Pop Culture: Diagnosing Sherlock
Aug. 8th, 2024 11:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
notquiteisraeliWe aren't getting a fifth season. I've reconciled myself to that, and you know, it's okay. Really, how could they have lived up to the stellar first and second season? They didn't. So maybe it's best to pretend that everything else didn't happen, to write one's own AU fanfic, and spin off into the lovely realms of possibility, speculation, and imagination.
So, Sherlock's diagnosis. The man is clearly some flavor of psychologically abnormal. I don't think he's a sociopath. There is a moral compass there, even if - a great deal of the time - he's flashing it the double V. He has affection for people: John, Molly, Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson - hell, even Mycroft (though he'd rather die than admit that one).
Honestly, for my money, Sherlock shows a lot of signs of borderline personality disorder.
Hear me out. He clearly has issues with substance abuse. Splitting - have you seen his interactions with Mycroft? Mood swings? Check. Fear of abandonment? Check. But the big one is his superpower - the Sherlock scan. You see, that is a borderline superpower right there. I know because I can do it (not to his extent - that's grossly exaggerated - but borderlines are hyperaware of their surroundings and the people around them). He also has the extremely traumatic childhood that tends to create borderline personality disorder.
He's actually a fairly accurate representation of a borderline, and it's refreshing to see a male borderline represented.
So, Sherlock's diagnosis. The man is clearly some flavor of psychologically abnormal. I don't think he's a sociopath. There is a moral compass there, even if - a great deal of the time - he's flashing it the double V. He has affection for people: John, Molly, Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson - hell, even Mycroft (though he'd rather die than admit that one).
Honestly, for my money, Sherlock shows a lot of signs of borderline personality disorder.
Hear me out. He clearly has issues with substance abuse. Splitting - have you seen his interactions with Mycroft? Mood swings? Check. Fear of abandonment? Check. But the big one is his superpower - the Sherlock scan. You see, that is a borderline superpower right there. I know because I can do it (not to his extent - that's grossly exaggerated - but borderlines are hyperaware of their surroundings and the people around them). He also has the extremely traumatic childhood that tends to create borderline personality disorder.
He's actually a fairly accurate representation of a borderline, and it's refreshing to see a male borderline represented.
