monotropic.
“normally my life is me in a dark space with a candle”
What This Is
The most comprehensive monotropism resource on the internet.
30 months of documenting monotropic cognition. 368,000 messages. 21 research papers. Curated videos. Practitioner guides. And a prosthetic I built in response.
Before I knew the theory. After I discovered it. Everything in between.
Start Here
The Theory
What monotropism is. The theorists who built it. 40 years of research. Glossary of 25+ terms.
My 30 Months
Timestamped quotes from before I knew the word. The lived documentation.
The Discovery Arc
Chronological journey from dark room metaphor to finding the word.
Pre-Discovery (2023)
Optimization (2024)
Discovery (2025)
Original Contributions
Not in Murray/Lawson. My additions to the field.
The Poly Framework ⭐
Polymath + Monotropic = the tunnel that moves. How mastery across domains coexists with single-channel attention.
The Prosthetic ⭐
368K messages. Semantic search. External memory. What I built to preserve what the tunnel leaves behind.
Related Theories
Monotropism doesn't exist in isolation. These connect and extend it.
- Flow Theory — Why monotropics access flow easily
- Double Empathy Problem — Bidirectional communication challenge
- Executive Function — Reframing “dysfunction”
- Spoon Theory — Energy management
- Alexithymia — Interoception and attention
For Practitioners
Clinical reference for medical and allied health professionals.
- Quick Reference — 60-second overview + do's and don'ts
- Clinical Scenarios — Real situations, monotropism-informed responses
Media Library
Curated resources. All downloadable.
- 21 Research Papers — Foundational to cutting-edge
- Videos — Talks, explainers, presentations
- Books — Essential reading list
The Theorists
I'm not the theorist. They are:
- Dr. Dinah Murray (1946–2021) — coined “attention tunnelling” (1992)
- Dr. Wenn B. Lawson — SAACA framework, Autism and Being Monotropic (2025)
- Mike Lesser (d. 2015) — mathematical foundations
- Dr. Damian Milton — Double Empathy Problem (2012)
Why This Format
The academic synthesis exists. I'm not duplicating it.
This is the lived version. My words. Timestamped. Before and after I knew what to call it. Plus everything I've collected that helped me understand.
The quotes are the evidence. The resources are the foundation. The prosthetic is the response.