An Interest Based Account (Monotropism theory) explanation of anxiety in Autism & a Demand Avoidance Phenomenon discussion.

Abstract

Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC) held an external stream to the Scottish Autism conference recently held in Glasgow on the 08/11/2018 and 09/11/2018. As part of that stream, the entirety of the 09/11/2018 morning was on an Interest Based Account on Autism, more commonly known as Monotropism. I was invited to do a talk on how this theory explains anxiety in autism due, refining the theory to explain Demand Avoidance Phenomenon (Pathological Demand Avoidance). Each speaker was asked to provide a 15 minute talk and then allow a 15 minute discussion including with the speaker doing a plenary. As previous speakers had described an Interest Based Account of Autism (Dinah Murray) and Flow States (Damian Milton), I did not need to go into much depth on the theoretical background.

However, I have expanded the original slides, providing more in depth discussion points and explaining the underlying theory to allow anyone to access the slides. I have recorded an audio file for the first 26 slides only, as the remaining slides are for further discussion, my contact details and a bibliography. I would welcome feedback on the material covered.

You will probably need to download the file to listen to each of the audio files. I hope you enjoy the talk.

Full text

Richard Woods.
09th of November 2018.
Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 1
An Interest
Based Account (Monotropism theory)
explanation of anxiety in Autism & a
Demand Avoidance Phenomenon
discussion.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 2
My Bias.
- This presentation meets its proposed profile,
but that does not mean much.
- Demand Avoidance Phenomenon (DAP); will be
explained more later.
- Sceptical that DAP is an ASD subtype or a
syndrome. Significantly more compelling
research; primarily biomarker evidence.
PERSPECTIVE.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 3
Introduction.
- Originally planned to synthesise Monotropism
with Global Instability to explain DAP (Beardon
2012; Beardon 2017).
- After reflection, Monotropism explains Global
Instability.
IN THE BEGINNING.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 4
Introduction.
- Advancing Dinah Murray’s latest work (2018).
- Explore how Monotropism explains anxiety in
autism.
-Avoiding the demand of DAP’s main discourse.
- Discussion topics.
IN THE BEGINNING.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 5
Monotropism 101.
- Attention is a scarce resource, there is
competition for its use by myriad interests.
- An interest is anything that gains your
attention; from sensory stimuli, thoughts to
emotions.
- Each person can only process a certain amount
of attention resource at any moment.
- Continuum of perceiving attention; One end is
Monotropism and the other Polytropism.
- Autistic persons tend to be monotropic.
- Non-autistic persons tend to be polytropic.
AN INTEREST BASED ACOUNT.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 6
Monotropism 101.
- Attention tunnels are made from attention
resource.
- Monotropism is with a single attention tunnel
when entire attention resource is used.
- Polytropism is with many attention tunnels that
have similarly distributed attention resources.
AN INTEREST BASED ACOUNT.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 7
Single attention tunnel leads to:
- Interests are processed sequentially in order of
importance.
- Experiencing intense sensations.
- Binaric black and white thinking.
- External information being occluded from
awareness.
- Intensity of our thoughts leave stronger
impression on subconscious.
- More difficult to restart attention tunnels.
AN INTEREST BASED ACOUNT.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 8
An Interest Based Account Reading.
- For further reading see (Murray et al 2005):
-https://www.researchgate.net/publication/787
9954_Attention_monotropism_and_the_diagnos
tic_criteria_for_autism
-The Passionate Mind (Lawson 2011).
-Monotropism –An Interest Based Account of
Autism (Murray 2018).
CONFLICTING INTERESTS.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 9
Flow States
- An optimal experience that is beneficial to our
wellbeing and happiness.
- Experienced when a person is deeply involved
in an activity and nothing else seems to matter.
- Flow states can happen in social interaction.
- Provide stability, e.g. an escape from anxiety.
- Such activities that engage with flow states can
become a compulsion and addictive.
- Additionally aversive to a chaotic life outside of
the person.
- (McDonnell & Milton 2014).
GOING WITH THE FLOW.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 10
Clumping Attention Resource.
- Where the flow of attention resource is halted
due to sticking together.
