#autistic wilson

[deathbyamantadine]

James Wilson has an anxiety disorder and I’m going to tell everyone about it.

That was a really long title and pointless. I could have stopped after the first six words.

Anyways, hi, hello, if you don’t know me, my name is James and I really like James Wilson. I also like writing a lot. I also have an anxiety disorder. That led to this amalgamation of headcanons and thoughts about James Wilson.

So, I don’t even know how to start this. Fair warning, I have completely canon divergent headcanons with no canon evidence and just pure projection. I also use commas way too much.

Besides projection, why do I think he has anxiety? Well, I relate to him a lot and lots of his canon social behaviors do reflect my experience as well as others’ experiences with GAD or SAD. I think it goes ignored a lot with Wilson that a lot of his behaviors like people pleasing or having few friends is actually symptom of anxiety. Also, anxiety and depression are often comorbid or associated. In the show, specially that Social Contract episode, it’s SUPER apparent. As someone who headcanons he has both, his “I don’t have to worry around you” monologue to House could be read as a symptom/sign of GAD or ASD. I’m not going to get into my personal social anxieties and such, but I relate to that monologue HEAVILY. Stressing about what you say and having to mask your anxiety around people who don’t understand is a lot. There’s like, two people I can talk to without stressing the fuck out. Back to Wilson, though. His fear of breaking rules is also Anxiety™️ Symptom #1000. He is the most typical man ever on the show, or at least outwardly appears as one. He often fidgets with his hands while he talks and I know that’s because RSL is a stage actor but a guy can dream, alright?

People pleasing. Oh, boy. I could talk about this one for hours. James Wilson loves pleasing people, it doesn’t mean loving people for some but it does for him. He constantly needs to be needed, he always has to be helping, yet he’s never helped. He doesn’t want to speak the things he’s feeling because he feels that means being a burden!! that means being wrong!! that means letting people down!! He likely enjoys being with House so much because he knows it’s impossible to let him down, he doesn’t have to necessarily worry about pleasing him because House is like, very aware of what he’s thinking. House doesn’t give a fuck about what people feel most of the time.

Onto the less canon stuff and just more headcanon and/or projection stuff:

He has obsessive interests he uses to cope, like films. I’m basing that off of his posters and also… myself. This is projection, here.

He cannot do a lot in a short span of time. Worrying takes a lot of his energy and he needs recovery days. He’ll often just sleep for over 12 hours because he had to talk a lot and that means worrying and preplanning everything he was going to say.

He was either late-diagnosed or doesn’t even realize he has anxiety. Yes, he’s a doctor, that sounds odd but let me explain. Men around his age, but also in general, aren’t too open about their mental health struggles. They just think it’s normal. If he was late diagnosed, it was likely when he was seeking out a depression diagnosis. Off topic but can we talk about that for a moment? The show ignored that after the one mention. Season four spoilers ahead so skip to the next bullet point if you’re not there. Here are some filler words so people can scroll. Yadda yadda yadda. HIS GIRLFRIEND DIED!! THAT WOULD FUCK WITH ANYONE BUT ESPECIALLY SOMEONE WITH MDD!! Also, he’s medicated. Medication typically means it was affecting his day to day life. Medication means admitting something wasn’t right and that was likely very hard for him!! Anyways.

His first panic attack scared the living hell out of him. If he was young and still living with his family, he didn’t want to be a burden. He sat in his room sobbing for hours on end because he didn’t understand why his body was doing this. (Chest pain, shaking, not listening to him repeating Calm Down like a mantra, etc.) If he was older, I imagine he likely still didn’t tell anyone but it scared him for a different reason. It meant to him that he was broken. It meant to him that he needed something. He needed help and that scared him.

Intrusive thoughts. I imagine they got worse after S4 finale happened. That’s really it.

Coping? What’s that? He just ignores it.

Once again, breaking rules horrifies him.

That’s all. Goodbye. I do see the possibility of a lot of these being interpreted as ASD but I have a whole other post for that, maybe. Comment any thoughts and feelings. Be nice.

[halfsizehellboy]

i love when autistics date each other and have nearly opposite sensory/support needs because it's hilarious. House does not recognize emotions well and struggles with connection, but obviously feels deeply and easily despite adamantly denying it. Wilson is, get this, hypoempathetic like house but sensory-seeks the empathetic feelings; which is why he's good at breaking news. he enjoys playing emotion!! he likes acting!! and i think acts of service and gift-giving is just love language, and he just doesn't differentiate platonic and romantic attraction easily (multiple ex-wives yet devoted to house, and love languages are extended to patients and especially ones he's friends with).

wilson likes old movies, and many of the things house does, but unlike house he's not shown to listen to loud music constantly; he doesn't like or need the auditory stimulation. he doesn't stim as much as house, but that could be also that he doesn't stim the way house does. he doesn't need that much external processing, while house plays with toys and rubber bands and his cane. i think wilson just moves a lot, wiggling his fingers or the like. personally i think he'd bite things a lot but he's spent a long time coasting through as normal and he has a reputation to uphold. House is never safe, though. something something sensory needs and distraction pain are the perfect excuse.

