Forest scene with river flowing through with small waterfalls

Monotropism and Collective Flow

In Milan Kundera’s novel, ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ (1981), he described the heaviness of life, the restrictive oppression and boundaries that can tie us all down, yet there is freedom in the possibilities the mind can bring and in the choices we can make. We can subvert the restrictions of neuronormative society; we can, to some extent, choose our line of flight and see the potential in the folds of our thoughts. This potential may be expressed through art, literature, science, music, movement, conversations and joining in collective flow states as a community and also through neuroqueering as discussed by Nick Walker in my previous writing.

This article is continuing my exploration of the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari in relation to the creation of concepts and theories, such as monotropism. I am interested in the inner experience of flow states and also the flow states within society as I have noticed that a new collective flow state is gaining momentum within the neurodivergent community. Talk about the theory of Monotropism (Murray, Lesser, Lawson, 2005) and The Monotropism Questionnaire (Garau et al., 2023) is flooding some social media channels, and many people (especially those who are Autistic/ ADHD) are sharing their experiences and resonating with this theory and the potential for a new way of framing their own experiences.

Monotropism Questionnaire

The Monotropism Questionnaire (Garau et al., 2023) research article has been shared millions of times across various social media platforms over the past few weeks. There are likely many reasons why the Monotropism Questionnaire has been taken so many times and has been so popular. However, I believe one of them is the feeling of validation it brings to autistic/ADHD people. It seems to be helping to create a sense of connection and understanding, a sense of safety and reassurance from other people that ‘get it’.

Neurodiversity Affirming Flow

There is a new energy and strong flow behind neurodiversity-affirming work, especially within education and mental health organisations. There is a variable weight to flow states and momentum created behind all the research; it is interesting to consider how and why this particular piece of research has moved so fast, especially across social media platforms. For example, Dr.’ Joey’s post on TikTok about the Monotropism Questionnaire now has over 3.5 million views, a staggeringly high statistic for any topic.

Validation

There is a deep yearning for people to feel understood, for their strengths to be celebrated and for their difficulties to be acknowledged. There seems to be a growing number of neurodivergent people seeking support and a growing number of neurodiversity-affirming, neurodivergent-led charities, organisations, and groups emerging to help people who have previously been marginalised and left feeling alone.

Many of the new organisations, groups and online spaces that are evolving are proving to be a wonderful coming together of different minds, a collective response to the long-standing unmet needs of neurodivergent people. They are an example of the internal experiences of neurodivergent people being acknowledged and represented in the community with shared experiences, empathy and understanding. This coming together and uniting through shared experiences and theories such as monotropism could be seen as being like a collective flow state; a combined energy of mutual understanding created by accepting and validating each other’s similarities and also differences.

Collective Flow

Deleuze and Guattari are philosophers, and they explored aspects of a broader interpretation of flow, a collective flow state in society. In A Thousand Plateaus (1980), Deleuze and Guattari specifically talk about society’s economic and social flows; this is a broader interpretation of flow compared to the internal channelling of attention resources described by Monotropism Theory (Murray et al., 2005) or the flow states described by Csikszentmihalyi (1990).

Deleuze describes the bigger picture, the flowing river of a community and society. However, the flow in society could not happen without the diversity of all different minds sharing their passions, skills and knowledge, all working together. The world is in a constant state of flux, and society is in a continuous state of movement. The world and its collective flow states are multidimensional; we live in a world of differences, and neurodiversity is that difference and where the creative potential lies.

Double Empathy

The Monotropism Questionnaire may be popular with Autistic /ADHD people as it reflects their experiences beyond a purely cognitive understanding and resonates with people’s inner states of being. Many people are taking the questionnaire and only then asking, ‘What actually is monotropism?’

A lightbulb moment is often felt, a moment of clarity and relief of being heard and feeling understood; this is reflected in all the likes and excited reshares across social media.

If you have constantly felt on the outside of spaces, there is often a deep yearning to be understood and to feel a part of ‘something’. By taking the Monotropism Questionnaire, there is a feeling of connection with others; there is no double empathy problem (Milton, 2012). Instead, there is a wonderful mutual understanding which reflects so many aspects of life, the positives and the challenges, and there is value in sharing these experiences.

