22 4 / 2013
Land of Hope and Glory - Chapter 10
Sherlock knew he couldn’t stop the explosion any more than he could turn back time and make sure none of this could ever happen. He needed to make the most of what time he had left with John. They would be together in these final moments and that was what truly mattered.
20 4 / 2013
mist and shadow, cloud and shade: Sherlock does not have Asperger's or Autism, Thanks - From 4 Psychiatrists
Four psychiatrists in the UK specialising in autistic spectrum disorders give their professional conclusions on whether Sherlock has autism or Asperger’s Syndrome:
- A…
^^^^^ ALL OF THIS BOTTOM COMMENTARY.
Also omg one of these “clinical doctors” just criticized Cumberbatch’s acting
“In some parts the actor really tries to emphasize Sherlock’s ignorance of the nuances of human social interaction and then five minutes later he is able to manipulate people into spilling their secrets or letting him into an apartment building. One moment he’s having symptoms of withdrawal [in reference to the scene in THoB when Sherlock is looking for his cigarettes], displaying aggressive agitation, and then suddenly he’s perfectly fine. True addiction doesn’t work like that, but whatever, it’s TV”
ALRIGHT HOLD UP THERE BITCH.
Sherlock is able to manipulate people because he observes them through COMPLEX OBSERVATION. And he’s actually not very good at that, either, BECAUSE HE DOESN’T understand the nuances of social interaction. In the third episode he tries to lie to the case victim’s wife by pretending he’s an old friend of the victim and she totally doesn’t buy it and almost calls the police on him. And that girl who let him into the apartment building only did that because she didn’t have any reason to believe he WASN’T the person he said he was (she hadn’t met the guy he was pretending to be). As for him manipulating Molly… he basically just noticed that she’d taken a fancy to him and used that to his advantage, which he knew would work. And he was really really awkward about it because again, he doesn’t have a full understanding of social interaction.
So like, if you honestly think those two things contradict each other you apparently didn’t think too hard about the show you were watching did you.
ALSO, about the cigarettes:
First of all, having a (seriously questionable, I see no proof here) degree in psychology does not make you the almighty authority on how people are allowed to cope with their addictions. Okay? Okay.
Secondly, Sherlock’s brain is like… a complex whirl of information. He mentions a couple of times that he has trouble “shutting it off” and that he wishes he could be “placid” like John or Lestrade. Does it not then stand to reason that he WOULD be distracted from the effects of withdrawal by a new case?
The doctor in question is not criticizing Benedict Cumberbatch’s acting. he is pointing out that Sherlock is written in such as way that Asperger’s Syndrome/autism are inappropriate diagnoses for him.
As another doctor pointed out: the writers have not done their research into Asperger’s Syndrome/autism. An accurate portrayal of Asperger’s Syndrome is not on their agenda. It’s a TV program it’s written primarily to entertain.
Sherlock’s behaviour is inconsistent. Manipulative behaviour itself does not preclude him from a diagnosis of Asperger’s/autism. There are many other reasons why he would not qualify for a diagnosis. The psychiatrists have not gone into detail about the diagnostic process because there isn’t enough time and it is something that takes years of training in order to be master.
In their professional opinion the particular manipulative behaviours displayed by Sherlock indicates that he does understand the nuances of social interaction. He may not be particularly successful at manipulation but he understands the detailed motivations of the people he is manipulating. Whether or not he succeeds in each case depends on a variety of different factors that are outside his control.
First of all, having a (seriously questionable, I see no proof here) degree in psychologyy does not make you the almighty authority on how people are allowed to cope with their addictions. Okay? Okay.
These doctors don’t have psychology degrees - they are psychiatrists. They diagnose and treat psychiatric conditions including Asperger’s/autism. Psychologists in the UK are not qualified to diagnose either condition.
Drug/alcohol addiction and substance misuse is one of the most common psychiatric conditions in general adult psychiatry. Every psychiatrists has to diagnose and manage people with addictions of all sorts during their training and as senior doctors. So I really do think they know what they are talking about when it comes to addictive behaviour.
