We've refined and relabeled the art of naming the demon that possess a person based on the characteristics of their symptoms. Then put a scientific sheen on the proscribed exorcisms and potions, without understanding the underlying issue. Modern day shamanism.
That is a bit hyperbolic (we clearly have real knowledge of the underlying neurological mechanisms), but closer to the truth than most people like to acknowledge.
I was diagnosed with ADD as a kid (before it was ADHD). People always describe the disorder as "lack of focus" but that's a really poor description for what I have.
I would say I have "hyper focus", to the point where if I'm working on something interesting, I will lose track of time and am unable to redirect my attention to anything else.
This makes me incredibly "spacey" as often my mind is still fixated on the task even long after I've stopped working on it. It also makes it very hard for me to accomplish any task I don't think are interesting...
And often a new idea will strike me like an epiphany that immediately takes the top spot of my attention.
The result is I have hundreds of half finished projects in flight across countless areas of interest.
I feel like that’s a different type of ADD or something. My wife has that type, so if she’s on her phone or focused on something I almost have to shake her to get her attention, whereas I’m very much the opposite (hard to focus on anything). Makes it hard to watch a series together bc she always wants to binge the whole thing in one sitting and I can never watch more than two episodes at a time.
I was diagnosed ADD as well. This is my exact experience. Usually my focus being too strong on things I like, and an inability to direct it elsewhere towards uninteresting tasks. (picking up, making bed, dishes)
Well, it's well known that ADD/ADHD aren't about lack of focus, but about an inability to direct one's focus to where it's needed.
Normal people can think "I need X, let's work on X" but ADHD people are at the mercy of what's "chosen for them" by their brain.
This was probably fine 4000 years ago, when the world was looser, and people could find their place in life regardless of their particular quirks, but not so much nowadays.
This difficulty or inability to direct focus can be "trained away" with enough effort, but it isn't easy at all.
Yes. Rather a lack of control of the subject and intensity of focus. Which piss everyone off because they can't steer it from the outside, hence the "lack of focus" perspective.
This used to upset me, but as time goes on I'm more excited about it. Sometimes I run into someone else that only does that one or two things. They are happy they finished them, etc., but they seem envious of being able to do lots of things even if they don't end up mattering.
Ya sometimes it feels like a missed opportunity, but I think it's mostly just ego and not anything of real value. On the flip side, I feel like I've gained an incredible amount of diverse experience.
I read this comment and it matched my experience so closely I had to double check it wasn't a copy of one of my own posts.
We really do need an update to the diagnostic criteria and descriptions for ADHD, Autism and their combinations (DSM6?). I think monotropism is a good overarching description that aligns better with what we with these diagnosis experience.
OCD seems to be characterized as having anxiety of fear about the obsession, which isn't something I experienced at all. I don't know much about the disorder though so would be worth doing some more research and introspection
I find this type of science is infuriating. Monotropism as a theory of autism or adhd is equivalent to saying that “tendency to focus on a few things” is a theory of autism or adhd. You’re describing the symptoms, which explains almost nothing. A theory of autism would explain the underlying physical causes of the behavior.
Eh, newtons theory of universal gravitation is still a theory, even if he had no access to particle physics, and even if later the Theory of General Relativity (among others) largely supplanted it. It’s also still useful (and used!) in most real life engineering situations. It’s rare where time dilation applies in say civil engineering.
That folks with Autism and ADHD may have large portions of their symptoms occur because they focus too much on some specific things, to the detriment of others - like emotional well being/regulation - can still be falsifiable (better than most psychiatric theories for sure!) and useful clinically.
Personally, it lines up with what I’ve seen and experienced.
That there is another (perhaps chemical, or brain structure) theory too doesn’t necessarily change that!
I don’t think it’s falsifiable until there are autism diagnostics that aren’t behavioral. Right now, they’re 100% behavioral, which that any theory that tries to cluster autism symptoms is hopelessly tainted by a recursive definition -> diagnosis -> definition cycle.
Not quite, but I think there's a lot of overlap between ADHD and autism, and that the labels are becoming increasingly blurry.
The final paragraph touched on it:
> It is, I think, too early to say with any confidence that autism and ADHD (or KCS) share a common root in monotropism, but the overlapping traits of the people receiving each label clearly demand some kind of explanation, and preliminary results do suggest that each is strongly correlated with monotropism – especially in combination.
Also, a definition of monotropism from their homepage (not my writing):
> I believe that the best way to understand autistic minds is in terms of a thinking style which tends to concentrate resources in a few interests and concerns at any time, rather than distributing them widely. This style of processing, monotropism, explains many features of autistic experience that may initially seem puzzling, and shows how they are connected.
Diagnosed with both (as a child, then again as an adult after ignoring said diagnosis for a long time) I’ve been continually told there is a close link between the two, in that it’s not uncommon if you have one, to be diagnosed with the other.
I’ll say I’ve found “treatments” from both schools helpful. Even though I resisted stuff on the autism side for a long time because I felt “insulted” by it and was convinced it was a diagnosis made in error.
We've refined and relabeled the art of naming the demon that possess a person based on the characteristics of their symptoms. Then put a scientific sheen on the proscribed exorcisms and potions, without understanding the underlying issue. Modern day shamanism.
That is a bit hyperbolic (we clearly have real knowledge of the underlying neurological mechanisms), but closer to the truth than most people like to acknowledge.
