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Holden Caulfield's Anxiety And Depression In The Catcher In The

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It is evident that Holden Caulfield’s anxiety and depression in The Catcher in the Rye directly correlates to the realities of child anxiety and depression. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders affect one in eight children. Common rationales that lead to child anxiety and depression include formidable parents, parental conflict, separation anxiety, academic pressure, sexual abuse and bullying (Mahale). Influences of paternal, maternal, and social structure results in child disorders such as anxiety and depression. Initially, Holden Caulfield is depicted as the teen who fights the path towards adulthood by utilizing lying and amplified emotions. Events such as the death of his brother, and being kicked out …show more content…

I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad goodbye or a bad goodbye, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse” (Salinger 6). Throughout the novel, Holden’s comprehension of the outside world is primarily isolated and disconnected. The feeling that Holden would rather accept the thought of sadness because of him constantly moving from place to place instead of the upsetting reality that he does not feel any sort of connection to anything alters his entire life into a form of a calamity. It is believed by Aristotle that human beings live together not only for the sake of reproduction, but some other purposes of life (Begum, Shagufta, and Awan). In Holden's case, similar to children today, that purpose of life is not as evident in their conscious or subconscious mind. Child disorders can be characterized and influenced in several areas of development such as social interactions and communication skills (Kahn, Ada, and Fawcett). Holden struggles learning to adapt to society- and cannot endeavor to regard other people in a way that allows him to accept their flaws and human limitations

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