Sherlock may have an astonishing mind but when it comes to brain biochemistry there is no reason to believe that he is physiologically unique.
His inconsistent behaviour and ability to simply turn off his addiction responses does not accurately portray true addiction.
20 4 / 2013
killthemwithrhetoric asked: I'm autism spectrum, and I identify strongly with Sherlock. This show became the reason that I don't hate myself for what I am. That said, I agree with a lot of what you say. Misconceptions in the media are awful. I decided against getting formally diagnosed because of Sandy Hook—because despite the media's repeated iterations that Aspergers is "non-violent," I was afraid of the stigma. Being misrepresented in the media is awful, and I'm glad you're putting the clinical truth out there.
Thank you very much for your thoughtful response.
I’m glad to hear that Sherlock made you more comfortable with yourself. This unique character has been able to give many people a positive role model to identify with and relate to. We all have our own personal ways of interpreting Sherlock and they are all equally valid. The beauty of a fictional character is that he exists inside our imaginations and each of us has the joy of being able to have our very own Sherlock.
I have no desire to impose my headcanon on other people. In the same way people should not label Sherlock with a psychiatric condition either because he is a fictional character and he does become a caricature from which people can draw the wrong conclusions.
18 4 / 2013
As I have pointed out dozens of times, to dozens of different people, I am relaying my own interpretation of a character, basing off of how it relates to my own experience with depression linked eating disorders and PTSD. I am neither a doctor, nor a psychologist. I am simply someone who noticed key similarities between John Watson as portrayed by Martin Freeman, and myself.And here is the thing- John Watson as portrayed by Martin Freeman is just that. A portrayal.
Just as I don’t understand people getting upset when people wonder if Sherlock is Aspie/Sociopathic/Autistic/any other disorder. These are characters who are being played by other people. Because, let’s look at it hypothetically. Let’s move away form John for a moment, and focus on Sherlock. Benedict Cumberbatch has stated that he is playing Sherlock as being a high functioning sociopath. But, since Benedict Cumberbatch is not, in fact, a high functioning sociopath, he may get it wrong. Very wrong, as we have seen. These are characters that were built from a variety of sources- the original source material, the shows writer’s the actors themselves, and of course, fan interpretation.
On that note, I am really beginning to regret writing this bloody thing….
Please don’t regret writing this. It was a very interesting take on John. I just needed to point out the medical inaccuracies because I didn’t want people to think an irregular pattern of eating equated to an eating disorder.
The reason why some people like me dispute fan “diagnoses” is because many are not factually accurate and can give the general public a distorted idea of how certain psychiatric conditions present, what their key features are and who qualifies for a diagnosis.
Having said this, don’t let medicine spoil your fun. You can interpret John in what ever way you want. I personally see him as an awesome GP despite the fact that the only time we see him working - he falls asleep!
(Source: johnlockedness)
17 4 / 2013
What?
John has a depression linked eating disorder. In the opening of Pink, after John wakes up, his breakfast consists of an apple that he doesn’t eat. This is very common in PTSD, especially those who have suicidal thoughts and tendencies, which we know John does. It’s not that they are actively starving themselves, it’s that they just don’t see the point eating, as an effort to stay alive.
When he meets Sherlock, John eats dinner as if he is starving. He digs into his food, talks with his mouth full, as if it is the first full meal he has had in months. Which is entirely likely, since John has been home for several months at that point. Again, this is very typical of people who have been suffering this type of eating disorder, and find that they are no longer as painfully depressed.
Sherlock even goes so far as to point out that after moving in together, John puts on an average of a pound a week in weight. John brushes it off as being normal. He doesn’t deny it, he just points out that he is eating more than one meal a day. This implies that he wasn’t eating this often before he limped into Sherlock’s life.
This makes Sherlock’s insistence that John eat even more powerful. He goes so far as to halt an investigation on more than one occasion, to make sure John gets a meal into him. A well-fed John is a happy John, not because he is full, but because it proves that he is happy enough to actually eat.
