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May 27, 2016 7:35 pm  #1


Sherlock and diagnosis

I just came across this video:




And watching it inspired this thread idea. There has been a lot of discussions and speculations about whether or not Sherlock has any mental diagnosis, and what they might be. Psycopath, sosiopatch, asperger's, narcissims... 

And I think this video (probably out of many) work well as an illustration on my view on this topic. In my personal and subjective opinion, I want to say this:

1. Sherlock clearly and beyond any doubt displays several of the traits of narcissim that is mentioned in this video.
2. Sherlock clearly and beyond any doubt does not fit with several of the traits that is mentioned in this video.

Being "normal" (as in: Not having a psychological diagnosis/disorder) is not a set state, it's a range of normalcy. Meaning that it's actually quite normal (to use the word again) for all of us to share some traits with a lot of different diagnosis, without actually having said diagnosis. I, for instance, believe I share a few traits that are common in people with asperger's, but I don't have that or any other diagnosis. I am within the range of normalcy.

So what I think is that Sherlock clearly have traits that you can find in psycopaths (although that isn't really the term used any more), asperger's and narcissits. But having some of the traits doesn't mean that he has a diagnosis.

My opinion is that Sherlock was born as a boy within the range of normalcy. He was extremly intelligent and also very sensitive and emotional. Some kind of childhood trauma (probably related to Redbeard) made him learn (through Mycroft) that divorcing himself from feelings was the best course of action to hone his skills in intellect, deduction and rational thinking. And also would divorse himself from hurt, from feeling too much. Feeling was too painful for young Sherlock, so he decides to stop.  With various amounts of success, I think we can say.

However, pointis - sharing some traits with some disorder/diagnosis (which many of us do) is perfectly normal within the "range of normalcy". I don't think Sherlock fits into one neat category like that.  


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May 31, 2016 1:34 am  #2


Re: Sherlock and diagnosis

An interesting post. I think that the difficulty of analyzing Sherlock comes from the shortcomings in modern psychology. I think we still have a lot to learn about the human mind. For example: A.D.D. refers to attention deficit disorder. I and my brother both have this condition. My brother took medications for it, but I did not. I felt that the condition was neither a deficit of attention, nor a disorder. My mind tends to avoid outside interruptions to its thought process. This has both positive and negative effects. On one hand it makes it difficult to switch my attention to a different subject than it is currently on. On the other hand it enables my mind to remain uninterrupted and I can achieve a deeper state of concentration than someone who does not have the condition. I consider it a potential "superpower".  Potential, because all powers have a downside. One must learn to handle it. 


sirdenis
 
 

May 31, 2016 4:20 am  #3


Re: Sherlock and diagnosis

I am always a bit reluctant to go deeper into analysing Sherlock's "condition" because I am convinced that the writers have not really considered psychology when writing him.

But then, we had this discussion here if you are supposed / allowed to analyse things a writer did not see in his own work or intended to include, and in the spirit of that it is interested to read what people think about it.


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May 31, 2016 7:12 am  #4


Re: Sherlock and diagnosis

I agree, Vhanja.  I think it's important that we seem to be being shown that Sherlock made himself the way he is deliberately.  At least some of what we're seeing is practiced behaviour.  I particularly agree on traits not making the disorder - Sherlock is a bit narcisstic, but that's completely different from narcissistic personality disorder. 

I still have mixed feelings about whether they're going to use a childhood incident (Redbeard) to "explain" Sherlock, as is hinted at - in a way, I kind of hope not (I think it can work well, but is overdone, and I feel that people tend to be changed/made by particular childhood environments rather than single incidents, and also ... what's wrong with the way he is, anyway?)

 

May 31, 2016 7:19 am  #5


Re: Sherlock and diagnosis

I basically agree. The way he is is not inherently wrong yet he seems to suffer. The Sherlock of series 3 is an unhappy man. The clash between having suppressed his feelings for a long time and no longer being able or willing to do so, seems to be problematic. IMO this is one central point - if not THE central point - of the show. 


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"To fake the death of one sibling may be regarded as a misfortune; to fake the death of both looks like carelessness." Oscar Wilde about Mycroft Holmes

"It is what it is says love." (Erich Fried)

“Enjoy the journey of life and not just the endgame. I’m also a great believer in treating others as you would like to be treated.” (Benedict Cumberbatch)



 
 

May 31, 2016 3:58 pm  #6


Re: Sherlock and diagnosis

If you mean what I think you mean, obviously I completely disagree.
I thought the team had discounted any kind of trauma?
Though I personally think Redbeard was the trauma.
Sherlock is human and he does feel, but he he is clever enough to know that brain out smarts emotion.
But this doesn't stop it hurting and I wonder if the drug use is to mask the pain.

