Sunday, November 23, 2014

The Address is 221B, Baker Street.

I love the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, so I decided to read an article about him (link below). My favorite version of his mysteries is the BBC Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman :)



This article talks about the characteristics of Sherlock and how his traits lead some to believe that he had Asperger Syndrome - an autism spectrum disorder characterized by significant difficulty in social interactions and repetitive patterns of behaviors and interests. 

There are many reasons why one may diagnose Sherlock with this syndrome. He has unimaginable skills in deduction and reasoning. He is obsessed with solving crimes. He has no social skills whatsoever. He even calls himself a "high functioning sociopath." Hm...maybe he does have Asperger's. But wait, there's a twist.

Arthur Conan Doyle created the character of Sherlock Holmes around 1887, but Dr. Hans Asperger didn't propose the syndrome until 1944. Did Conan Doyle unknowingly conjure up a character with symptoms of this disease? Did he actually become aware of the disease before Dr. Hans Asperger? Nobody knows the answer.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainsnacks/201110/did-sherlock-holmes-have-asperger-syndrome-0

No comments:

Post a Comment