SHERLOCK HOLMES

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Arthur Conan Doyle's classic series of detective fiction (consisting of four novels and 56 short stories, set in London from 1880 to 1914) features the dazzling detection skills of Sherlock Holmes, most of whose adventures are narrated by his sole friend and biographer Dr. John H. Watson. Although in the past Holmes's dramatic mood swings led him to be described as manic-depressive, recent readers have tended to diagnose him as having Asperger's syndrome or high-functioning autism. This connection is acknowledged in Mark Haddon's marvelous novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (2003) , which is told in first person by Christopher Boone, a 15-year old boy with high-functioning autism, who is writing a detective book and whose primary model is Sherlock Holmes. Enumerating what they have in common, Christopher claims Holmes is intelligent, logical, super-observant, and possesses, “in a very remarkable degree, the power of detaching his mind at will.” The case for Holmes's connection to autism has also been argued by several persons in the medical community, none more convincingly than Lisa Sanders, M.D.

“Could the strange behavior of Sherlock Holmes be diagnosed? He does have symptoms. He appears oblivious to the rhythms and courtesies of normal social intercourse — he doesn’t converse so much as lecture. His interests and knowledge are deep but narrow. He is strangely “coldblooded,” and perhaps as a consequence, he is also alone in the world. He has no friends other than the extremely tolerant Watson; a brother, even stranger and more isolated than he, is his only family. Was Arthur Conan Doyle presenting some sort of genetically transmitted personality disorder or mental illness he’d observed, or was Sherlock Holmes merely an interesting character created from scratch? Conan Doyle trained as a physician at the University of Edinburgh, then one of the most prominent medical schools in the world. He had a keen eye for the subtle manifestations of illness, and his stories are filled with dead-on medical descriptions.... Is it possible that in his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes Conan Doyle captured some yet undescribed familial psychiatric syndrome?... [Some] have suggested that Sherlock Holmes may have had a mild form of autism, commonly known as Asperger’s syndrome. This disorder was reported in the medical literature in 1944 by an Austrian pediatrician, Hans Asperger.... The paper languished in obscurity for more than 40 years, but by 1994 Asperger’s was part of the official psychiatric lexicon. The diagnosis may be folded back into autism in the coming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, but there is no doubt that Asperger’s description of these socially awkward, intensely focused young men resonated with parents who recognized their own children in it. Could Conan Doyle have described this syndrome some 70 years before Asperger? According to Ami Klin, director of the autism program at the Yale Child Study Center, part of the medical school, the fundamental quality that defines all forms of autism is “mind-blindness”: difficulty in understanding what others feel or think and thus in forming relationships. Unaware of how others see them, those with Asperger’s often behave oddly. In addition, they tend to develop extensive knowledge of narrowly focused subjects. In Conan Doyle’s portrayal, Sherlock Holmes at times exhibits all of these qualities. His interactions with others are often direct to the point of rudeness.... As for his interests, Holmes brags frequently of his detailed knowledge of all kinds of strange phenomena.... He demonstrates what Asperger called “autistic intelligence” — an ability to see the world from a very different perspective than most people, often by focusing on details overlooked by others.... So where did this picture come from? Biographers have identified a number of individuals Conan Doyle may have drawn on for the character of Sherlock Holmes, but none with all these traits.... We may never know, but clearly Holmes’s peculiarities have a persistent appeal. Just look at Temperance Brennan of “Bones,” Adrian Monk of “Monk,” and, of course, Gregory House of “House,” who exhibit at least a few Asperger-like symptoms and owe much to Sherlock Holmes. (Lisa Sanders, M.D., “Hidden Clues,” New York Times Magazine, Dec. 4, 2009.)

Marsha Kinder