wilson needs just his long self-care routine to not change, and a couple other constants like house and his office. i think he likes to be efficient. house thrives on the consistency of a created chaos, mainly i think he's au-dhd and thats why, he cant have things the exact same too long without going bonkers. his office and his apartment are controlled spaces that stay the same, and other things can be wild for stimulation. They have enrichment time in their enclosure(s) with their bets and manipulation games. wilsons office is a better darkroom for quiet time. i cant stop thinking about this

[mossysoupfrog]

Your honor that man is stimming

[enlightened-existentialist]

House md season 5 episode 17 is the best episode i have watched so far for the autistic Wilson headcanon.

we get plenty of parallels to house and the patient about not doing the social cues dance and just saying what you feel, but the way that Wilson says he values his friendship with house basically saying to him that he doesn't want to do the social niceties thing all the time. Wilson uses his time with house to unmask. he says that the acting he has to constantly do with other people is exhausting, he tells house not to change.

also he flapped his fingers about while standing up

[dick-chugger]

Seriously why are the people on this sub kind of funny sometimes

[anakinsafterlife]

It also fits because Wilson's type is prone to occasionally exploded into fits of raw rage, totally unanticipated by the people around him, but building up for years. And this is Wilson. This is how they met. And that kind of autistic person is also prone to running away from people when all their attempts to please fail to build meaningful relationships--hence his multiple marriages.

It also explains how he was genuinely drawn to Amber, who was probably a similar kind of ND to House. She wasn't the dominant superwoman she liked to project. She rubbed people the wrong way all the time and had clearly decided not to care. I'm not sure if their relationship would have worked out long term (Wilson being rather gay-coded), but there was definitely some autistic bonding there too.

need you to know my house md autism theory that i couldnt add onto your post because of daily post limit: house and wilson are both two different kinds of autistic!

wilson is a people pleaser autist who makes himself docile and nonthreatening and submissive and hes constantly sacrificing himself for other people because hes trying to make up for his various minor social deficits and awkwardnesses.

house has a stronger more dominant autistic personality and has tried fitting in but it never works because hes just Too Much. so he has instead given up and just settled into the role of The Asshole because its easier to let people think hes a jerk than it is to try and change their minds.

theyre the two most common roles undiagnosed autistic people fall into!

and i think the whole entire show is about that. time and time again we see house and wilson fumble relationship after relationship with more than just romantic partners. they dont have any friends other than each other. they try! they really do! but their extreme personalities are just too much for other people to deal with.

but they are the exact same amount of messed up as each other even if its in opposite directions. theyre practically made for each other.

house helps wilson grow a spine and learn how to stand up for and value himself more, and wilson helps house learn to trust and open up to other people even if it hurts and sucks sometimes. theyre helping each other heal!!!!!!!

i’m so bad at replying to asks so i’m sorry i don’t have anything to add on but honestly you said it all this is a great analysis!

[wade-fucking-wilson]

Hyperfixating not in a quirky way, but in more of an “I’m hyperfixated on old man yaoi and even thinking about them makes me wanna slam my head into a wall” way

[lanawinterscigarettes]

I was so confused as to why wilson's big stupid puppy dog eyes looked familiar. and then it finally hit me

he got two for the price of one lol

[junipum]

yeah biggest warning i can give is do NOT watch house if you’re neurodivergent. you will not be able to escape its claws. your age or profession or interests do NOT matter. it will take over your life and soon you’ll be making a separate blog just for house and that’s just the start…

[pop-squeak]

incredibly neurotypical thing to say

[deathbyamantadine]

If I posted an analysis of James Wilson and explaining my headcanon of him having severe anxiety and/or ASD, would you guys be interested?

[halfsizehellboy]

oh man okay. more thinking

hot shit do i feel enlightened bc audhd House makes so much sense to me!!! he surrounds himself with chaos and novelty and stimulation but still adheres to things that don't change-- his apartment, when he lives in it, it always set up the same way. it's mentioned he's had the same guitar for many years, as well as numerous medical texts. He uses his same red mug all the time at the hospital (he has a designated hospital mug. it lives at the hospital and he only uses it at the hospital). he is very adamant about his office space-- it only changes drastically for him in season 8. just before he leaves. he and Wilson have a fun schedule-- bowling nights, poker nights, etc-- and he does spontaneous stuff all the time, but he orchestrates it. he enacts enrichment time for his fellows and Wilson. he canonically spaces out during/stops processing conversations all the time because he's thinking. he will forget to do basic things while on cases, and there's that one episode where he stays up all night because he's cooking something. he is the king of "shit i forgot to eat. i forgot to shower and pee. i forgot--"

while im thinking of eating!! he has that bad hunger recognition. he will forgo eating for days for cases, fixations, pain levels. he usually eats off of wilson's plate anyways, and i think wilson mainly eats because he's made it part of routine, and that if he forgets to eat house definitely forgets to eat, and that usually ends badly. i dont think house has any specific avoidances but he does usually go for pizza, or anything wilson's made. he likes fries.