The DSM was never meant to carry the burden we've placed upon it. https://asteriskmag.com/issues/12-books/you-arent-in-the-dsm
I was diagnosed with ADD as a kid (before it was ADHD). People always describe the disorder as "lack of focus" but that's a really poor description for what I have.
I would say I have "hyper focus", to the point where if I'm working on something interesting, I will lose track of time and am unable to redirect my attention to anything else.
This makes me incredibly "spacey" as often my mind is still fixated on the task even long after I've stopped working on it. It also makes it very hard for me to accomplish any task I don't think are interesting...
And often a new idea will strike me like an epiphany that immediately takes the top spot of my attention.
The result is I have hundreds of half finished projects in flight across countless areas of interest.
I feel like that’s a different type of ADD or something. My wife has that type, so if she’s on her phone or focused on something I almost have to shake her to get her attention, whereas I’m very much the opposite (hard to focus on anything). Makes it hard to watch a series together bc she always wants to binge the whole thing in one sitting and I can never watch more than two episodes at a time.
I was diagnosed ADD as well. This is my exact experience. Usually my focus being too strong on things I like, and an inability to direct it elsewhere towards uninteresting tasks. (picking up, making bed, dishes)
Well, it's well known that ADD/ADHD aren't about lack of focus, but about an inability to direct one's focus to where it's needed.
Normal people can think "I need X, let's work on X" but ADHD people are at the mercy of what's "chosen for them" by their brain.
This was probably fine 4000 years ago, when the world was looser, and people could find their place in life regardless of their particular quirks, but not so much nowadays.
This difficulty or inability to direct focus can be "trained away" with enough effort, but it isn't easy at all.
Yes. Rather a lack of control of the subject and intensity of focus. Which piss everyone off because they can't steer it from the outside, hence the "lack of focus" perspective.
This used to upset me, but as time goes on I'm more excited about it. Sometimes I run into someone else that only does that one or two things. They are happy they finished them, etc., but they seem envious of being able to do lots of things even if they don't end up mattering.
Ya sometimes it feels like a missed opportunity, but I think it's mostly just ego and not anything of real value. On the flip side, I feel like I've gained an incredible amount of diverse experience.
I read this comment and it matched my experience so closely I had to double check it wasn't a copy of one of my own posts.
We really do need an update to the diagnostic criteria and descriptions for ADHD, Autism and their combinations (DSM6?). I think monotropism is a good overarching description that aligns better with what we with these diagnosis experience.
Obsessive compulsive disorder. Only directed towards work and projects. I have it too.
Maybe co-occurence?
OCD seems to be characterized as having anxiety of fear about the obsession, which isn't something I experienced at all. I don't know much about the disorder though so would be worth doing some more research and introspection
Same for me. I think this experience is pretty common amongst people diagnosed with AD[H]D.
Definitely resonates with my experience.
Not diagnosed autistic, but ADHD.
I find this type of science is infuriating. Monotropism as a theory of autism or adhd is equivalent to saying that “tendency to focus on a few things” is a theory of autism or adhd. You’re describing the symptoms, which explains almost nothing. A theory of autism would explain the underlying physical causes of the behavior.
I read the whole article and I agree that the first sentence was a very poor choice as an introduction to the rest of the content.
However, it is an interesting article if you ignore that bit of bluster. The amount of overlap and traits commonly associated with ADHD and autism.
Eh, newtons theory of universal gravitation is still a theory, even if he had no access to particle physics, and even if later the Theory of General Relativity (among others) largely supplanted it. It’s also still useful (and used!) in most real life engineering situations. It’s rare where time dilation applies in say civil engineering.
That folks with Autism and ADHD may have large portions of their symptoms occur because they focus too much on some specific things, to the detriment of others - like emotional well being/regulation - can still be falsifiable (better than most psychiatric theories for sure!) and useful clinically.
Personally, it lines up with what I’ve seen and experienced.
That there is another (perhaps chemical, or brain structure) theory too doesn’t necessarily change that!
I don’t think it’s falsifiable until there are autism diagnostics that aren’t behavioral. Right now, they’re 100% behavioral, which that any theory that tries to cluster autism symptoms is hopelessly tainted by a recursive definition -> diagnosis -> definition cycle.
If intervention x results in y behavior changing in z% of the population (or not), would that count? I think it would.
Just because it doesn’t describe 100% of situations or work 100% of the time doesn’t mean it couldn’t be shown to work or not.
And yes, that isn’t particle physics type falsifiable, but it is medical treatment falsifiable.
I understand thatnyou tjink ADHD is a type of autism ?
Not quite, but I think there's a lot of overlap between ADHD and autism, and that the labels are becoming increasingly blurry.
The final paragraph touched on it:
> It is, I think, too early to say with any confidence that autism and ADHD (or KCS) share a common root in monotropism, but the overlapping traits of the people receiving each label clearly demand some kind of explanation, and preliminary results do suggest that each is strongly correlated with monotropism – especially in combination.
Also, a definition of monotropism from their homepage (not my writing):
> I believe that the best way to understand autistic minds is in terms of a thinking style which tends to concentrate resources in a few interests and concerns at any time, rather than distributing them widely. This style of processing, monotropism, explains many features of autistic experience that may initially seem puzzling, and shows how they are connected.
Diagnosed with both (as a child, then again as an adult after ignoring said diagnosis for a long time) I’ve been continually told there is a close link between the two, in that it’s not uncommon if you have one, to be diagnosed with the other.
I’ll say I’ve found “treatments” from both schools helpful. Even though I resisted stuff on the autism side for a long time because I felt “insulted” by it and was convinced it was a diagnosis made in error.