Todd May suggests that the question Deleuze & Guatarri are asking about philosophy is, ‘How might we live?’ rather than, ‘How should we live?’ This quote feels particularly relevant for the neurodivergent community and could be a way of reframing our understanding of autism and thinking about what it means to be Autistic/ADHD. Work led by neurodivergent people researching for their community is proving valuable, resonating deeply and is slowly flowing into other research. (I collated a Summary of Monotropism Research for Summer 2023, which can be found on Monotropism.org).

Monotropism is not a new theory, but the collective flow of the online community may have been what was needed for the current to gather this strong momentum and create such an exciting amount of energy. It has quickly moved out of purely academic circles into spaces where people are now sharing their own experiences of monotropism. People are sharing some of the struggles in their lives as they have tried to live up to the expectations of how they felt they “should be” against the norms of the neuromajority. People have been coming together to share ideas of how to manage being monotropic and sharing ways to try and balance energy.

Monotropism and Inner Experiences

Monotropism could be considered the most accurate reflection of autistic/ADHD experiences that we currently have. I feel it reflects a deep inner experience and way of processing that impacts every aspect of life, from cognition, attention, communication and socialising to sensory experiences and mental well-being.

Diving into your monotropic flow state can create a feeling of joy and safety. Immersing yourself in familiar topics and interests in an overwhelming and chaotic world is reassuring and can provide comfort. The theory of monotropism is helping some people understand and find ways of managing their energy and attention resources to support them in their day-to-day lives. It offers explanations for other difficulties people may have with focusing, switching tasks, concentration, attention, communication, interactions, socialising and also physical and sensory processing. Realising that others relate to this theory and struggle with more challenging aspects of monotropism is drawing people together across social media which can only be a positive outcome.

Creative Potential

Deleuze draws on the idea that philosophy is a process of creation, a process of possibilities and the art of concept creation. As a concept, monotropism absolutely works for me. I can apply it to every aspect of my life. Monotropism helps me understand myself and relation to others and the world around me, it is helping to bring some sense into what can feel like quite a chaotic world. There is potential in the theory on both a personal level and in the wider implications for supporting people in education and other settings and family life.

Rhizomatic Flow

Our collective flow from within the neurodivergent community is rhizomatically evolving and starting to branch outside the autistic community. Interest is growing that was not here even six months ago; webinars and training sessions are popping up over the internet, and new writing is being shared all the time.

I believe we need to embrace this flow and channel it into productive research and enable the inner experiences of neurodivergent people to drive the research so it is more meaningful for everyone. Neurodiversity is where potential and possibilities lie. Everyone has an integral and equally important role in creating and contributing to our community flow state and in the possibilities that may bring.

Celebrating Differences

The Monotropism Questionnaire has possibly gained significant momentum because there is a collective need for a shared neurodiversity affirmative understanding from within the neurodivergent community. Everyone deserves to flourish and live their best life; having your inner experiences validated is intensely valuable and has the potential to create new possibilities and better outcomes for autistic/ADHD people.

If we accept and celebrate differences, we can all work together to shape the course of our collective flow. More research into monotropism and inner Autistic ADHD experiences will help support and benefit everyone.

Deleuze and Guattari suggest:

Lodge yourself on a stratum, experiment with the opportunities it offers, find an advantageous place on it, find potential movements of deterritorialisation, possible lines of flight, experience them, produce flow conjunctions here and there, try out continuums of intensities segment by segment, have a small plot of land at all times.’

(A Thousand Plateaus (2013), Chapter 6, How do you make yourself a Body Without Organs?, pg. 187)

Article inspired by @philosophizethispodcast Episode 126 Deleuze Stephen West, Philosophize This! Episodes 125–129

More information about monotropism can be found here on Fergus Murray’s website:

monotropism.org

and also

Monotropism (stimpunks.org)

Further articles I have written about monotropism can be found here: –

Monotropism Questionnaire & Inner Autistic/ADHD Experiences (autisticrealms.com)

Monotropism, Autism & OCD (autisticrealms.com)

Monotropism and Experiences of Being Monotropic (autisticrealms.com)

Monotropism = A Happy Flow State (autisticrealms.com)

Autism is Fluid

(autisticrealms.com)

Monotropism and The Monotropism Questionnaire — Neurodiverse Connection (ndconnection.co.uk)

Embracing Autistic Children’s Monotropic Flow States — Neurodiverse Connection (ndconnection.co.uk)

End of Summer Round up of Monotropism 2023

(Monotropism.org)

Supporting your young person through Autistic Burnout

(Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism)

More Realms is a part of my Autistic Realms platform, advocating for a better understanding of autism and mental health in education.


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