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Holden Caulfield Ptsd Essay

1076 Words5 Pages

The Red Hat Holden Caulfield is the main character in The Catcher in the Rye, a novel written by J.D. Salinger. The novel is a flashback of Holden’s life when he was seventeen years old, when he was kicked out of Pency Prep. Holden tells his story from a rest home in California where he is seeking the help he needs after his mental deterioration caused by his younger brother Allie’s death. After reading The Catcher in the Rye and having an understanding of Holden’s deterioration, the conjecture that Holden has PTSD can easily be argued. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, can be acquired at any age, by anyone. When a person is in danger or experiences fear, the body sends split-second reactions that are meant to protect one from …show more content…

In order to be diagnosed, one would have to see a doctor that is experienced in mental illnesses such as a psychologist or psychiatrist. To make a proper diagnosis, the doctor must talk to the patient who has the symptoms and they must have four specific symptoms for at least one month (“PTSD” 3). There are a variety of treatments for PTSD, because different people react to the treatment in different ways: so a treatment that works for one person will not necessarily work for the next. These types of treatments would include psychotherapy, medications, or cognitive behavioral therapy which includes exposure therapy, cognitive restructuring, and stress inoculation (“PTSD” 5). It was likely Holden was receiving one of these treatments in the rest …show more content…

He explained the day his brother died by saying, “I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don’t blame them. I really don’t. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it…” (Salinger 38). Holden never talked about losing his brother, he expressed his emotions by breaking all the windows in the garage and trying to break the windows on their station wagon, but failed because he had already broken his hand. After that night, Holden continued on with his life basically shutting all his feelings out, and being mad at the world for being unfair and taking his innocent little brother away from

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