Catcher In The Rye Mental Health Essay

Holden is unable to accept realities of life because of his negative personality. He claims that many people are phony and that they try to do things to make them look better than they are. Holden also thinks of many things as depressing. “It was really nice sightseeing, if you know what I mean. In a way, it was sort of depressing, too, because you kept wondering what the hell would happen to all of them” (p. 123). Holden always finds a down side to a situation. He fails to recognize the good sides of life, and this prevents him from seeing advantages in adulthood that are not present in his life.

Teen health is an important aspect of people’s lives. Teenagers and adolescents need to be more aware of the challenges that life can have in store for them. The unawareness and severity of those challenges can lead to a surprise that isn’t welcomed. That often leads to depression and anxiety during years of being an adolescent. One instance of a story portraying this sort of anxiety is Catcher in the Rye. It’s an adolescent struggling through some demons of the past and gets more anxious as the story progresses. Holden shows many different signs of anxiety and he seems very lonely at times.

Throughout the entire book, he is seen idealizing his brother Allie, and his sister Pheobe. He holds himself back from greatness and just gives the self-deprecating thoughts. He never once thinks he is smart. We often see him slightly berating himself as to think he can’t become something great. We the readers know that he is a smart, strong, and to some extent brave character, but he can never get over the fact his brother and sister are “better” than him. I feel sorry for Holden for not knowing how to cope with certain emotions, just like how he can’t control himself when Stradlater was talking about how dumb it was Holden has written the paper over a baseball glove, not knowing that was the glove that was owned and signed by Holden's dead brother

This led him to struggle through the his life eventually leading to a pattern of failure - failing and being expelled from all the schools he attended. Holden's emotional imbalance stem from his inability

“If there is a god or whatever something somewhere, why have I been abandoned by everyone and everything that known? I 've ever loved? What is the lesson? What is the point? God give me a sign or I have to give up. I can 't do this anymore. Please let me die.” (Kesha,Praying). Depression has always been a problem throughout time and how people deal with it. Even though people have different backgrounds depression seems to affect them in the same way. In the book, Catcher in the Rye, Holden the main character changes after his brother Allie died. Holden seems to never get over his brother 's death which and changes his way of thinking. So how does, Justine of a completely different background who doesn 't lose a

Holden's depression holds him back in life, It is the root of all of his problems. And leads to social disconnect from society. Which forces him to of unravel. As Holden is standing alone on the hill above his school, he reflects,”they kicked me out. I wasn't supposed to come back after Christmas vacation, on account of I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself at all. They gave me frequent warnings to

This self-destructive behavior is another one of the many created by his worldview of others as “phonies”. One example can be seen in page 75, where Holden states that life itself “makes [him] so depressed.” This shows us how his worldview that focuses on the negative aspects of everyone could be problematic, as it leads Holden on to develop depression. Another example can be seen in Chapter 7, where Holden states “I just didn't want to hang around any more. It made me too sad and lonesome.” (page 29) His motivation to leave Pencey Prep is shown to be one of having developed depression after seeing everyone there as phonies. Once again, this displays a prime example of how Holden’s idea of phonies can lead to self-destructive actions such as developing depression. A third example of this can be found towards the end of the book, where Holden straight up states that he “really felt like, committing suicide.” (104) By this point, we see the final phase of his depression created by his “phony” worldview, presenting an extremely self-destructive behavior and mindset in depression. Holden develops depression through his worldview of others as “phonies”, which shows how problematic his worldview truly

Despite being a fictional character, the mental issues Holden faces throughout the novel have stood the test of time, and are now more prevalent than ever before. Whether it’s a rough break up, the loss of a loved one, or parental negligence, every single person has hit a low at one point in their life. The problem is, much like in the case of our Holden Caulfield, that these people may not receive the proper care and attention required to avoid slipping deeper. That is why millions of people, teenagers and adults alike, suffer from depression of many different types and severities. This story provides only a glimpse into what goes on inside the mind of a growing teenager suffering from the disorder. At the time of release, the 1950s, it is reported that depression was considered a rarity, and a taboo one at that. Mental illnesses were not treated nearly as well back then as they are today. In the 50s, Holden’s only solution would be to see a psychoanalyst, which readers do see at the very end of the story. However today, with depression and suicide at an all time high, Holden would be treated much differently. In the modern world of medicine and psychological support, Holden would be most likely been able to be treated with antidepressant medication like Lexapro or Zoloft, pills that would slowly help his mental state be

Holden Caulfield’s personality and mannerisms are that of the average teenager. He is sporadically sullen, lonely, misanthropic, confused, horny, angry, and anxious. He struggles with his coming of age like any other sixteen year old boy. He is enthralled by the trappings of adulthood: drinking, smoking, the idea of sex, and physical independence. And yet, his struggles are also so unlike the typical youth. Holden is haunted by trauma from a young age from the death of his younger brother Allie and the suicide of a classmate. He is prone to wild, crazed behavior which he sometimes refers to as “horsing around” as well as bouts of depression, anger, and strange, frenzied euphoria. Naturally these characteristics are frowned upon within the confines of the conservative era of the 1940s, making Holden unlikeable to many, whether they are strangers or friends.