- Can form blockages to prevent attention
resource bringing certain information into
person’s awareness.
- (McDonnell & Milton 2014).
CLUMPING TOGETHER.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 11
Biolooping.
-How a person’s mental state affects their
physical state.
- Vice versa.
- A person thinking they are ill, can make
themselves ill.
- Again, vice versa.
- Yoga.
- (Hacking 1999).
IN THE LOOP.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 12
Developing Monotropism.
- N = Attention Resource (Murray 2018).
- A = Anxiety.
- F = Flow states. Duration and intensity of a
flow state.
- R = Stored N. Depleted by persons using N
DEVELOPMENTAL TRAJECTORY.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 13
Developing Monotropism.
-C = Capacity: N that is available for use after
automatic cognitive processing; forming the
perception based on sensory inputs and any
intrusive thoughts that consume R before it
can be used for day-to-day tasks (Murray et al
2005).
- Higher F = Higher N and Lower A.
- Higher F →Higher C.
- Higher F →Higher R.
DEVELOPMENTAL TRAJECTORY.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 14
Monotropism and anxiety.
- All humans (and animals) need stability.
- Points of interest can be stability points.
- Black/ white thinking style. Either have
certainty/ uncertainty on a subject.
- Obscure other thoughts that are linked to the
subject of interest; obscure & reduce anxiety.
- Therefore these flow states form fixed points
of stability for autistic persons.
AN ANXIOUS MOMENT.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 15
Monotropism and anxiety.
- Autistic persons engage with subjects that
interest them.
- Requires significant N to engage with
uninteresting matters.
- Explains autistic social communication issues.
- When a person has no N and an attention
tunnel is violently disrupted, an autistic person
can lose control; go into meltdown/ shutdown/
panic attacks.
- Autistic persons will tend to have higher
anxiety levels due to black and white thinking.
AN ANXIOUS MOMENT.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 16
Monotropism & Anxiety.
- Autistic persons being 1-2% of population and
not interested in non-autistic social norms;
they have different sources of stability.
- Polytropism easily engages in social
interactions; thus forming flow states from it.
- Non-autistic benefiting from lower anxiety and
increased R.
- Non-autistic stability also comes from
understanding non-autistic social interaction
and being able to rely on this consistently.
REMEMBER, JUST BREATHE.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 17
Flow state Example & Implications.
-Autistic person’s breakfast routine, allows
person to function for rest of the day.
- Autistic person is in a flow state from that
routine.
- Benefiting from reduced anxiety and increased
N. If it is a flow state present from the
routine, it would be a fixed point as explained
by Monotropism.
- Regular low levels of R and C over extended
time periods can lead to trauma and anxiety.
REMEMBER, JUST BREATHE.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 18
Polytropism & Anxiety.
- Non-autistic persons can experience
inconsistent social interaction.
-“Some staff also find it anxiety provoking to
spend extended periods of time with another
person who is anxious and has mood swings.
This group of pupils can be very intense to
work with, which is tiring” (Fidler and Christie
2019, p. 140).
- Anxiety here can also be explained by masking
(Goffman 1963).
REMEMBER, JUST BREATHE.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 19
Wider Discussion Points.
- How does anxiety interact with tunnels
formation?
- How does anxiety interact with tunnels
maintenance?
- How does anxiety affect N depletion?
- How does anxiety affect N generation?
- What happens if the interest causes anxiety,
particularly in relation to C?
STOP, HAMMER TIME.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 20
Autism + DAP Traits criteria.
- Continues to resist and avoid ordinary demands
of life.
- Demand avoidance can use social strategies.
- Surface sociability, but apparent lack of sense
of social identity, pride, or shame.
- Liability of mood & impulsive.
- Obsessive behaviour, often focused on other
people.
- Comfortable in role play and pretending (Green
et al 2018a; Newson et al 2003).
TIME TO PROFILE YOU.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 21
What Could DAP be?
“Professionals and teams working with children
need to become aware of the ways in which girls
can mask their difficulties, and need to move
away from using the DSM as a “bible”. Stating
that someone does not fulfil criteria, when these
criteria are based on upon a “male” presentation
of a disorder, is short sighted in the extreme”
(Eaton 2018, p176).
Such things can be said of using the DAP profile…
ASSUMPTIONS?

