#monotropism

[unashamedly-enthusiastic]

What is monotropism?

Monotropism describes a tendency for a person's attention to concentrate deeply on a small number of interests at a time, rather than distributing attention across many things (a mode called 'polytropism'). This intense focus can lead to a real depth of interest, expertise and immersive sensory experiences, but may also make it harder to switch tasks, process multiple inputs at once or cope with interruptions.

[gardensofdeath]

MONOTROPIC ATTRACTION

A form of emotional or interpersonal focus where one person becomes the central, often exclusive, object of affection, attention, or devotion regardless of whether the connection is romantic, platonic, or something else. Relationships with other people may feel mellowed or generally lighter.

Coined from the neurodivergent term monotropism; Monotropism is an individual's tendency to focus their attention on a small or singular number of interests at any time, with them neglecting or not perceiving lesser interests

This term was made by and for neurodivergent people!

A bit more explanation to clear overlaps

This attraction style may be mistaken for a Borderline FP, a romantic crush, or limerence, but it is typically more stable, less idealized, and not dependent on reciprocation. It is not rooted in fantasy, but in a sense of real love and priority.

In our personal experience our partner system is our object of attraction, they are our priority. We DO care and like other people but we don’t really sought out interaction from them, we also struggle to identify where our bonds lay so we just wait until they pick what we are to them

friends? awesome. best friends? yippee. bffs 5ever? woohoo.

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Snapshots in Autistic Spiky Skills Profile

Neurodivergent_lou

[bruisedandbubbly]

I said I was gonna eat ~5 hours ago.

it's like my stomach is an angry man screaming, I deliberately choose to ignore.

 

@bruisedandbubbly

[raysoccultboobs]

Sometimes I forget how brief trends are for people with short interest cycles. I just saw people saying Poolverine "summer" was over. Didn't know there was a time limit? My dudes, I've been obsessed with Ghostbusters since 1989. I have special interests that are decades old now. Poolverine summer is never gonna end for me. If they made it past the monotropic gatekeeper of my brain, they're in there for life.

[cringecorp]

i have embraced the pure light of current activity

[sweet-autism-things]

I'm not sure if this counts as autism positivity, but it's peaceful and cats are great, so I'm doing it. Here's an autistic person utterly engrossed in watching a cat.

This is an illustration for the Autism Living Wiki's article on monotropism. This theory of autism suggests that we tend to focus intensely on one thing (or just a few things) at a time and struggle to transition between topics. It doesn't explain all of autism, but could relate to topics like special interests, hyperfocus, and executive dysfunction.

Anyway, this autistic person is focused on Cat. Only Cat is important. Nothing matters right now but Cat. Cat is great.

[donniesexceptionalmind]

Ah.

"Monotropic split"

That moment when your brain is pulled in too many directions and everything starts to glitch.

It's like trying to merge ten tabs into one.

You don't shut down because you're "too sensitive."

You shut down because your brain wasn't built to split like that.

When the world demands your attention in too many places at once, e.g. talking while you're thinking, switching tasks without warning, processing words, emotions, and eye contact, you hit a split.

This is not a failure. It's a mismatch. The world asks autistic people to multitask constantly.

But our brain is asking for focus, space, and time.

It's not wrong. It's just different.

It may feel like:

Words are coming in, but none are landing e.g. stuttering, can't find words even though you feel them in your brain

You can't speak even though your brain is full of thoughts

You freeze, fumble, or want to escape

Everything slows down or explodes

Brain fog (I personally see and hear TV static)

Oh. Oh. :[