ADHD and Monotropism (2023)

Summary

Fergus Murray with Sonny Hallett (2023) Monotropism was formulated as a theory of autism. It seeks to explain the experiences and traits of autistic people in terms of a tendency for resources like attention to be concentrated on a small number of things at a time, with little left over for everything else. Through this lens we can make sense of autistic social, sensory and executive functioning differences, as laid out in Monotropism – Explanations. As time has gone on, it has become clear that many diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) also identify strongly with many aspects of monotropism. I want to explore this by looking at the diverse ways that autism and ADHD present; where the traits associated with ADHD fit in with monotropism in an obvious way, and where they might seem to be in tension; and what this might mean for how we think about diagnoses and neurodiversity. Much of what I have to say here is necessarily speculative, all of it calls for further research, and parts of it may be in tension with some of the ways that many people are used to talking about neurodivergence. The way that ADHD and autism are characterised in diagnostic manuals is completely different. ADHD is treated as primarily an attentional difference; autism as chiefly social in nature. Where descriptions do overlap, they can seem contradictory: autism is apparently characterised by rigid, restricted interests, while ADHD is said to cause impulsive behaviour and an inability to concentrate. So the facts that anywhere from 30% to 80% of autistic people seemingly fit the diagnostic criteria for ADHD, and the two clearly run in the same families, might initially seem surprising. It cries out for an explanation. One possibility is that autism and ADHD – or a Kinetic Cognitive Style (KCS), as I prefer to call it – share an underlying cause. Monotropism has been put forward as one candidate for this, for example in Patrick Dwyer’s Revisiting Monotropism. It is well e...