Definition, relationship to autism, suggestions for practice
Three sections follow:
Background Material that provides the context for the topic
Suggestions for Practice
Resources/References
Feedback welcome!
Background Material
What is monotropism?
Monotropism is a processing style, or way of thinking. Monotropic people tend to focus strongly on a small number of things at a time, and miss things outside of their attention tunnel — or quickly forget things they are no longer focusing on (Autism Understood, 2023). Monotropism rests on a model of the mind as an 'interest system' which informs cognitive, perceptual and emotional processes (Murray, 2021). Monotropism has momentum, creating an intensity of focus which can lead to high levels of engagement and motivation. A monotropic way of thinking and processing can result in someone becoming so hyper-focused that nothing else matters. People can enter a deep state of flow and lose track of time (Edgar, 2023).
Most people are polytropic, the opposite of being monotropic: they can spread their attention between several things. When they are communicating, these people often find it easy to follow someone’s words and facial expressions and body language and tone of voice, all at the same time — all while expressing themselves through all of those channels as well. Not only that, but they do this while keeping in mind who it is they’re talking to, what they’re interested in, how long they’ve been talking, and the relationship between them. For example, if the other person is in a position of power, like a teacher or policewoman, they might expect to be spoken to a certain way (Autism Understood, 2023).
For polytropic people different interests are salient at different times. In a monotropic mind, fewer interests tend to be aroused at any time, and they attract more of the person’s processing resources. The more intensively localized interest or attention is (at any given time) the more keenly experienced the current interest will be. The more absorbing the flow, the more disruptive any diversion is likely to be and the more potential there is for inattention or zero processing elsewhere (Murray, 2021; Murray, 2018).
An intrusion into a ‘switched on’ area will tend to be highly turbulent and may abruptly use up and replace available interest/attention and/or become expressed in ways that may seem angry or frightening to others. When flow is obstructed and spoilt, recovery time is needed; turbulence needs to settle, and levels of interest/attention be restored and available for distribution; this will take longer the more powerful the disrupted flow (Murray, 2021; Murray et al., 2025).
Part of the variation in autism is also likely to be due to different degrees of monotropism: it has been suggested that the trait might follow a normal distribution, with some people being very monotropic, while others (perhaps the world's natural multitaskers) being unusually polytropic. However the trait is distributed, the implication is that some people are closer to having autistic minds than others without qualifying as autistic themselves, and some autistic people have more atypical minds than others in terms of monotropism. This doesn't make the spectrum linear: there are so many different ways for autism to manifest, and so many co-occurring conditions, that no one variable can come close to capturing them all (Murray, 2018).
Monotropism and autism
Edgar (2024) describes monotropism as an affirming theory of autism that suggests an alternative view of many of the qualities of an autistic person. For example,
Instead of obsessions, think passions
Instead of stuck on one activity, think being in a flow state and inertia
Instead of disengaging or not listening, think trying to juggle attention resources
Instead of repetitive behaviours, think stimming to help regulate
Murray (2018) suggests the theory of monotropism provides a comprehensive explanation for autistic cognition. Murray maintains it explains four issues often faced by autistic people: executive dysfunction, limited focusing ability, difficulty managing social situations, and restricted and repetitive interests.
1. Executive dysfunction The bulk of what is usually referred to as 'executive dysfunction' in autism – difficulties getting going with things, executing plans, and tearing oneself away from things once started – are more informatively talked about as 'autistic inertia'. That is, resistance to a change, in a ‘steady state’ manifested as difficulty starting, stopping or changing direction. This is central to many of the difficulties autistic people face in life, but it is also part of what makes autistic thinking distinctive and valuable. Autistic inertia follows naturally from monotropism. Whatever interest is most aroused in a monotropic mind tends to pull in a whole load of processing resources, that naturally make it harder to change track.
2. Sensory differences It is easier for autistic people to process one channel at a time. Distributing attention between multiple streams takes effort, and sometimes just doesn't work at all. Again, monotropism is characterised by intensity wherever the focus is, at the cost of processing resources that might otherwise be used to deal with other input or interests. Conversely, if a person can't tune an input out, it is often experienced as very intrusive. This is likely to be from discomfort at attention being constantly pulled away from where people want it to be. Stimming, flapping, rocking and humming provide predictable input, something to do and feel without having to think about it, and can make it much easier to filter, to focus on something else, or to deal with overwhelming feelings.
3. Social differences Many social differences are sensory differences at root. Being unable to process multiple channels of input most of the time makes the combination of spoken words, body language and eye contact tremendously challenging. Add autistic inertia to the mix, and one can also see why autistic people often need more processing time and can find the back-and-forth of neurotypical conversation difficult to keep up with. A lot of processing power goes into socialising, something that can seem effortless for many. When autistic people fail to socialise, it's not so much they are unable, but they don't always have the processing power left over to do it effectively.
4. Focused interests The diagnostic criteria for autism talk about 'restricted' and 'repetitive' interests, but the main characteristic feature of autistic 'special interests' is really how much autistic people focus on them, not how restricted or repetitive they are. What is true is that personal interests pull autistic people in very strongly and persistently, compared with most people. It can be hard to think about anything else when particularly invested in a topic, and hard to imagine how little other people might care about it. That can be a huge asset in many fields – intense focus is indispensable in science, maths, technology, music, art and philosophy, among others.
Having a monotropic mind may present difficulties when demands exceed a person's capacity to manage. This may occur when there is a need to change channels of attention and re-direct energy to a different focus or task. This shift of energy, flow and concentration can affect executive functioning, the ability to complete everyday tasks successfully, manage time, organise and plan. All of these additional stresses can then cause a rise in anxiety and a reduced capacity to manage other sensory, social or communication and without time to rest, recharge and recover can result in overload or shutdown experiences. This is referred to as monotropic split (Edgar, 2023).
