I am writing a psychology paper describing an ASD (Autistic) client that acts like a cat, often meowing, nuzzling against objects, and walking around on all fours.
I was curious if there is a better word for "acting like an animal" than zoomorphism or zoomorphic behavior.
There are several threads on this site asking for "an antonym of anthropomorphic" and most of the responses bring up zoomorphism and or bestiality. However, I am hoping for one that best describes the action of, rather than the state or attribution of animal traits. Or is zoomorphism the best that can be done as the current English language stands?
Best Answer
The disorder has been called Clinical lycanthropy.
As for the sentence, to make it sound less coarse you could write:
The patient behaves in a manner that resembles animal behavior.
or
The patient acts in a catlike manner (or displays zoanthropic behavior.)