Published 12 November 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4655
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4655

Views & Reviews

Between the Lines

Emotional, my dear Watson

Theodore Dalrymple, writer and retired doctor

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The role of stress, or more generally of psychological factors, in the production of physical illness has long been a matter of interest and contention. Speaking for myself, I have found that I am more prone to viral illness when I relax after a period of exceptionally hard work than during it; but that, I concede, is no evidence.

Do The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes constitute evidence? It is surprising how large a part stress induced disease plays in this volume.

Sherlock Holmes himself is not immune from it, though we sometimes make the mistake of supposing him to be a cold and rational calculating machine. In "The Reigate Squires" Holmes is ill. Watson writes: "I received a telegram from Lyons, which informed me that Holmes was lying ill . . . His iron constitution had broken down under the strain of an investigation during which he had never worked . . . [Full text of this article]


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