Holden Caulfield Psychoanalysis

Holden Caulfield is a regular individual, yet he has had some traumatic incidents during his life. I believe that these things are the reason that Holden has been acting weird with his actions and his beliefs. The mixture between major depression and a memorable event in his life has caused him to act out throughout his life and caused him to be put into a mental home, although he does not need to be there. Holden’s problem isn’t something wrong with him mentally but something that went wrong with his life. I believe that with proper treatment and someone to talk to that Holden will be just fine. Growing up is hard for some kids and it puts them through an awkward stage in which Holden was trying to find himself. The idea of being the catcher

This is the depression that he suffers from that is actually pretty major. In the book Holden constantly used the phrase if you want to know. That showed that he thought that no one cared for him. An example of this is when Holden said, “I was born, an what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth” (Salinger 1). On the very first page of the book that he wrote we can already see that he is doubting that anyone will care enough to listen. This type of depression is the feeling of being lonely. Holden felt lonely a lot through his book. This made me think that Holden needs to use talk therapy. Additionally, Holden will need to keep writing about his feelings to keep in touch with our therapists. In my personal opinion I do not believe that Holden requires any type of medication to cure his depression. Furthermore, another part of his depression was the fear of disappearing. This fear was because he thought that since no one liked him that he was going to disappear and no one would find him. "Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let

Sex is something I just don't understand. I swear to God I don't” (Salinger 63). We can see Holden has clash of his emotions as he is trying to find himself out. He does not understand sex and tries to get it out of his life. Yet he is overtaken by his emotions to have relationships with girls because he is getting older and thinking about things like that. It is normal for a kid to be awkward around the adolescent years. Holden should not be attacked for being a little different as he is just growing up. Although, he has had some traumatic experiences that have also been the cause of him being different. We find out in Holden’s book that James Castle, a kid from school, and Holden’s brother Allie had passed away when Holden was still very young. These situations were hard for Holden to cope with and made him part of the way he is today. In the book we can see the impact of just James Castle when he jumped. “ So they started in on him. I won't even tell you what they did to him--it's too repulsive--but he still wouldn't take it back, old James Castle.
And you should've seen him. He was a skinny little weak-looking guy, with wrists