the adhd bit makes him more prone to addiction (it's a real thing) and he does show those behaviors (vicodin, alcohol). he has to have either the puzzles or the substances, taking him off both fucked with him a lot (mayfield and afterwards). in prison he got managed doses of vicodin, and he was getting antsy and desperate for the challenge of a good case towards the end of that arc. he all but jumps on that heat allergy guy, risking his chances of parole multiple times to try and get close. side note, did y'all see his equation scribblings on the wall by his bunk? hes so silly

ive also been thinking like. we see very large-scale self destructive behaviors from nearly everyone in the show but we don't see a lot of self-regulation outside of house's stimming so that means i get to make up my own and project onto wilson.

wilson spends a lot of time masking at work so we don't see him fully let loose and i think that he is a fan of full body movement. he's jumping up and down. he's pacing the apartment and swingin his arms. he sways and rocks in place. at the hospital and places that aren't safe he keeps the stim energy to his hands/fingers, or taps his foot/bounces his leg-- things easy enough for neurotypicals to pass off as nervous energy. he loves to click pens but he only does it when he's alone or with house because he knows that other people find it annoying (house doesn't care, he starts clicking/tapping too and it's like they're drumming together). he and house learned morse code and annoy the ducklings and cuddy with it all the time.

bad times wilson scratches a lot (this is me projecting btw). at his scalp, at his arms, anywhere he can get to; and usually he's self conscious enough to do it where he can hide it under his clothes (house is unaffected and can tell anyways)(usually because he's there trying to help wilson stop scratching)(but if he's not he can still tell and wilson doesn't wanna know how). he also presses/rubs his face a lot (in general and not just bad times wilson), and bad times wilson gets abrasions on his eyelids/cheeks from his sweatshirt when he has a meltdown. i've seen another person talk about this, but i think he absolutely tears his cuticles up. he's managed to stop biting/tearing his nails down to nothing but between vigorous scrubbing for the OR and not liking lotion (sensory bad. i need it for my arms and the backs of my hands sometimes and i always wipe it off of my palms and fingers) his hands are so dry. house makes fun of him but he does carry around a nail file because he's trying to stop picking at his fingers regularly, and limit it to a bad times emergency regulatory behavior.

house fights meltdowns to the death. he hates having them, he hates having to be vulnerable like that (and that's a canonical trauma response). he has held one off through sheer will for an entire week before wilson called out sick for him and made him take a day off. they ended up taking a long weekend to recover. on the occasion they're both melting down at the same time, it's a multiple days affair. wilson will recognize what's happening and try to make sure everything in the apartment is low effort and accessible from the floor because house's meltdowns are more often than not pain response and that means that house stays on the floor. and when wilson is melting /neg he doesn't want to leave house. on a sillier(?) note they have a tally/competition for shortest meltdown (wilson), longest meltdown (house), fastest to meltdown (house), longest amount of time spent holding off a meltdown (house), most efficient meltdown (wilson), and most meltdowns located in the hospital (wilson).

man i'm gonna have to make a fic for this, it's getting wild just on posts

[winterstormsystem]

I headcannon Wade having chronic pain. is this me projecting? not at all, but I do project my autism onto Logan. they're the power couple.

logan doesn't know how to comfort Wade on bad days when he witnesses it the first time. at first, he tries to distract Wade by fighting, bc how else? it distracts you. but then he stops when he realizes Wade isn't fighting back to his best abilities and that's when he really gets worried to the point Wade *knows*.

Logan nests, and he tries to help Wade by bringing him into the nest for warmth and safety.

[bruciemilf]

The big 3

[housethemd]

Once again thinking about House + food issues

House grew up in a household where “if you were two minutes late for dinner, you didn’t eat.” It follows there would have been other rules surrounding food, likely things like “this is what’s for dinner, eat it or you don’t eat” and “you have to finish what’s on your plate.”

I feel like this would be a possible explanation for why he steals Wilson’s food so often.

House is conditioned to eat whatever is on his plate and finish it. House is smart guy though, and would likely find work arounds to his own issues/behaviours, ie: if it’s not on HIS plate the rules don’t apply.

It would explain why House sometimes eats off Wilson’s plate and sometimes gets his own. If House likes what’s available in the cafeteria and feels he can finish a portion of it he makes Wilson buy him lunch.

However, if he is unsure if he likes what’s available he’ll eat off Wilson’s plate and if he doesn’t like it it’s okay because it isn’t his meal, there is no pressure to eat more.

Same goes for if House isn’t particularly hungry but recognizes he should eat something (could be lots of reasons for this but gotta throw in my personal headcanon of autistic House having poor interoception so he doesn’t always feel hunger, thirst etc but will sometimes go “I haven’t eaten in a while, I probably should.”) and so he tries a bite of Wilson’s food and if he likes it, he steals half. The small portion is more manageable when he is experiencing low appetite and is less stressful to need to finish.

[seven-oomen]

One of the hills I will die on; Logan and Wade are autism & ADHD coded and a classic example of neurodivergent friends finding each other.

(Also Logan is Bisexual and Wade is Pansexual. And I will not be accepting criticism on that one.)