Mental illnesses can take over a persons life altering what a healthy human would decide as a better choice. In the classic, The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger, Holden is a boy who has a mental illness and is trying to run from his past. Throughout his personal journey he has trouble interacting with the people he encounters, wether it be his family or a complete stranger. Though his language is not always appropriate, at Holden's core he is moral and innocent like the children he wants to protect and makes choices to help people end up in a better place than him. When thinking of innocence, children are usually what come to mind.

Support Ev 2:In freud's psychoanalytical theory Holden is using the mechanism known as Reaction Formations , which is when one behaves in a way that is the opposite of one's true wishes or desires in order to keep these repressed.When Holden drops out of prestigious schools such as pencey he is using this as a way to remove himself from society as he tries to hide the ways he actually wants to feel. He wants to feel like he is someone in life and as a result he is unsuccessful according to Freud's Reaction Formations.

Holden exhibits many key behaviors associated with a victim of childhood sexual abuse, known to specialists as CSA. The impacts of sexual abuse stay very true to Holden’s character, and his many actions throughout the novel. As CSA continues to be researched, “literature suggests a number of psychological and behavioural impacts as possible results of sexual abuse of children and teenagaers.” (Stewart 131) Because of Holden’s troubled childhood, and apparent struggle with the death of his Brother Allie, he is shipped off from state to state. His mother loves him, but can not handle his emotions in tandem with her own. This neglect makes holden feel “unloved [and] worthless,” having to mourn the loss of his brother and cope with his intense emotions on his own (Stewart 131). In his interactions with a former teacher, Mr. Antolini, Holden also demonstrates his “difficulty distinguishing sexual from affectionate behaviour. (Stewart 131) These intense emotional conflicts along with “trouble trusting others” showcased in Holden 's hatred of “phonies,” “shame, guilt or fear about sexual activities” such as his encounter with Sunny, and overarching “mental health problems” which form the basis of the whole novel (Stewart 131). As Holden struggles to cope with these intense mental conditions, the sweet release of self medicating through alcohol and cigarettes becomes a daily must for Holden. Holden’s smoking of cigarettes not only relieve his stress and anxiety which he has no

Holden comes from a privileged background and his family sends him to the best school.Holden has flunked out of three schools, so this gives me the impression that he really doesn’t care. As the story goes on, the author lets us get to Holden a little better by the way he acts with other people. I discovered that he hates phony people, and he is a depressed person.He seems like he’s on the verge of committing suicide. So he decides to go home to see Phoebe, he starts to realize that she should have her brother in her life.Her insisting him to go to the zoo with her helped him decided to be that brother, but he had to make a lot of life changing choices to be that person.

Holden drops out of school and embarks on a journey after realizing that he doesn’t fit the social expectations at his current prep school. Throughout the story, Holden struggles with a low self-esteem which is caused by his lack of feeling accepted. He is seen referring to others around him negatively using terms such as, “phony” (Salinger 5), and struggles with suicidal thoughts. Holden’s constant discrimination of others and suicidal thoughts illustrate how little his self-worth he has, due to the fact that he doesn’t feel accepted in his society. Eventually Holden decides he wants to go out with a friend, and he decides to bring Ackley along because, “Ackley never did anything on Saturday nights,” (41.) Holden himself lacks in the friend department, but he uses Ackley and his lack of a social life to reassure himself that someone has it

Mental illness is a prevalent issue in American society, making The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger a must-read for modern teenagers. Over three million teens aged 12-17 suffer from depression in America alone, “Teen Depression on the Rise Says New Pediatrics Study.”Time) ,Like Holden, many of these teenagers do not realize that they are depressed. They experience symptoms of depression, but don’t realize what is happening to them. These teens tend to experience feelings of loneliness, confusion, and lack understanding of what is happening to them, which only amplifies the other symptoms. In Salinger’s novel, the protagonist,Holden, suffers from feelings of emptiness, which may have been alleviated if he had been aware of his mental illness.