I definitely do not think John Watson qualifies for the diagnosis of any eating disorder.
The loss of appetite that accompanies depression is not itself an eating disorder. It is merely a side effect of the depression, in the same way that early morning waking in depression is not a sleep disorder.
I received this ask:
“I keep seeing a post circulating claiming that John Watson has an eating disorder linked with his depression at the beginning of ASIP. I found this post odd because I had always thought that Sherlock has an eating disorder (in the ACD stories, Watson says that “in his more intense moments [Holmes] would permit himself no food”; I had assumed this was true in the show too). I know its not impossible for both of these men to have eating disorders, but I was wondering what you thought about this.”
It’s quite true we hardly ever see John or Sherlock eat anything, but then we don’t see Mrs Hudson, or Molly or Lestrade or Irene or Mycroft eat on a regular basis either.
Based on such scant information, I do not think we can make any conclusions about John or Sherlock’s eating habits other than the writers found it unnecessary to have lots of scenes of either character eating.
Eating disorders are due to a pathological attitude to food which causes abnormal food intake which causes harm to the physical or mental health of the patient.
ACD!Holmes choosing not to eat whilst on a case does not necessarily qualify him for an eating disorder. Firstly, his attitude to food is not pathological. He refuses to eat for rational/logical reasons i.e. food will actually slow down his solving of a case, and he is in full control of his decision not to eat.
Neither, ACD!Holmes, BBC Sherlock or John seem to have suffered any mental or physical harm from their eating patterns.
Just because they are not seen eating large regular meals does not mean that Sherlock and John do not eat regularly “behind the scenes” nor does it mean they have an eating disorder.
Doctors frequently and regularly skip meals due to the workload. In fact they often don’t have time to go to the toilet when things get busy. Not eating/drinking/peeing is something that would be very familiar to John. If he was an army surgeon as ACD!Watson was and not a GP as he should be, John probably hasn’t eaten regular meals since he finished medical school.
Even as a medical student I’ve gone a whole 8 hours without using the bathroom or eating or drinking because I couldn’t physically leave the operating table.
This does not mean the NHS is suffering from an epidemic of doctors with eating disorders. Not eating regularly is a fact of life for many people and sometimes it turns into a habit, or a pattern they revert to when preoccupied (like when John is preoccupied with his low mood and psychosomatic limp). This irregular pattern of eating is not the norm, but it is not pathological either.
On an similar note I am not convinced that John fulfills the criteria for clinical depression in the first part of ASIP or that he actually suffered from PTSD.
(Source: johnlockedness)
17 4 / 2013
you look like thunder: Sherlock does not have Asperger's or Autism, Thanks - From 4 Psychiatrists
Four psychiatrists in the UK specialising in autistic spectrum disorders give their professional conclusions on whether Sherlock has autism or Asperger’s Syndrome:
- A consultant psychiatrist specialising in diagnosing autistic spectrum…
really important and worth noting that NOBDOY THOUGHT TO ASK AUTISTICS YET AGAIN.
how the fuck could it possibly be harmful to think of sherlock as autistic? is it harmful to your neurotypical ways that are just downright shit scared of autistics because we’re burdens and ~crazies~ who do bad things???? please explain to me how it’s harmful to have somebody that (as an autistic person) i can look at and see myself in in a show that is mainstream and reaches a lot of people. i can’t turn on my tv and see an accurately portrayed autistic person anywhere. i can’t turn on the tv and see somebody with the same struggles as i have and that was why the idea of sherlock being autistic is comforting and validating.
i’m going to point out a few things here:
1. i know this probably hasn’t occurred to most allistics, but autistic people are sometimes incredibly skilled at hiding their autism. it is instilled in us from the beginning that being autistic is wrong and therefore something that needs to be hidden and kept secret. sherlock has probably had years of experience in training himself to come across as neurotypical to save himself from the ridicule and judgement of others. in that sense, he could be hiding many of his autistic traits.
