the implication that any alterhuman-related feelings of this kind worth naming are caused by identifying as a nonhuman living thing. This terminology fails to acknowledge dysphoria and euphoria experienced by human-identifying alterhumans and those with non-"identify as" identities, and can feel alienating for those who identify as something nonhuman that would not typically be considered a "species", such as an object or concept. It also does not provide any lexical framework to describe the wide range of alterhumanity-derived dysphoric and euphoric experiences often discussed in the community.
People in all alterhuman demographics deserve to have a way to distinguish their experiences from "typical" types of dysphoria and euphoria experienced by orthohumans (non-alterhumans), so I am proposing a new set of terms:
Alterdysphoria: Feelings of unease, wrongness, dissatisfaction, or alienation that stem from one's alterhuman identity.
Altereuphoria: Feelings of joy, comfort, catharsis, or affirmation that stem from one's alterhuman identity.
A dash may be added after the prefix (e.g. "alter-euphoria") for ease of legibility/pronunciation if desired.
EDIT 11/26: I've changed these to my original inclination of just using "alter", which I initially didn't use because it's a different root language than dysphoria and I was worried it would be misconstrued as dysphoria/euphoria experienced by alters, but after thinking it over I don't see that really being an issue given how well-used the word alterhuman is. It's a much more intuitive option than using "onto" but if people prefer that I will change it back!
Alterdysphoria and altereuphoria are umbrella terms that include species dysphoria and euphoria as well as dysphoria and euphoria due to being otherhuman, concept- or objectkin, otherhearted, fictionfolk, plural, or any other type of alterhuman.
Common types of alterdysphoria or altereuphoria someone may experience are:
Physical, related to one's current physical body
Ability, related to things one can or cannot do in their current body and/or environment
Mental, related to one's emotions, interests, or thought processes
Sensory, related to one's sensory experiences (or lack thereof)
Gender, related to one's internal or perceived gender
Cultural, related to one's cultural environment
Social, related to social interactions/relationships with others
Perceptual, related to how one is perceived by others
Environmental, related to one's physical surroundings
Reality, related to the contents, history, physical laws, etc. of one's current subjective or objective reality
Examples of each of these types is under the cut at the bottom of the post. When discussing these experiences in contexts where it is clear someone is referring to alterhuman-derived feelings, the "alter" can be dropped for brevity (e.g. reality dysphoria, perceptual euphoria). The distinction is for clarity of communication only. For example, a person who experiences height dysphoria due to their alterhuman identity could choose to distinguish it from transgender height dysphoria by using the phrase "height alterdysphoria".
Differentiating alterhuman-related feelings from other origins of dysphoria and euphoria does not denote a hierarchy or binary between alterhuman and non-alterhuman experiences. Many alterhumans have dysphoria or euphoria with unknown or mixed origins, and those experiences can absolutely be considered partially or entirely alterdysphoria or altereuphoria if doing so feels helpful. Any alterhuman who feels these terms are useful to them can use them in any relevant context.
Some examples of alterdysphoria not objectively covered by the "species dysphoria" term are:
Physical or gender dysphoria experienced by anyone due to a human kintype
Dysphoria experienced by those with nonliving kintypes due to being in a living body
Dysphoria experienced by those with non-corporeal kintypes due to being in a physical body
Social or cultural alienation experienced by those with a connection to other worlds, time periods, or societies
Disconnect or distress experienced by anyone with a hearthome due to their current surroundings
Disconnect or alienation experienced by those with a connection to a world/time period/etc with different flora, fauna, landscapes, or physical laws from present-day Earth
Disconnect or distress experienced by otherhearted people when others discuss/treat their hearttype in a dismissive or disrespectful way
Physical, age, or gender dysphoria experienced by system members while fronting in their host body
Disconnect or distress experienced by system members when they are presumed to be another alter/facet/etc
Alienation or distress experienced by plural systems when they are presumed to be a singlet
Disconnect or distress experienced by fictionkin/fictives when their personality or age is perceived differently from their identity
Disconnect or distress experienced by canon divergent fictionkin/fictives when interacting with their source or fandom
Distress or discomfort experienced by fictionkin/fictives when seeing or interacting with doubles
Disconnect experienced by anyone with exomemories/exotrauma (events that were not experienced by their current physical body)
Disconnect or distress experienced by endels when someone or something "reality checks" them
Alienation experienced by mediums or spirit workers due to having a different subjective reality from others
Any kind of alterhumanity-derived dysphoria experienced by nonhumans that feels unrelated to their species
Alienation or distress experienced by any alterhuman when they are presumed to be orthohuman
Some examples of altereuphoria not objectively covered by the "species euphoria" term are:
Affirmation experienced by anyone when dressing up or depicting themselves as their human kintype
Euphoria experienced by objectkin and conceptkin when engaging with their kintype
Joy or comfort experienced by someone with a hearthome upon visiting or looking at that place or somewhere similar
Joy or affirmation experienced by archetropes from doing activities that align with their identity
Comfort experienced by fictionfolk when engaging with their source media or fandom
Joy experienced by an otherhearted person when engaging with their hearttype
Affirmation experienced by a fronting member of a system when being referred to with their own name and pronouns (instead of the ones typically used for their host body)
Joy or comfort experienced by an otherlinker when shifting as their linktype
Any kind of alterhumanity-derived euphoria experienced by nonhumans that feels unrelated to their species
Euphoria experienced by any alterhuman upon having their identity affirmed by others
This is by no means an exhaustive list, alterdysphoria/altereuphoria is an inclusive concept and there is theoretically no limit to the types of situations these terms can cover.
I hope that this terminology can provide a clearer, more inclusive framework for identifying and discussing these kinds of experiences!
EDIT: Since I've been asked, if you are alterhuman you automatically have permission to use these terms wherever you want and don't need to credit me! My intention for this concept/terminology is that it should be community-owned and accessible, the only reason to link me to it would be to use this post to explain what it means :)
Example of dysphoria/euphoria types below: