Holden Caulfield Mental Suicide

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Holden Caulfield is a teen who is stricken with grief. He narrates his life with both a jaded and cynical voice displaying an overall discontentment with the world. Holden struggles to balance his emotions and switches between an almost manic joy and rage. The most significant cause of Holden's issues is the death of his brother. I believe that Holden is suffering from PTSD and depression. Factors that led me to this diagnosis are Holdens constant state of depression, the loss of his brother, and him expressing both feelings of loneliness and suicidal thoughts. Numerous times throughout The Catcher in the Rye Holden displays both depressive and suicidal thoughts such as “What I really felt like though was commiting suicide. I felt like jumping out the window” (Salinger 136) and “Please. I’m lonesome as hell. No kidding.”(Salinger 193). These quotes along with the facts that “Possible warning signs for suicide include… talking about self-harm, death or dying [and] experiencing the loss of a significant family member or friend…” (Whitmore 472) and that “Childhood trauma leaves a person extremely vulnerable to the effects of stress, … and specifically to the development of PTSD” lead me to believe Holden’s behaviors do warrant his admission to the facility. Before Holden can be released from our facility he needs to be taught some …show more content…

When he faces an extremely difficult situation, for example him getting beat up by Maurice, he gets very emotional saying “I was still sort of crying. I was so damn mad and nervous and all.”(Salinger 135) and sort of gives up on life “I felt like jumping out the window.”(Salinger 136) Another way he responds is by acting/lashing out for example when he yells at phoebe even though it's only because he feels guilty that she's upset he's leaving and says “You’re not going. Now, shut up!”(Salinger

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