2. of course we don’t know sherlock’s full background and we only see what is shown to us in the episodes, which makes sherlock being autistic a headcanon just as much as sherlock being allistic is a headcanon. we don’t know for sure. you can’t know for sure. you can’t diagnose anybody with anything without, you know, maybe seeing them in person and doing actual evaluations.
3. and just to repeat, it is not harmful to think of sherlock as being autistic. it’s fucking comforting. it’s inclusive. it lets autistic people realize that there are others like us and the world is seeing others like us in a way that is not harmful and stereotypical as most media surrounding autistics is. what i get out of it as an autistic person (and i don’t think i’m alone in this) is that i get to see an autistic adult (AN AUTISTIC ADULT, WHICH IS NEVER SEEN BECAUSE APPARENTLY AUTISM IS A KID THING~~~~~) living his day to day life (eventful and interesting though it is) with certain social and sensory struggles in a way that makes sense and is relatable to myself and i think ‘that is fucking neat’ and ‘i totally know that feel bro’ because like i said, relating with people i see in movies and on tv is hard because there is such a lack of neurodiversity in the media.
don’t you think it’s a fantastic thing to see neurodiversity in something as popular as sherlock? why is it not just as harmful to see john’s symptoms of PTSD? why is that acceptable, but autism is not? is it because there is the potential for a person to ‘come back’ from PTSD where an autistic person is inherently autistic? there’s no cure for autism. there doesn’t need to be one. THERE SHOULD NEVER BE ONE, and i think that scares people that their infallible hero could be anything less than a perfect, socially awkward genius.
Firstly, I would like to point out that this meta is transcript of the professional views of four psychiatrists and not the writer. I published this because the debate regarding Sherlock’s autism/Asperger’s did not have enough contributions from specialist psychiatrists.
As I said in my meta: “If you have Asperger’s Syndrome/autism and identify with Sherlock - that is your prerogative and I am happy for you “
I personally think if you find validation and comfort in identifying with Sherlock as someone with a pervasive developmental disorder, that is a good thing. This meta isn’t about the correct way to identify with Sherlock.
The psychiatrists are pointing out that making TV characters written purely for entertainment into high profile representations of Asperger’s/autism will only increase the amount of misconception the general public have regarding autistic spectrum disorders.
Yes, we do need more public awareness of Asperger’s Syndrome and autism but public awareness should be done first and foremost with accuracy in mind. Sherlock is written solely for entertainment by writers who have many agendas and aims. He is a wholly unsuitable representation of either condition for the general public.
Sherlock is a very popular character but just because he’s popular does not make him automatically a good or appropriate way to promote public understanding or awareness of pervasive developmental disorders.
Instead of accepting that the media does not accurately represent either condition, and making do with inaccurate presentations, the psychiatrists want to promote medically accurate and informative presentations in the media so that the general public do not have to base their ideas of what pervasive developmental disorders are on TV characters written purely for entertainment.
1. i know this probably hasn’t occurred to most allistics, but autistic people are sometimes incredibly skilled at hiding their autism.
The psychiatrists do know about this given that they see it everyday in their practice. Behavioural modifications are a great part of the reason why diagnosing adults with pervasive developmental disorders requires the input of psychiatrists who specialise in that field, who have the experience to diagnose people like Sherlock who are very good at hiding their traits. It is also why we have a separate diagnostic criteria for diagnosing adults.
2. As I said in the meta: Sherlock is a fictional character. He can have whatever your headcanon wants him to have. This meta is not about telling people that their personal interpretations or imaginations are wrong.
The psychiatrists wanted to make people aware that Sherlock should not be used as a caricature or a template for how the general public think these conditions present in adults.
This is why they would like the media and fandom to stop suggesting that Sherlock’s behaviour is representative of how Asperger’s Syndrome/autism presents.
Between them they have many decades of experience in diagnosing these conditions in adults and children. It is their professional opinion that Asperger’s/autism are inappropriate diagnoses for Sherlock from a medical point of view.