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 22
What Could DAP be?
ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES?
Medical Ontology. %
Autism. N/A.
Autism subtype/ PDD. N/A.
Autistic Trauma. N/A.
Female Form of Autism. N/A.
Form of Attachment Disorder. N/A.
Form of Catatonia. 12 to 18
Form of Personality Disorder. N/A.
Heterogeneous Spectrum Condition. N/A.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 23
What Could DAP be?
ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES?
Medical Ontology. %
Symptoms of ASD & ADHD. 28 to 44
Symptoms of ASD & Anxiety. 42 to 56
Symptoms of ASD & Anxiety Disorders.
About 40
(children)
Symptoms of ASD & Conduct Disorder.
3.2
(children)
Symptoms of ASD & Depression. 12 to 70
Symptoms of ASD & ODD. 16 to 28
Symptoms of ASD & Schizophrenia. 0 to 6
References are at the end.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 24
A suitable name is?
- As DAP could be any of these & some DAP
traits are hard to identify reliably (Garralda
2003).
-“Dr Gould pointed out that features of PDA
can be found in children and young people
across the autism spectrum” (Christie et al
2012, p 187).
- DAP has no specificity (no trait or behaviour is
unique to it).
ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES?

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 25
A suitable name is?
- For other factors see: Green et al (2018a);
Green et al (2018b); Milton (2017); Woods
(2017); Woods (2018a); Woods (2018b).
- It is extreme and unethical to favour any one
of these ontologies over another; Demand
Avoidance Phenomenon.
ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES?

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 26
Options for discussion.
1) DAP criteria.
2) Steph’s Two Girls quote.
3) Judy Eaton observation.
4) Fidler and Christie matching the dials concept.
LET’S ROLE PLAY.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 27
Autism + DAP Traits criteria.
- Continues to resist and avoid ordinary demands
of life.
- Demand avoidance can use social strategies.
- Surface sociability, but apparent lack of sense
of social identity, pride, or shame.
- Liability of mood & impulsive.
- Obsessive behaviour, often focused on other
people.
- Comfortable in role play and pretending (Green
et al 2018a).
READY PLAYER ONE?

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 28
Steph’s Two Girls Example.
“For years now, Sasha has controlled the music in
the car, and we have one CD on repeat for weeks
or months at a time. From any one CD, there is
usually only a handful of songs at most which can
be selected; I think I've become immune to the
repetition but am sure others would find it
unbearable if they joined us regularly on our
journey. It's become apparent in the last few
days that Sasha now needs to listen to certain
songs at a certain time in the journey” (Curtis
2018).
TAKES TWO TO TANGO.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 29
Judy Eaton’s Controlling Food Intake.
- Often go into meltdowns etc. when pushed to
follow another’s direction.
- These persons are externalisers.
- Punished for displaying clear emotions/ making
mistakes.
- Internalise their anger & frustration.
- Thus to prevent further social isolation, person
control their food intake (behaviour) instead of
other persons to manage their anxiety.
- (Eaton 2018, pp. 146-147).
THREE’S A CROWD.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 30
Fidler & Christie, Matching The Dials.
- Person has a threshold capacity to demands,
determined by their anxiety levels.
- There are 2 dials.
-First for a person’s tolerances to demands.
-Second for person’s levels of experienced
demands.
- If first dial is high, demand and expectations
can be raised.
- If first dial is low, demand and expectations
should be lowered.
- Synchronise dials as much as possible.
- (Fidler and Christie 2019, pp. 26-27).
THE FOUR CASE.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 31
The End Game.
- Contact Details:
richardwoodsautism@gmail.com
- Twitter handle:
- @Richard_Autism
- My blog, Rational Demand Avoidance:
https://rationaldemandavoidance.com/
- Any questions?
ANY QUESTIONS.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 32
Bibliography.
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https://www.shu.ac.uk/~/media/home/about-us/academic.../coping-
strategies.doc? (Cached, access via a Google search) (Accessed 08 November 2018).
- Beardon, L. (2017). Autism and Asperger Syndrome in Adults. London: Sheldon
Press.
- Belardinelli, C., Raza, M., & Taneli, T. (2016). Comorbid Behavioral Problems and
Psychiatric Disorders in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Childhood &
Developmental Disorders, 2(11), 1-9.
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pathological demand avoidance syndrome: guidelines for good practice. Good
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(Online Blog). Retrieved from: https://www.stephstwogirls.co.uk/2018/10/autism-
with-acute-anxiety-or.html (Accessed 08 November 2018).
NOT THE ONE BIBLE.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 33
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NOT THE SECOND BIBLE.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 34
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NOT THE THIRD BIBLE.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 35
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NOT THE FOURTH BIBLE.

Monotropism: Autism, Anxiety & DAP. 36
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THE END TIMES.