Arthur Conan Doyle explored men’s mental health through Sherlock Holmes

Meaning of “vulnerability” and whether it’s desirable

• Long subthread on what “male vulnerability” means:
  • One side sees it as openness about emotions and struggles, necessary for processing pain and forming deep relationships.
  • Others emphasize the literal meaning—exposed to harm—and argue that in many real contexts (work, romance, social hierarchy) visible vulnerability is punished.
• Several argue for selective vulnerability: safe spaces, trusted partners, and controlled emotional expression versus total emotional openness.
• Concrete examples discussed: doubts at work, depression/anxiety, nonconforming masculinity/sexuality in school, financial or status failures, and addiction.

Vulnerability, relationships, and gender norms

• Some insist that men who are “too vulnerable” risk losing romantic partners’ respect; others counter that this describes unhealthy relationships, not a universal rule.
• Debate over whether women genuinely want male vulnerability, or only from men who first display strength and stability.
• Broader point: rigid gender roles (stoic men, emotionally expressive women) harm both sexes, but public discourse often foregrounds women’s issues and sidelines men’s.

Mental health talk, therapy, and “psychology-speak”

• Mixed feelings about increasing mental health discourse:
  • Supporters see it as overdue normalization, comparable to treating broken legs instead of “just walking it off.”
  • Critics dislike “therapy-speak,” pop-psych buzzwords, and pathologizing everything; some worry about overreliance on professionals and pharmaceuticals.
• Therapy is described both as life-changing and as expensive, uneven in quality, sometimes paternalistic.
• Several stress boundaries: friends can listen and empathize, but many problems require trained help.

Holmes, Doyle, and the article’s claims

• Some think the piece is shallow, anachronistic “revisionism” that slaps modern “mental health” framing onto Victorian fiction without textual support.
• Others value it as a prompt to revisit Holmes’ boredom, depression, cocaine use, and loneliness as early depictions of male psychological struggle in a repressed culture.
• Disagreement over whether Holmes is a casual drug user or an addict, and whether modern adaptations (BBC Sherlock, Elementary, House) overemphasize pathology.