As one psychiatrist has said: they usually see patients in an artificial environment and for much less time than six episodes of Sherlock. A nine hour video of a patient’s life, their social interactions and how they function in their own home, it gives a much better and broader picture of the patient than a one hour psychiatrist’s consultation. The psychiatric consultation on the other hand allows the psychiatrists to explore specific areas that do not appear in the episodes. Thus on balance the footage available on Sherlock is actually a a good source of information and has as many pros and cons as with seeing a real Sherlock in person in a psychiatric interview.
3. The psychiatrists are concerned about the media using Sherlock as a representation for public awareness of Asperger’s/autism. Labelling Sherlock has having Asperger’s/autism has not increased the number of people with undiagnosed Asperger’s being referred to these psychiatrists.
It has instead caused a completely different group of people who would never be considered to have a pervasive developmental condition to see psychiatrists because they have mistakenly identified themselves as having the conditions after watching Sherlock.
Using Sherlock as a representation of Asperger’s/autism does not help either the general public’s understanding or the adults out there with undiagnosed Asperger’s Syndrome. This is why they wanted their views to be published.
4. why is it not harmful for John to display symptoms of PTSD? is it because there is the potential for a person to ‘come back’ from PTSD where an autistic person is inherently autistic?
This has nothing to do with this with nature of these two conditions. The psychiatrist who diagnose PTSD have not approached me about Sherlock with any concerns unlike the psychiatrists who diagnose Asperger’s Syndrome.
This probably because John’s symptoms only appear in the first half of the first episode. There is not much there for people to compare themselves against, whereas there are a lot of non-specific atypical behaviours that Sherlock displays which does lead to people using him as template for self-diagnosis.
PTSD as a condition does not suffer from the same level or extent of misconception as Asperger’s/autism.
The psychiatrists who diagnose pervasive developmental disorders frequently face misconceptions and distorted ideas about how Asperger’s/autism presents and what the condition actually involves. Whereas the psychiatrists who specialise in PTSD have not had this problem to the same extent.
As I have said in previous posts, everyone is personally free to interpret Sherlock as they wish, he’s a fictional character.
The psychiatrists who specialise in diagnosing Asperger’s/autism often have to deal with the consequences of media misrepresentation so I can understand why they felt it was important to point out that Sherlock should not be used to as a representation of Asperger’s/autism for the general public. From a medical stand point it is their professional opinion that Sherlock does not have Asperger’s/autism. That is all they are saying.
They are not trying to force people into changing how they personally interpret Sherlock. There is no right or wrong way of personally relating to or viewing Sherlock.
17 4 / 2013
Anonymous asked: When autistic people call you out you don't continue to dismiss them. This isn't the first time you've been called out on this and yet you still don't seem to get it. You are a popular meta writer and what you say reaches a lot of people, and yet you don't use any input from people with autism in your metas. And when they do reply, often with legitimate arguments/criticisms you claim to be attacked. When in fact it's us autistics who are dismissed, attacked and otherwise overwritten. By you.
Thank you for your response.
The hate mail I have been referring to are not the responses from other people’s blogs. It comes straight to my inbox and never publish them because of the foul language.
My metas are written from a medical perspective. There are plenty of well written and legitimate analyses of Sherlock from people who do have Asperger’s or autism on the internet.
I choose to bring a different perspective to the debate. The professional opinions, experience and medical knowledge of the psychiatrists are just as valid as the other opinions circulation on the internet and yet they are seldom heard.
This meta was about giving people an insight into the working lives of psychiatrists, and their professional opinions regarding Sherlock.
I have not dismissed, attack or overwritten other people’s opinions. This meta on Sherlock’s Asperger’s/autism is about giving people access to information.
Most people do not have access to the rather closed off world of psychiatry. They do not know what psychiatrists do, the nuances of divisions between different specialists, and how pervasive developmental disorders are diagnosed.
You may not agree with the professional opinions of these psychiatrists but I feel that this information needs to be out there if only to provide a comprehensive debate.