Last edited by besleybean (May 31, 2016 3:59 pm)


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May 31, 2016 5:06 pm  #7


Re: Sherlock and diagnosis

Hmm.  Could be.
 

 

May 31, 2016 7:00 pm  #8


Re: Sherlock and diagnosis

Well, my main point about this thread wasn't if he has experienced some kind of trauma or not. Having that said, I do believe the show strongly indiicates that he did. His reaction whenever he hears the name "Redbeard" seem to indicate strongly that there is something associated with that word which is very painful, so much so that he goes blank for a moment whenever it is mentioned. And linked with his reply "I'm not a child anymore, Mycorft" also seem to indicate that his happend during childhood.

But what I was trying to get across, was more the point about why I don't think Sherlock has a diagnosis even though he do share traits with several of them.


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     Thread Starter
 

May 31, 2016 7:08 pm  #9


Re: Sherlock and diagnosis

I just don't think the team wanted to go too much down that route.
In the show, Sherlock mainly seems to cope with how he made himself...
For me the only blip seems to possibly have been when he really thought he was exiled for life.
I think we've seen John needing counselling, I just don't think they'd want to take that path with Sherlock, too.
He's just different.


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May 31, 2016 7:36 pm  #10


Re: Sherlock and diagnosis

I think one of the reasons why Sherlock is "diagnosed" so often is just that people (especially those who fall outside the spectrum of what we conceive as "normal") are looking for someone to identify with. And similarities make that easier. As you have said; Sherlock has a lot of traits are common with different diagnoses (as everyone does). Because Sherlock is such an over-analysed show, one will find plenty of evidence to support many different theories, hence all the different diagnoses for the main character


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May 31, 2016 7:42 pm  #11


Re: Sherlock and diagnosis

I know the main point was about diagnosis rather than trauma, but I mentioned it because that's another popular route for explaining a character - instead of Sherlock being the way he is because of a particular condition, he's the way he is because of a traumatic incident in childhood. It's really used a lot in stories, and I think it works quite well, but it's just used so much (Batman springs to mind, just because Sherlock has been compared to Batman, but honestly, I seem to see it all the time).  

I kind of like the way they subverted both of these tropes - by making Sherlock not seem to have a particular diagnosis, and by making him having loving, indulgent parents.  "Spoilt" rather than damaged.  I'm sure we're going to come across "Redbeard" again, and I think at the moment the brother relationship is showing as very important to who Sherlock is. 

Just another point on diagnosis - I don't think "sociopath" is ever a medical diagnosis in the UK.  That's why I was puzzled by him telling Anderson to do his research in S1 - it was obvious from the second he said it, that it wasn't true.   The image that he tries to create, he doesn't even do that very well! 

 

June 1, 2016 3:37 am  #12


Re: Sherlock and diagnosis

Thank you, Vhanja, for giving us something to chew on while we await the next episode. 
  Sherlock would have  lived in a time where the methods of observation and deduction had not yet been developed. Therefore he would have had to either encounter them or come up with them himself. 
these methods may have been beyond the skill of any consulting detective to develop. I think it is more likely that he would have had the good fortune to encounter someone who would show him the methods, much as a doctor friend showed them to Doyle.  I believe that  someone in the medical profession is the most likely to have been the originator. While working in the medical field, I had several opportunities to use observation successfully to achieve benefits to patients in a military hospital. Therefor I am convinced that Sherlock Holmes methods are particularly effective for use in the medical field.. Just as Doyle had seen their possible use by a detective, so would a capable consulting detective of Holmes era see the advantage of using them for detective work. 


sirdenis
 
 

June 1, 2016 5:40 am  #13


Re: Sherlock and diagnosis

Indeed.
It was ACD's medical tutor who was the originator and as he lived in a time when forensics were just getting going...crime deduction seemed the obvious direction.


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June 2, 2016 6:36 pm  #14


Re: Sherlock and diagnosis

Schmiezi wrote:

I am always a bit reluctant to go deeper into analysing Sherlock's "condition" because I am convinced that the writers have not really considered psychology when writing him.

But then, we had this discussion here if you are supposed / allowed to analyse things a writer did not see in his own work or intended to include, and in the spirit of that it is interested to read what people think about it.

I agree. And what's more-- they're not writing a diagnosis-- they're writing a character who can manifest *any* trait that works for whatever situation they want, and then that trait disappears when he needs to be something else for the story. 

 

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