What Are The Causes Of Holden's Mental Breakdown

Holden is quite the interesting character. After meeting with him and assessing his problems, it was determined Holden suffered from a few different things, one of the most serious being depression. He also suffers from mood changes, impersonality problems, impulsivity, and stress. All of those symptoms can be further broken down into more specific illnesses such as ADHD, impulse control disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Holden displays behaviors of a lot of these disorders all throughout the story.

Holden Caulfield is the narrator of Catcher in the Rye. He tells us about his life and describes his relationships with all the important people in his life. He just got kicked out of another school and does not want to go home. He just wanders from place to place. Holden has so many important people in his life. They all impact his life in different ways. Someone who plays a big role in Holden’s life, is Allie, his deceased younger brother. He impacts Holden because he was “the trigger” for all the chaos in Holden’s life, he makes Holden feel obligated to protect the innocence in children, and causes Holden to only want to live in the past.

In The Catcher in the Rye, it is observed that the novel is about grief. There are 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and finally acceptance. The Catcher in the Rye shows how Holden goes through the grieving process. By the end of the novel it shows how Holden has reached closure or a way to let go.

This implies that Holden lacks the rationality within his actions, as he jumps to absurd measures to reduce his pains. Further, his methods are unconventional as they lead to his depressive state. However,Holden prefers to intoxicate himself to stray away because he is unable face his fears or the idea of desertion. As Holden acknowledges his cowardly characteristic, it reduces his sense of self,and the pain he experiences has eventually evoked his depression. Furthermore, this supports the notion that

Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual”. In the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield’s lies become habitual throughout the book. Holden is a sixteen-year-old boy, who has been kicked out of several schools including, most recently, Pencey Prep. Holden’s younger brother, Allie, died when Holden was only thirteen and his older brother is too busy working for Hollywood to care about Holden. Although his mother cares immensely for him, Holden saddens her by failing academically. The only motivator that Holden has to continue living is his younger sister, Phoebe, who is extraordinarily intelligent for her age. After he gets kicked out of Pencey, Holden is lost in life. He speaks to many people, seeking advice and comfort, but they are not able to help him find a human connection. Holden’s depression increases throughout the novel, almost to the point of suicide. He criticizes many people and ideas, labeling them as ‘phony’. Holden lies as a result of his depression, in order to hide the fact that he’s lonely and bored with his life, to divert any questions which he believes are too personal, and to create his own reality. In this way, Salinger illustrates how, during difficult times, people resort to lying as a coping mechanism.

J.D Salinger, in the novel The Catcher in the Rye demonstrates how Holden is affected by the tragic death of his brother Allie. Allie’s death is the root of Holden’s depression and negative choices.

Holden is in a deep depression but, does he stay depressed or go crazy? After Holden’s brother (Allie) dies he gets very depressed. Holden wasn 't even able to attend the funeral. He talks to his brother as if he 's there searching for help from him. This novel is about him moving through New York and witnessing this and not wanting to be a part of it, yet knowing he has to fit in there somewhere. Holden grows a very dangerous drinking problem. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, Holden is a lost and depressed boy looking for a purpose in life. Holden believes that growing up is going to cause him to lose all innocence in himself.

"People are always ruining things for you" (Salinger 87). The past could affect a person in many ways including physically and mentally. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger the past has a major effect on Holden. Events like the death of a loved one (Allie), James Castle suicide, and the careless parents leads Holden to suffer from depression, anxiety, and impacts he's personality and behavior.

Holden Caulfield, the main protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, is regarded throughout the book with many emotional and social issues. Holden is affected mentally from multiple past events and becomes very depressed, which leads to suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This is a mental health condition that is triggered from past events that terrify the victim. Holden Caulfield suffers from PTSD because he experiences a horrifying past event that creates many symptoms similar to the PTSD symptoms.

He has trouble growing up and accepting life as it is. Holden thinks adults are "phony" which makes him hate the fact of growing up and staying innocent as much as he can while he is old enough to become an adult. He is frustrated with the world and people which makes him act with anger. His innocent childish dream is to be the Catcher in the Rye, to catch the kids before they become phonies like Holden says about adults. The moment he realizes that he cannot keep kids from falling or in other words, from growing up and becoming adults, he, reaches adulthood, and takes a big step towards it at the end of the novel. The ending chapter of the novel Holden finds the loss of innocence he’s been searching for. When Phoebe is riding the carousel and she reaches for the ring, it represents maturing. Phoebe is a symbol for youth and innocence, and she is reaching for maturity.

To start, the death of Holden’s younger brother, Allie, has impacted Holden’s life to a certain extent. He passed away when he was eleven years old and when Holden was thirteen years old from Leukemia. Holden has not been the same ever since the death and can be shown by, “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 broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it” (Salinger 39). Ever since the passing of his brother, Holden has never been the same person as he had been. He never quits thinking of Allie and he believes he is with him at all times. When Holden is depressed, which happens frequently, he decides to speak to Allie to comfort him, as shown by, “What I did, I started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie. I do that sometimes when I get very depressed. I keep telling him to go home and get his bike and meet me in front of Bobby Fallon 's house” (Salinger 98). Holden always keeps a spot in the back of his head for his younger brother so he can communicate with him whenever. By communicating with Allie, Holden feels better about himself, as he can recall past events that he shared with his brother. To add, the death and tormenting of Holden’s former peer, James

Holden Caulfield, the main protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, embodies the classic teenager in the process of discovering himself, and how the world works. But, regardless of Holden 's rich, prep school lifestyle, the series of events that have mapped out his life up to this point have utterly affected his emotional well being and perception of the world. Many traumatic events such as the death of holds brother Allie, the death of a class mate, and countless numbers of awkward incidents with adults have all added up to affects Holden 's well-being and detach him from reality.

The second of many emotions Holden goes through is depression. “I can’t stand that stuff. It drives me crazy. It makes me so depressed I go crazy. I hated that goddam Elkton Hills.” Holden does not speak about Allie’s death directly nor openly. There’s a link between his inability to articulate his feelings and his depressive state. He has a hard time to fully process it. It shows his inability to cope. His whole dissociation with himself shows he’s lost. The lack

The Catcher in the Rye tells the story of Holden Caulfield who is a teenager growing up in the 1950’s in New York, has been expelled from school once again for poor achievement. In order to deal with his failure, Holden decides to leave school a few days before the end of the term and escapes to New York before returning to his home for the punishment. Written entirely in first person, the book describes Holden’s experiences and thoughts over the few days he takes for himself. During these few days Holden describes a nervous breakdown he experiences with symptoms of unexplained depression, impulsive spending, and unpredictable behavior.

He wants to protect their innocence by keeping them from falling over the cliff into the realistic world he hates. He was on the edge of the cliff too. Throughout the novel he keeps on falling. He slips down the stairs when he leaves Pencey, trips over a suitcase, and falls when he ice skates with Sally. These were all preparations for his big fall into the world. At one point, he visits a past teacher, Mr. Antolini. After Holden explains everything that happened when he was expelled, Mr. Antolini says he had a feeling Holden was going to have a hard, terrible fall. He also says, “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” This meant Holden’s fall would be more terrible if he didn’t learn to grow