17 4 / 2013
Anonymous asked: …OK so I still can't get over the fact that you literally called in experts to make your head canon sound more superior to all others?? When you admit that we know nothing of his childhood which is SO IMPORTANT (and wow its a spectrum too) also someone as smart as Sherlock is going to KNOW how to resist appearing autistic to people who would dismiss his intelligence/deductions as a neurological mix-up like say Donovan. I just. It's beyond trying to reason with you so I'm going to stop.
I did not “call in experts” to make my headcanon superior. This meta had nothing to do with my head canon.
I personally don’t agree with everything the psychiatrists have said. Had they decided Sherlock did have Asperger’s I would have published the meta anyway because I respect their professional opinions.
This meta was published to give a professional medical angle on the debate regarding Sherlock’s Asperger’s Syndrome/autism.
These doctors diagnose autistic spectrum disorders for a living, that is their professional and specialism. They do understand that there is a spectrum because they see it every day. They also understand the importance of childhood and social histories. A lot of the time doctors do not get a complete history from patients for their families and they have ways of working with that. They do not relied solely on a accurate childhood history for every patient because its no always attainable
They also know about the behaviour modifications in people with pervasive developmental disorders. This is why there is a separate criteria for diagnosing Asperger’s Syndrome and autism in adults which accounts for the behavioural modifications. It is also why its takes years of specialist training to be able to diagnose pervasive developmental disorders in adults.
15 4 / 2013
The Holmes Brothers and Mummy - A Psychoanalysis
I use the development maturation model to explain why and how the Holmes brothers developed their unique approach to emotions.
In the process I also delve into what their emotional management strategies can tell us about their mother’s parenting skills and I speculate if “Mummy” did have some kind of psychiatric problem.
My area is psychiatry rather than psychology. Analysing healthy people like Sherlock and Mycroft is purely for fun and not to be taken too seriously.
14 4 / 2013
The Mystery of Mycroft’s Ring or why does he wear it on his right hand?
(In answer to several similar asks I’ve received)
Mycroft’s ring is a constant source of speculation for his fans. There are many possible reasons why he wears a ring on his right hand.
Firstly, I don’t think we should assume that the ring is a wedding ring. Mycroft is wearing it on his fourth finger but that in itself does not make it automatically a wedding band. There are many different kinds of plain finger ornaments that can be worn on either hand or on any finger.
Mycroft seems to me like a man who enjoys understated ornaments. He has a lovely tie pin in the shape of a sword and some very nice wrist watches with ornate chains that he shows off quite proudly. It could be the ring is merely part this continuum and is only there for decorative purposes.
If the ring is indeed a wedding band, there are several reasons why someone would wear the ring on their right hand.
1. Wearing the ring on the left hand is the conventional custom in the UK but in many other European countries such as Germany and Austria, it is the cultural custom to wear the wedding ring on the right hand (the engagement ring is worn on the left hand). My university friend who married his German sweetheart wears his ring on the right hand so that it matches her’s. He constantly gets asked all manner of questions about why he wears his wedding ring on his right hand ranging from “are you gay?” to “do you have that disorder where you can’t tell left from right?”
2. The Christian Orthodox Church traditionally conduct wedding ceremonies where the rings are placed on the right hand. A prayer with references to bible passages about rings is sometimes read out as well. Most members of the church tend to keep wearing their weddings rings on the right hand for the duration of their married life.
3. Some left handed people prefer to wear their wedding ring on the right hand to preserve the ring from wear and tear. I know several left-handed doctors who do this because their right hands end up in all sorts of places. I don’t see any evidence that Mycroft is left-handed in BBC Sherlock but that does not necessary mean he isn’t. ACD canon does not specifically say which hand Mycroft prefers to use.
4. Wedding rings that are family heirlooms are worn on the right hand to distinguish them from the actual wedding ring of the bearer. Many people choose to wear inherited rings around their neck on a chain (a la Frodo Baggins) but probably just as many choose to wear the ring on their right hand.
5. Gay and lesbian couples often choose to wear their rings on the right hand. We can speculate about Mycroft’s sexual orientation, but I don’t think the ring is going to answer this question.
6. Traditionally widows and widowers would wear their wedding ring on the right hand.
These are currently the reasons I can think of for why Mycroft might wear a wedding ring on his right hand.
