Dr. Gregory House: Autistic Or Just A Dick?

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Dr. Gregory House: Autistic Or Just A Dick? On Tuesday, November 16th, 2004, American television network Fox premiered a medical TV drama called House M.D. focusing on one man: Dr. Gregory House. He is an established and renowned diagnostician within his field, with years of experience treating cases that other professionals have deemed unsolvable. Dr. House is also an autistic person– undiagnosed but autistic nonetheless. He fits the DSM-5 criteria and the DSM-4, the diagnostic tool used at the time. Consequently, many autistic fans of the show have related directly to his struggles, including myself. To argue the case for House being autistic, we must first talk about the diagnostic tools previously mentioned. To start, the tool used when …show more content…

Here, the “abnormal” section is helpful, as it includes the end of the spectrum that predisposes someone to excess eye contact. On top of that, House exhibits near-constant refusal to adhere to social norms, stating in season 3, episode 4 ‘Lines In The Sand’ that he does not pity his severely autistic patient, and instead envies him for the ability to “..live a life free of the mind-numbing social niceties.” (House MD) Additionally, he has qualities found in subsections a2, a3, and a4. Brief examples of each, in order, include his dependence on Wilson (who has been around him so long he’s accustomed to House’s idiosyncrasies) as his only reliable relationship. It should be noted that section B lends itself heavily to children who are going through the diagnostic process since autism is commonly recognized at a young age rather than later in life. Since direct information on House’s childhood is so sparse and unrelated –mostly off-hand comments or jokes with no real proof– the evidence needed for section B is too unreliable to draw direct conclusions. It could be argued that House displays echolalia (repetitive vocal stimming and patterns) through his insistence that everyone lies, but this is moreso a personal philosophy that he reiterates. Gregory House is autistic. There are arguments for it and against it, but he sits comfortably on his end of the spectrum; one influenced by a lifetime of intense trauma and general struggle. Unlike the stereotypical portrayal of autism where an individual is completely dependent on (and usually a burden to) their family, it is a realistic depiction of an autistic adult who has been forced through internal and social pressure to adapt to a world unsupportive of

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