Zoophilia and Therapy 

There are plenty of reasons that might lead someone to consider therapy, and plenty of ways that conversations with a therapist can go. As zoosexuals, some questions may arise when it comes to revealing our preferences to our therapist. Personally, I decided that I couldn’t keep this secret to myself and so I went on to talk about zoosexuality with different therapists.  
 
Why talk about our zoo preferences? 
 
First of all, you are the only one that can answer that question. Some people have a hard time being zoos. For others, the fear of being discovered or the weight of social judgment over their sexuality is too heavy to carry on their own. In that matter, talking about it gives you an opportunity to express those feelings and step back from them. Also, as zoosexuals we might have tough decisions to make, like between a job opportunity in a big city or settling in the countryside to start looking for our dreamed animal. With your zoosexuality in mind, your therapist will have more knowledge about your values and the choices you have made.  
 
Legal risks 
 
Assessing risk is very important when it comes to zoosexuality and therapy. Note that it will largely depend on the current laws in your country but also your personal situation. While every country might be a little bit different, we can distinguish four levels of typical professional secrecy:  
    
  • Your therapist isn’t subject to the obligation of professional secrecy 
  • They are obligated to secrecy but can request a lifting of it 
  • They are obligated to secrecy with exceptions, and zoophilia and/or bestiality cases are not included amongst the exceptions 
  • They are obligated to secrecy but are compelled by the law to report zoophilia and/or bestiality cases  
 
If you have any questions about the extent to which therapists are subjected to the obligation of secrecy you can start of by searching on the internet, trustworthy sources include your government's web pages or some psychotherapist association websites. Note that in some countries only psychiatrists (because they have a doctor’s licence) are subject to this obligation so what you read about them may not apply to psychologist or other forms of therapists. 
Note that in some cases your therapist might allege a state of necessity as a way to talk to a third party about your secret but this notion is usually closely bound by the requirement that there should be a serious threat, and can even put them at risk if there's no threat to be found.
 
I know, all of this is pretty scary, but it is important to be aware of the potential existence of such possibilities for your therapist because if your therapist says in front of you “I have to report cases of bestiality”, you will need to stay calm. Being a zoo isn’t an offence per se and I have never heard of jurisdictions where report of so called “paraphilic interests” would be mandatory. As long as you don’t talk about practise at first you should be safe. 
 
 
How to mitigate those risks?  
 
In an episode of the American podcast Zooier Than Thou, Dr. Hani Miletski recommended that before talking about zoosexuality to your therapist you might want to ask him first: “What do you have to report?” While asking this, you will probably feel a bit uncomfortable. Asking that presumes that you have something that you need to confess that goes past the bounds of what a therapist may accept. But just remember, it's about protecting yourself. Usually, you will get an answer like “killing someone” so then you might want to ask “what about animals?” A short discussion might follow.  
 
Now, you are the judge and your therapist the suspect. Under no circumstances should it be the other way around. You want to know if they are trustworthy, they aren't there to know if you are “clean.” Your therapist should not start conducting an investigation or questioning you about your practices. If they do that, it means that they are a pretty terrible therapist and it is a very good sign that you should change (and that they should consider quitting their job and starting to work for the police, but that’s another story). If it goes wrong, do not panic, as long as you don’t talk about practise, you should be fine. A good therapist will try to make you as comfortable as possible and won’t push you for answers, you have a right for privacy even during therapy. 
 
One last thing. Depending on the way your social security works in your country, your therapist might have to justify or specify the nature of your demand. Doing so, they might be tempted to put “zoophilia” or “paraphilia” in your medical record. I know this is much less cool than “sexual orientation” but all that needs to be discussed. Maybe at first they can put something generic like “family issues” or “anxiety” but if they need to draft a report for your insurance they might not be able to do so after a certain number of sessions, because then they will have to give more details. Make sure you understand what they will be reporting to your insurance, if anything. If you're concerned, ask them. They will not lie.   
 
But zoophilia is considered to be a paraphilia, what will they do to me? 
 
Not much. You might have read lots of things about zoophilia, and now it is the time to put all of that aside. You therapist might not even have read any of this, and if he or she did, it doesn’t give them many answers to what they should do about it. In the end, you are the expert. Helping patients with social judgment is something they are used to dealing with, just like with people from the LGBTQ+ community.  
 
I have seen different reactions among therapists, but it shouldn’t be too bad since they are used to things that are considered “weird.” You are always free to choose when you want to talk about it. You can wait a few weeks or decide to bring the topic during one of your first sessions, it’s up to you. 
 
I had a therapist that wasn’t feeling comfortable with the subject, you could clearly see it from her body language by how tense she was and the way she would sometimes start asking questions about some totally unrelated topic just to change subject. She was even stressed at the beginning! With time it got much better, she started giving more credit to what I was saying, and also began to empathize. I had another one that was very kind and curious. 
 
From that experience I get that sometimes they first need to know you, to understand that you are not a bad person, which then makes it easier for them to follow your reasoning, by then they should have stopped dissociating and thinking that you are in denial. 
 
Conclusion and testimony 
 
Talking about zoosexuality during therapy might be important as it helps your therapist to better understand your personal history. However, talking about sexual acts is risky, and should be considered only if full professional secrecy is guaranteed. But also, it is not needed as your therapist doesn’t need to know everything you do at home. Talking about it in therapy might not replace having a supporting family or a good friend with whom you can be open, but it can definitely help you going through tough times.  
 
Fayçal accepted to share his experience: “I spoke about my zoophilic desires with a psychiatrist as part of a therapy aimed at treating the beginnings of burnout. Not wanting to broach the subject in the first place, I remained evasive during the first few sessions when conversations turned to sentimental subjects. It's possible that my psychiatrist suspected something as he mentioned numerous cases of exotic paraphilias among his patients and the public in a light tone to put me at ease. I finally opened up and told him my secret. The psychiatrist assured me that it wasn't as rare as all that and that he didn't see zoophilia as a medical problem as long as it didn't cause the person suffering and the animal wasn't mistreated or forced. Legally, he saw relatively few risks, as long as certain common-sense precautions were taken (he actually wrote 'paraphilia' rather than 'zoophilia' in the patient file). He encouraged me to experiment and to seek out other zoophiles. These conversations and his reaction gave me confidence, given that the subject is usually only raised in the press in a deeply negative tone that very few people dare to qualify.” (Testimony originally written in French, translated using deepl to avoid personal interpretation) 
 
Charles Menni, June 2023 
Twitter: @CharlesMenni 
You can find all my articles in French on Zeta Verein’s blog: https://blog.zeta-verein.de/fr/  
Questions, comments or concerns? Check out our Discord server!