My personal head-canon is that his ring is not merely a ring, it is an amazing gadget that James Bond would be jealous of.
Perhaps it has a laser inside, or a small spike that will deliver a fatal dose of poison to anyone Mycroft touches, or sets off a high pitch noise that will incapacitate enemies. Mycroft wears it on his right hand because he is right handed and using the weapon would be easier this way.
A ring is small, unobtrusive and a common accessory that many people wear. It does not, in itself, raise any suspicion and if someone notices Mycroft with what they think is a wedding on his right hand, they would probably speculate along the same lines as we have done already. Hence it is the perfect method to conceal a small but powerful weapon for attack or self-defense.
12 4 / 2013
A Day in the Life of Dr Watson
What’s working life really like for a doctor? What does John Watson do as a GP?
A short, light-hearted guide to
- what John would really be doing as locum GP (besides falling asleep),
- the kind of patients he would see
- the amusingly bizarre problems him might encounter
- an introduction to the healthcare system in the UK and why John would never bill his patients.
An accurate resource for fanfiction writers but an entertaining read even if you don’t intend to write.
12 4 / 2013
Anonymous asked: It seems that most of the criticism you've gotten has been rooted in epistemological and philosophical discord, not whether you've accurately used the medical view to make your claims. It's gotten hard to keep up, but have you actually had any rebuttals/disagreement specifically concerning your interpretation of ICD criteria and whether a character meets/doesn't meet any given criterion (ie the actual purpose of the metas)? If so, which and why?
I went through my old posts and found just this one particular ask from a anonymous contributor:
http://wellingtongoose.tumblr.com/post/47635673903/you-have-a-couple-typos-of-course-its-not-the
As far as I can tell this is the only one I have received. I think this is a bit of a disagreement between psychology and psychiatry and it was interesting.
Sadly, the person didn’t leave enough details but that’s probably because of the ask box restrictions.
Otherwise Kate221B and I had a great discussion about Sherlock and ACD!Holmes bipolar, which led me to write this. She definitely thinks ACD!Holmes has bipolar though there’s much more debate regarding Sherlock.
She has also sent me a good rebuttal about the drug that Irene used on Sherlock. I suggested anti-psychotic but her suggestion of ketamine was much more appropriate. She knows more about this than I do given that she is already a doctor.
12 4 / 2013
Anonymous asked: You can actually possess traits of Asperger's Syndrome without being fully-fledged Asperger's. Most intelligent people do, and according to my mother (a highly regarded British psychologist), Sherlock definitely does. He may not be a definitive sufferer of Asperger's, but he certainly possesses several traits (obsessive behaviour, poor social skills, etc are all very much linked in.) You could probably say the original Holmes has many elements of Asperger's, actually.
You are completely right, Sherlock and about 20% of the general population display some traits of Asperger’s Syndrome. This is because every individual trait that makes up Asperger’s Syndrome is non-specific.
For example, obsessive behaviour is a trait of many other psychiatric conditions and also a variant of normal human behaviour.
People are diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome if they present with the correct constellation of signs, symptoms and history. Yes there is a spectrum but the spectrum has to end somewhere (and it ends where psychiatry dictates it should end) or else the psychiatric condition would encompass most of the general population and be completely meaningless in a medical context.
The cut off is to allow doctors to diagnose the people who are in need of medical attention.
My friend is currently researching Asperger’s Syndrome and non-verbal reasoning parts of IQ tests. She wanted to see if people diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome are better at non-verbal reasoning than “normal” controls.
The problem with conducting experiments in Cambridge is that most of your “normal” controls end being the university students just because there are a lot of us and we are interested in participating in research.
She has found to her dismay that just about every one of her “normal” controls has traits of Asperger’s Syndrome. Some of them have so many traits, they overlap with the subject group (people with formally diagnosed Asperger’s Syndrome).
I got dragged into participating in this study because she thought I’d score quite low on the official questionnaire and help to spread out her data so it would represent the general population a little better.
