The two foes of human happiness are pain and boredom.

 

- Schopenhauer

 

 

 

Chapter 3

BECOMING SHERLOCK HOLMES—SOLVING MY CASE

             

For years, I have been fascinated with Sir Arthur Co­nan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes mystery stories. To me, Holmes, so vividly portrayed on public television by the late Jeremy Brett, epitomizes the highly intelli­gent, creative adult with ADD.[1]

Holmes lives for solving crimes, placing himself in harm's way to catch dan­gerous criminals.  His keen, logical mind focuses with singular purpose and la­ser concentration when he is in pursuit of a culprit.  He is a restless, impa­tient, sardonic man, who at times impulsively says what he thinks.  After solving a case, Holmes becomes bored, lethargic and moody.  He then self-medicates with an in­jected solution of cocaine to stimulate himself until his next client is en­gaged and his boredom dissipates.[2]

 

Holmes says,

 

‘I am the most incurably lazy devil that ever stood in shoe leather . . . [Doyle, p. 17]’

 

At the conclusion of The Sign of Four, when the case has been solved, Dr. Watson says to Holmes,

 

'Strange . . . how terms of what in another man I should call laziness alter­nate with your fits of splendid energy and vigour.'

 

'Yes,' [Holmes replies] 'there are in me the makings of a very fine loafer, and also a pretty spry sort of fellow [Doyle, pp. 172-73].'

 

Watson remarks that Holmes works in "outbursts of pas­sionate energy" . . . "followed by reactions of leth­argy" when he is not working.  During down times, Holmes lays on the couch with his violin and books, moving only to the table for meals (Doyle, p. 444).

 

In The Red-headed League, Holmes acknowl­edges,

 

 'It [the case] saved me from ennui . . . Alas!  I al­ready feel it closing in upon me.  My life is spent in one long ef­fort to escape from the commonplace of existence.  These little prob­lems help me to do so [Doyle, p. 212].'

 

Holmes again complains to Watson of boredom in the opening scene of The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge:

 

'My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built.  Life is com­monplace; the papers are sterile; audacity and romance seem to have passed forever from the criminal world [Doyle, p. 1022].'

 

Watson adds other details about the famous de­tec­tive:  Holmes thinks that exercise is a "waste of en­ergy."  He is a lonely man who has no other close friends besides Watson.  Holmes is extremely untidy in his personal habits, is im­patient and has a temper problem.

 

Sherlock Holmes, Like Me

             

I recognize many of my own personality traits in the de­scriptions of Sherlock Holmes' behavior: the ten­dency to alternate between unfocused "laziness" and intense, con­centrated activity (hyperfocus); fre­quent lapses into bore­dom, rest­lessness and brood­ing; and a feeling of never being truly satisfied after accom­plishing a goal.

ADD has had a profound impact on my life.  It af­fected my early academic performance, relationships with peers, my emotional life and career choices.  In 1994, at age 46, eight months after I started working at Catholic Community Ser­vices, I suddenly realized that many of the characteristics of people I was evalu­ating for ADD were ones we shared in common.  This was the great “Aha” revela­tion of my life—the end of my quest to understand the roots of my per­sonality that had begun over 25 years before. 

Like the great detective, I excitedly began to solve the mys­tery of my own ADD.  Delving retrospectively back to my childhood, I identified the following undiagnosed signs of ADD and its associ­ated problems:

 

§        Chronic earaches (otitis media)

§        Gross motor clumsiness

§        Delayed reading skills

§        Poor spelling and mathematics skills

§        Sloppy handwriting

§        Difficulty in completing homework

§        Boredom proneness

§        Lack of concentration

§        Procrastination

§        Restlessness

§        Uneven academic performance

§        Reluctance to participate in class discus­sions

§        Difficulties with memory retrieval, trouble orga­nizing thoughts—known as “sluggish cog­nitive tempo (SCT)[3]

§        Problems with friendships

§        Daydreaming

§        Confusion over schedules

§        Shyness

§        Moodiness

§        Excitability

§        Low frustration tolerance

 

Tracing My “Restless” Roots

 

I completed my ADD evaluation in a five-step process. First, I wrote a "stream of consciousness" nar­rative about my life, from childhood to the pre­sent.  Sec­ond, I then assembled information from my baby book, copies of early medi­cal records, school records, my parent's recollec­tions and feedback from my supervi­sor. Third, my wife and I completed sev­eral objective rating scales after the initial data-gath­ering phase.  Fourth, I researched family members who had probable symptoms of ADD.  After consulting with my father about his child­hood development, young adult years and family of origin, I determined that his paternal line was the obvious source of ADD ge­netic trans­mission.  One of my father's cousins, who had spent a summer vacation in Yukon Territory collect­ing in­formation about my paternal great-grandfather's life, during the Gold Rush of 1897, supplied histori­cal family facts that added vital clues.  I searched microfilm issues of Dawson City's gold-rush era Klondike Nugget newspaper at the Univer­sity of Washington and found several references to my great-grandfather's exploits and character.  Fifth, I wrote up the findings of my completed my self-diagnosis, and con­sulted with Dr. Elin, director of Catholic Community Ser­vices' ADHD Clinic.  He endorsed an ADD diagnosis after reviewing my writ­ten data and conclusions, and after having observed me on the job.  A psychiatrist later concurred.  (Caution:  self-diag­nosis of mental dis­orders without professional con­sultation is not recommended.)   

Linking my current ADD symptoms to ancestors who had similar behaviors was the most meaningful part of this exercise. Subsequent chapters detail what I discov­ered about my family and myself.

 

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