Monk is a former homicide detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder. His wife, Trudy, was killed with a car-bomb by an unknown party four years before season 1 takes place. This event, coupled with the several phobias he already had, sends him into a near catatonic state for three years, in which he is cared for by a nurse, Sharona Fleming. When he recovers (or at least is not near catatonic) he begins to work as a consultant for the police, with Sharona still acting as his assistant. His main goals are to get reinstated to the San Fransisco police department (he was discharged because of his mental state) and to solve the murder of his wife. After about 4 1/2 years of Sharona being his assistant, she goes back to her divorced husband and quits her job. He finds a new assistant named Natalie Teeger who remains such to this day. He had been seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Charles Kroger, since his wife's death. Recently, Dr. Kroger died of a heart attack and Monk finds a new shrink named Dr. Neven Bell. His father left Adrian and his family when Adrian was 11, and has only been seen by him once since. Adrian's brother Ambrose is in a much more fragile mental state than Monk, and had not left the house he grew up in for around 35 years. Adrian went into stores all by himself at 15, drove a car at 24, and went out on dates with women at 26. He plays the clarinet and loves Willie Nelson. He also never uses the same umbrella twice. His list of fears include: Germs, Needles, Milk, Death, Snakes, Mushrooms, Heights, Crowds, Elevators, Disorder, Imperfection, Risk, Fear, Bees and Hornets, Cats, Caves, Clouds, Dogs, The Dark, Dirt, Dust, Enclosed Spaces, Fire, Flies, Frogs, Glaciers, Hailstones, Ladybugs, Lightning, Monkeys, Nature, Noise, Possums, Rabbits, Rats, Rivers, Round Things, Slime, Spiders, Tap Water, Tsunamis, Wind, Infections, Airplanes, Boats, Buses, Driving, Trains, Trucks, Taxis, Blenders, Beautiful Women, Blankets, Bullies, Bridges, Clowns, Dentists, Dirty Hands, Dryer Lint, Feet, Harmonicas, Kissing, Ladders, Laser Light, Naked People, Public Speaking, Puppets, Rodeos, Soccer Riots, Touching, Tunnels, Underwear, Vomitting, Spitting, Decaffinated Coffee, Egg Whites, Mixed Veggies. Possibly also afraid of Pillows.