We would like to thank Emma Linford for the contribution to this article.

Arthur Conan Doyle was not just one of the world’s best crime fiction writers. He was a progressive wordsmith who brought light to controversial and taboo subjects. One of those taboo subjects was male vulnerability and mental health problems – a topic of personal significance to the author.

Doyle was a vulnerable child . His father, Charles, was an alcoholic , which led to financial troubles in the family. Charles was admitted to an asylum in 1881 and spent the next 12 years in various mental care establishments . So began Doyle’s interest in male vulnerability and mental health.

The character of Sherlock Holmes is a true expression of male vulnerability that does not equate it with weakness. Doyle does not

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