Monotropic split theory suggests that if autistic people are in environments where they must perform like a polytropic person, the amount of attention to detail they apply to multiple attention streams doesn’t decrease; all that happens is the monotropic mind is having to split its attention and give more mental energy and attention than it has available to the current environment (Edgar, 2023). Monotropic split can be thought of as a cognitive trauma where the body/mind is pushed out of the limits of its cognitive limitations. Extended periods of overextending cognitive capacity leaves autistic people in an energy accounting deficit. They spend their day needing to recover energy. This creates a perfect storm for autistic burnout and potentially life changing effects on mental health and wellbeing (Gray-Hammond, 2025).
Suggestions for Practice
1. Meet the child or adult where they are. This is not an insight unique to a monotropism perspective. Recognise what someone is passionate about and learn how to become part of the attention tunnels which come with monotropic focus, rather than trying to just reach in and pull the person out of the flow states that are so important to the person. There are plenty of ways to get autistic people interested in new things; they mostly involve taking existing interests and building on them (Murray, 2018). For example, encourage and share delights, only redirect (going off-flow) when it is essential (as it often is), build learning through interests and permit recovery time for all redirections. Shared interests foster mutual understanding and fellow feeling, and help overcome “double empathy problem,” in which neither party grasps the other’s intent (Murray, 2021). Autism Understood (2023) explains the double empathy problem as polytropic people thinking that monotropic people are being distant or disrespectful because of their reaction to the current situation or to a direction while monotropic people cannot understand why their communication with the other person is being ignored.
2. Provide space and time to engage in the natural monotropic flow state. There are several factors that need to be in place for this to happen.
Environment + Positive connections + Understanding + Time + Space = Happy Monotropic Flow State
People need to understand and accept neurodivergent differences and not focus on them as deficits. Positive outcomes can only be achieved by establishing compassionate connections and positive relationships to allow time and space, in the right environment, for autistic people to engage in their monotropic interests and enter flow states. Engaging in monotropic flow states supports mental health as well as the learning outcomes of young people. If a child is experiencing autistic burnout, then time away from the usual demands of life and more time nourishing their sensory system and engaging with their special monotropic interests and entering flow states will help support their mental health (Edgar, 2023).
3. Establish routines when possible. Helping autistic people to maintain a sense of stability should be a priority for those around them. Stability is a basic human need, and life as a monotropic person in a polytropic world is often unstable. It is deeply destabilising to be pulled out of an attention tunnel, to be regularly surprised by people's actions, or to feel you are not being understood. Much of autistic behaviour can be seen as attempts to restore some kind of equilibrium. It's widely understood that routines can often help autistic people, but it is not widely understood why. A lot of it is about minimising mental load: taking out things that they have to think about, so that focus is maintained. However externally imposed routines sometimes backfire because of the fundamental need people have to be in control. Changing plans for autistic people involves such a mental shift that it's exhausting and can be resisted (Murray, 2018).
Gray-Hammond (2025) suggests the following practical steps to mediate the impact of monotropic split on an autistic person’s wellbeing. For the most part they reflect the three points made above.
Create space for deep focus with minimal additional demands on attention.
Create environments that allow for natural and planned transitions between demands.
Allow additional processing time to account for attentional styles and changing demands.
Minimise extraneous background sensory disturbance while maximising regulatory sensory input.
Gray-Hammond (2025) add: This can make it sound deceptively simple, but in truth the autistic person is a unique person. Autistic people have spiky and dynamic profiles of needs (i.e. they perform highly in some areas, and lower in others), and rarely have the same profile as other autistic people, save for some generally shared experiences. A truly monotropically safe environment will allow for the individuality of autistic people, and does not attempt to apply a prescriptive one-size-fits-all approach to accommodations.
Resources / References
This link (https://autisticrealms.com/monotropism/) lists multiple resources on monotropism: writings, blogs, research articles, other websites, videos, podcasts, and books. It includes a link to a cartoon by SaltForMySquid that may be relevant for young people but also provides a simple overview to assist with understanding autism for all ages.
https://psychcentral.com/autism/monotropic provides an easily understood overview: definition, examples, benefits, tips for support.
A web search will uncover other websites that discuss monotropism.
References
Autism Understood. (2023, July 7). Monotropism. https://autismunderstood.co.uk/autistic-differences/monotropism/
Edgar, H. (2023, Mar 23). Monotropism = Happy flow state. Autistic Realms. https://www.thepdaspace.com/blog/monotropism-happy-flow-state
Edgar, H. (2024). Monotropism resources and signposting. https://autisticrealms.com/monotropism/
Exceptional Individuals. (2025). Spiky profile. https://exceptionalindividuals.com/candidates/neurodiversity-resources/spiky-profile/
Gray-Hammond, D. (2025 January 22). Monotropic split and mental health. Emergent Divergence. https://emergentdivergence.com/2025/01/22/monotropic-split-and-mental-health/
Murray, D. (2021). Monotropism – An interest account of autism. In F. R. Volkmar (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders (2nd ed.). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102269-1
Murray, D., Lesser, M., & Lawson, W. (2005). Attention, monotropism and the diagnostic criteria for autism. Sage Publications and The National Autistic Society, 9(2), 139-156. DOI: 10.1177/1362361305051398
Murray, F. (2018, November 30). Me and monotropism: A unified theory of autism. The Psychologist (The British Psychological society). https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/me-and-monotropism-unified-theory-autism
Murray, F., Lawson, W., & Mery, P. (2025). Monotropism. https://monotropism.org/
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