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Does Holden Have Ptsd In Catcher In The Rye

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In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is thought to be mentally ill. I believe Holden is only suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and is not in fact, that mentally ill. If Holden does have PTSD, could it be from one single traumatic event, or a series of traumas lasting at least a month? Holden shows signs of PTSD; he’s been expelled from schools for not applying himself, mismatching himself to other people, and he doesn’t see a future or career for himself. Holden also finds is difficult to fall asleep at night and find it hard to concentrate, he gets irritated, and also stays aware of phonies. We know that Holden’s brother’s death and his other brother going to fight in the Cold War, and coming back traumatized, changes the …show more content…

Denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Holden is already a lonely individual. He adventures around New York City, which is highly populated, and he probably passes thousands of people, but does not understand the concept on socializing with people and respect. He often finds himself criticizing them, this keeps him isolated from everyone. Holden later finds himself trying to exempt the feeling of being lonely by calling people from his childhood, and eventually people he barely knew just so he had someone to talk to. After his brother Allie died, the first thing Holden did was punch out all the windows in his garage. He also attacked Stradlater after he refuses to use Holden’s essay because he felt Stradlater was dissing Allie. Most grievers bargain with God, but Holden is not religious so he bargains directly to Allie, praying to keep him from disappearing. Holden Begins to feel adulthood as he’s maturing from childhood. He does not only grieve for the death of Allie, but also for the death of his childhood. Toward the end of the book however, he begins to accept it all into reality and realize that he is growing up and it is all a part of life. This is apparent in his Catcher in the Rye speech, instead of him saying he still wants to be one of the kids in the field, he accepts that he has outgrown it and wants to be the Catcher, or the protector of

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Holden, the protagonist of the Catcher in the Rye often makes decisions under the influence of his problematic emotions and caught himself into many rough and self-harming situations. In the first place, Holden made self-harming decisions under the emotion of anger and sadness when his brother passed away "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 (21). " Holden is making idiotic decisions under the influence of anger and sadness and caused himself a lifelong injury. Similarly, later in the Catcher in the Rye Holden again makes another decision under his emotion of jealousy about Stradlater 's date with Jane. Holden relentlessly insulted Stradlater, driving him crazy until

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Holden meets few prominent mentors throughout the novel, who offer ephemeral relief to his problems, allowing for itinerantly to the past instead of living in the present. Allie, Holden’s brother, is a significant mentor who makes Holden reminisce on positive experiences with him before he passes away. Furthermore, Holden struggles long-term when Allie passes away and violently reacts, displaying his impaired judgement due to the stress of losing a family member ( Salinger 38-39). Holden admires his brother for being able to work past hardships and emotionally express himself through his unique poetry on his baseball mitt, which becomes a symbolic item to Holden when remembering Allie. Holden’s other prominent mentor is his sister, Phoebe, who sticks by his side,

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Based on the National Institution of Mental Health and examples from the novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main protagonist Holden Caufield displays multiple signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Throughout the novel, Holden shows many of the symptoms such as avoidance, and hyperarousal. Those who experience symptoms such as the ones mentioned, they most likely have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD much like Holden did. J.D Salinger portrayed PTSD through Holden and how he, and like so many others suffer from this mental disorder.

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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. Allie dying from cancer, started affecting Holden’s emotions and actions throughout the book.

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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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Holden experienced a very close loss to him of his brother Allie, and he did not take it well at all. “Not everyone with PTSD has been through a dangerous event. Some people get PTSD after a friend or family member experiences danger or is harmed. The sudden, unexpected death of a loved one can also cause PTSD,” (“PTSD”1). The death of his brother could be the main reason for Holden’s disorder.

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The most significant episode in the novel, “The Catcher in the Rye”, that fully defines Holden Caulfield is when Holden leaves early form Pencey to go to New York, but it’s his actions throughout the journey when traveling from Pency to the Edmont Hotel is what defines him. Throughout the novel, we understand that Holden is going through an emotional breakdown, however, Holden never comments on it directly. But who is Holden really, what can cause for him to have an emotional breakdown? Holden is a detached young boy who is harboring his feelings of disenchantment and confinement, a young boy who deflects attention from himself, and a young boy who is shameful of the idea of sex. “I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and then I yelled at the top of my goddamn voice, “Sleep tight, ya morons!””

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This book is mainly about the loss and betrayal of innocence. There is many signs to gather that Holden suffers from PTSD. One of my biggest believes of Holden’s PTSD comes from the the death of his younger brother, Allie. I do believe there is more reasons behind why he is suffering from PTSD, but I believe this was the spark to the flame, this is where it originated from.

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In effect, Allies death and Holdens drinking makes matters worse by Holden not knowing how to handle

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In the Catcher in The Rye, Holden does not fully experience the different stages of grief. Instead, he is stuck in the depressed stage. He keeps reliving visions of his childhood and how his life is now. He does not accept the fact that his younger brother, Allie, died from leukemia when he was thirteen. Holden continues to be in denial.

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Throughout the book, Holden is struggling to get by. The death of his brother Allie has left him in a tough spot. Holden doesn’t exactly know how to deal with this. The different stages of grief are represented through Holden. Holden shows denial and anger when he flashbacks to one of his memories after his brother’s death.

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Throughout the course of the novel, Holden showed many signs of a nervous breakdown like the death of his little brother,his classmate dying, and his relationship with a girl he likes but never gets a real chance with her. One of the first steps of Holden's breakdown was the death of his younger brother Allie. His brother’s death wasn't his fault he couldn't save his brother from having leukemia, so he has a desire to help others, and do what he wished he could have done for his brother Allie. Holden's brother having leukemia did not just kill him, but it killed holden as well because they were so close to each other.

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The “Catcher in the Rye” is a novel written by J.D Salinger and focused around the main character Holden Caulfield’s life. Holden Caulfield is a teenage boy who is suffering with many problems within him. When he was 13, his younger brother Allie passed away, which took a great toll in his life. Holden shows many signs of developing the disorder PTSD. PTSD stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and its affects Holden throughout the entire book.

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Boy gone crazy or depressed? 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.

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Sickness comes in many forms, but perhaps the most misunderstood form happens mentally. All of the events that happen to the main character in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, are caused in some way or another by his mental illness. Holden Caulfield is a boy who drops out of school and travels to New York City. Holden makes irresponsible decisions like when he travels to New York City by himself without permission which affects him mentally. Holden’s mental illnesses affects his decision making,specifically his decision to stay in school and his inability to connect with people.

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