made it explicit that in the show Sherlocks's mind palace 'technique' is actually just a drug trip This isn't really so. Sherlock uses the memory palace tech

made it explicit that in the show Sherlocks's mind palace 'technique' is actually just a drug trip This isn't really so. Sherlock uses the memory palace technique, without drugs, throughout the entire series. SPOILER-Y STUFF: The immersion Sherlock goes through in "The Abominable Bride" is of a different nature -- usually he is focused and in control, driving the search, but in this instance he is looking to go deeper, to dream his way to an answer by letting go of external reality. The drugs are an expedient to get him into that state. It's analogous to the difference between searching a database/knowledgebase and losing oneself in a fully immersive VR scenario. SPOILER: (It is true that Sherlock told Mycroft that he was doing the mind palace thing, and Mycroft points out that the mind palace is merely a memory technique and this is beyond that, i.e. a drug trip, but given Sherlock's relationship with Mycroft, it isn't surprising that he'd underplay the drugs, is it? Also, I don't think Mycroft knows Sherlock deeply enough to know what Sherlock can do in his mind palace -- may not even know he had one, given how he reacts to Sherlock's mention of it.) EPISODE SPOILERS FOLLOW: And, just a few quick reminders: remember, in the regular series, Sherlock's not the only one with a mind palace -- said character refers to his own and says, "You know about Mind Palaces, don’t you, Sherlock?" And, in that same episode, we also see an active (i.e. non-drugged) Sherlock thinking his way out of a jam -- in his mind, various characters show up to guide him. As one of them says, "It's all well and clever having a Mind Palace but you've only three seconds...to use it.". Another character later on says, "Must be something in this ridiculous memory palace of yours that can calm you down." (The above examples are on YouTube, but would really spoil some things, so I won't link to them here; there's also a transcript out there, if you want to look it up.)