Apparently, I also have traits of Asperger’s Syndrome. Not enough to warrant a trip to the psychiatrists but they are there. Socially, I’m unremarkable. I do score very high on obsessive behaviour and having a focused but narrow range of interests but I think of them as traits of my personality as much as they are traits of Asperger’s Syndrome.
I do know all the important political and military conflicts of the Roman Republic from 63BC - 31BC. I can list all the important landmarks of Augustus Caesar’s life and the entire Julio-Claudian family tree. I have no real reason to know these things, I just found it interesting. I don’t think this makes me unusual or in need of a psychiatric diagnosis.
My friend’s data ended being very skewed and the analysis showed that the “normal” controls performed significantly better than the subject group on both the non-verbal and the verbal reasoning.
Obviously she had to do the research again but this time she needs find a way of removing unintentional selection bias.
So yes, many people have traits that also appear in Asperger’s Syndrome but we shouldn’t really think of these behaviours as only traits of Asperger’s Syndrome because they are not specific to this syndrome.
12 4 / 2013
adorent asked: Your essays are the best and most legitimate analysis I've read c: I've been looking for an explanation as to why Sherlock is referenced as having "aspergers" and then "sociopathy"; your meta did a fantastic and well-researched job of explaining Sherlock. Thanks for making the wait to season three a bit more bearable! Carry on your classy way. xx
Thank you very much! Your support means a lot to me. I decided to publish this ask because I wanted to rant about medicine…again.
I really wanted to correct the misconceptions people seem to have regarding psychiatric conditions and their diagnoses. Psychiatrists seldom get a public voice and when they do, their messages are sometimes misinterpreted.
In the same way current medical research hardly ever makes in into the media spotlight (it’s just not that exciting) and unfortunately when it does the media tries to hype up the new story with a great deal of inaccuracies and misinterpretations.
Doctors and scientists do get very frustrated at the situation.
I started writing metas because I wanted to correct the medical inaccuracies that keep popping up such as Dr Watson fighting on the frontline, or Molly Hooper being a morgue technician (only doctors do post mortems), or people saying that Sherlock definitely has Asperger’s Syndrome when psychiatrists agree that he would never be diagnosed.
11 4 / 2013
Being a Medical Student
Anonymous asked: what do you do all day?
This has got to be the strangest ask I’ve ever received. Normally I answer short asks straight from my inbox but I thought I’d turn this one into a post.
This is what I do all day:
Except without the white coat or the beard or the really scared patient.
As a senior medical student I basically do everything the junior doctors do: ward rounds in the morning, then jobs: including taking blood, writing discharge letters, clerking new patients and endlessly chasing after non-existent paperwork or mythical doctors on another ward who never answer their bleeps.
The perk is that I’m not actually responsible and I can go home whenever I want. I’m basically providing the NHS with sporadic free labour whilst attempting to learn the mysterious art of being a doctor.
It’s not like an academic degree - in clinical school we hardly have any lectures. I would describe being a medical student as a very long and expensive apprenticeship.
I used to be like this:
But with only two months left until I qualify, I pretty much feel like this:
I’ve met some pretty crazy patients and doctors over the years that have made me question my own sanity (but the craziest things I’ve ever experienced are definitely on tumblr). In comparison to medicine, a job folding jeans would be much better for my mental health.
I love fandom and tumblr because it lets me escape from real life. My real life is actually incredibly dull. Medicine is 99% routine boredom and 1% pure adrenaline. The adrenaline moments are unfortunately not pleasant for the doctor or the patient. I’d much prefer 100% routine boredom and so would they.
I started this blog with the intention of writing epic fanfiction and leaving medicine firmly in the real world.
It didn’t work: I ended up dragging medicine into Sherlock. Now I can’t let go of tumblr. I even left the ward round for five minutes to check my tumblr this morning! That is a sign of true addiction.
I like to check my tumblr ask box whenever I can. I get some wonderful, thoughtful and encouraging asks: mostly from anonymous people.
After a long day of not getting much done and feeling like and idiot: it just feels nice to escape.
