"Species dysphoria" is mostly used informally in psychological literature to compare the experiences of some individuals to those in the transgender community.

As described by those who experience it, species dysphoria may include sensations of supernumerary phantom limbs associated with the species, such as phantom wings or claws.

Jean Douturd's short novel Une Tête de Chien features a spaniel-headed human protagonist described by Giffney and Herd (2008) as suffering from species dysphoria.

Autozoophilia can be associated with the feeling or belief that one is less than 100% human or that one is an animal trapped in a human body, a phenomenon called species dysphoria.

Species dysphoria is the experience of dysphoria (depression, discontent), sometimes including dysmorphia (excessive concern over one's body image), associated with the feeling that one's body is of the wrong species.

Species dysphoria involves feelings of being an animal or other creature "trapped in" a human body and so is different from the traditional definition of clinical lycanthropy, in which the patient believes they have actually been transformed into an animal or have the ability to physically shapeshift.

However, some cases that have been labeled as "clinical lycanthropy" actually seem to be cases of species dysphoria, involving persons who have no delusion of transformation but instead have feelings of being in some way a non-human animal, while still acknowledging they possess a human form.