This guest post was authored by Tanya Adkin
โAt any one moment, the amount of attention an individual can give is limitedโ
(Murray et al., 2005)
So, what happens when a monotropic mind is forced to live in a polytropic way?
A monotropic individual focuses more detailed attention over fewer attention streams than a polytropic (non-Autistic) individual. When they are forced into environments where they must perform like a polytropic person, the amount of attention to detail they apply to multiple attention streams doesnโt decrease, all that happens is the monotropic mind experiences trauma by being pushed into trying to give more attention than any individual can cognitively give.
I call this monotropic split. The monotropic mind is having to split its attention and give more mental energy and attention than it has available to be able to withstand the environment it is in and remain safe.
When we think of an Autistic person experiencing overwhelm, we are thinking of a monotropic mind taking on more than it can process and creating meltdown or shutdown. Therefore, experiencing monotropic split is the cause of meltdown or shutdown.
When we think of an Autistic person who masks, โcopesโ and โgets byโ which eventually leads to burnout or mental health crisis, we are again thinking of a monotropic mind being forced to perform in a way that traumatises its processing capabilities. This is monotropic split causing trauma, burnout, or mental health crisis.
When we think of a child stuck in a constant state of hyperarousal, looking out for danger because they are being put through a school system that forces them to perform polytropic tricks. Monotropic split and the subsequent cognitive trauma is the cause of the constant hyperarousal.
Autistic demand avoidance is a result of monotropic split because the Autistic person simply has been working in a state of attention hyperactivity for so long that they cannot tolerate any demand as that would re-traumatise their already overstretched attention capacity, so therefore they avoid the demand.
Monotropic split is something that every Autistic person experiences to varying degrees as a result of existing in an unaccommodating world.
Autism + Environment = Outcome.
(Beardon, 2019)
27 responses to “Guest Post: What is monotropic split?”
I read this and could completely relate to it. It is so true. Thanks for sharing this. ๐
[โฆ] When a monotropic brain is forced to distribute its cognitive resources across multiple attention streams, it does not reduce its focus on any given demand. Instead, the monotropic brain focuses on all demands equally and with the same intensity as it would a singular demand. This results in monotropic split. [โฆ]
[โฆ] people who are forced to behave and live polytropically are at risk of a phenomenon called monotropic split. This is caused because a monotropic mind can not regulate its attentional resources across [โฆ]
[…] people who are forced to behave and live polytropically are at risk of a phenomenon called monotropic split. This is caused because a monotropic mind can not regulate its attentional resources across […]
[โฆ] responsive to typical treatments for depression. Autistic burnout starts with monotropic split (Adkin, 2022) over a sustained period of time. Burnout recovery can take months or even years, and the [โฆ]
[…] responsive to typical treatments for depression. Autistic burnout starts with monotropic split (Adkin, 2022) over a sustained period of time. Burnout recovery can take months or even years, and the […]
[โฆ] Guest Post: What is monotropic split? โ Emergent Divergence [โฆ]
[…] TrendingGuest Post: What is monotropic split? […]
[โฆ] trauma experienced by monotropic people who are regularly exceeding their attentional resources (Adkin, 2022) in an effort to meet the demands of living in a world designed for non-monotropic (polytropic) [โฆ]
[…] that need to be addressed. Burnout is usually the result of being in a prolonged state of monotropic split. When such states of being happen, we are exceeding our cognitive resources and traumatising our […]
[…] Guest Post: What is monotropic split? […]
[…] Adkin (2022) describe cรณmo algunas personas pueden experimentar una ยซdivisiรณn monotrรณpicaยป. Tener que dividir los recursos de atenciรณn varias veces al dรญa sin tiempo para descansar y recuperarse no es sostenible para muchas personas Autistas y puede provocar crisis o bloqueos y afectar gravemente al aprendizaje. resultados y bienestar mental y conducir al agotamiento autista. […]
[…] the full impact of Autistic burnout (more on this here). Tanya Adkin has discussed concepts such as monotropic split and spiral which may account for some of the variation we see in the presentation of Autistic […]
[…] 2005). Allowing our attention to be pulled in too many directions will lead to monotropic split (Adkin, 2022) and make burnout harder to recover from. We need time to get into flow-state in order to recover. […]
[…] regulated and somewhat elevated compared to before. I believe this is because I am relieving the monotropic split and meerkat mode I have been operating on for many years. It is alleviating the things that burned […]
[…] Adkin, T. (2022). What is Monotropic split? […]
[…] production out of nothing. Previously I have spoken about burnout in terms of monotropism and monotropic split. While they remain the engine that I believe creates the foundation for Autistic experience, I […]
[…] Monotropic split was first conceptualised by Tanya Adkin (Adkin, 2022) as a proposed mechanism by which Autistic people enter into burnout. It is built on the concept of monotropism (Murray et al., 2005), which itself proposes that Autistic people (and now maybe others) have bodyminds that prefer to apply their attentional resources deeply to a single attentional demand, rather than apply their resources on a surface level to multiple demands. Monotropism has been positioned as a foundational part of how Autistic people experience the world, and growing research looks to cement its place in academic theory. […]
[…] Monotropic split (as outlined by Adkin, 2023) conceptualises a mechanism by which those with a monotropic attentional style experience the overburdening of their attentional resources, and the subsequent cognitive trauma and burnout that arises. Monotropic people’s attentional resources are distributed deeply and via an interest-based mechanism. Despite any person having a finite amount of attentional resources, a monotropic bodymind can not regulate the amount of attention given to competing demands, resulting in the splitting of monotropic resources. Therefore, demands within the environment must be regulated in line with the golden equation to avoid monotropic split and it’s associated negative outcomes. […]
[…] with fewer things that competing demands often stretch us beyond what our system can manage (Adkin, 2023a; Murray et al., 2005). Eventually, something gives. Often, itโs […]
[…] Guest Post: What is monotropic split? โ Tanya Adkin โ 2022 โ https://emergentdivergence.com/2022/07/14/guest-post-what-is-monotropic-split/ […]
[…] Tanya Adkin (2022). Guest Post: What is monotropic split? Retrieved from: https://neurohubcommunity.org/2022/07/14/guest-post-what-is-monotropic-split/ […]
[…] Adkin, T. (2022, July 14). What is monotropic split? NeuroHub Community.https://neurohubcommunity.org/2022/07/14/guest-post-what-is-monotropic-split/ […]
[…] T. (2022). What is monotropic split? NeuroHub Community.ย https://neurohubcommunity.org/2022/07/14/guest-post-what-is-monotropic-split/Boren, R. & Edgar, H. (2022, July 26). Cavendish space. Stimpunks Foundation. […]
Thank you! This is excellent and this explains so much. Not just things like how awful it is to be interrupted in a task, but also how I would rather stick pins in my eyes than do a guided meditation, because they keep going quiet and then speaking again. So they tell you to focus on something, and then they immediately interrupt that focus, and each time there’s an agonizing mono-tropic split.
Thank you, this is just one reason why we created our own mindfulness meditations for neurodivergent minds! You can find them here https://neurohubcommunity.org/mindfulness-meditations/
[…] Adkin, T. (2022). What is monotropic split? NeuroHub Community.https://neurohubcommunity.org/2022/07/14/guest-post-what-is-monotropic-split/ […]