Holden Caulfield Mental Illness

Sarah Stiles

Mr. Williams

AP English 3

26 May 2023

Holden Caulfield’s Fight with a Fragile Mind Holden collapsed onto the chilled, dust-filled floor with blood dripping down his face. After receiving countless jabs to his fragile body, his skin turned violet, and he felt an unbearable amount of pain radiating throughout his entire body. In that moment, the only notion that Holden could hold onto was the concept of leaping out of a window. He simply no longer possessed the will to live, and nearly chose to commit suicide. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger scribes a story in which Holden Caulfield, a troubled sixteen-year-old boy, becomes riddled with mental instability. Following his expulsion from a ritzy private school, Holden

Holden Caulfield suffers from depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. First, Holden Caulfield experiences symptoms of depression through his suicidal ideations, extreme impulsivity, and loss of interest in activities. According to the Mayo Clinic, a nonprofit American healthcare organization currently ranked as the best hospital in the world by Best Hospitals Honor Roll, “depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest” (1). Holden experiences severe symptoms of depression throughout the entirety of The Catcher in the Rye. For instance, the Mayo Clinic further reports that one of the most prevalant symptoms of depression includes experiencing “frequent or recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts or suicide” (1). Holden Caulfield faces acute suicidal ideations in multiple instances throughout the novel. According to the National Institutes of Health, the primary federal agency for medical and behavioral research in the United States,

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an administration established by Congress in 1992 with a mission to create easily accessible information regarding mental health and substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder can be described as “a real disorder that develops when a person has experienced or witnessed a scary, shocking, terrifying, or dangerous event” (1). Holden Caulfield experiences post-traumatic stress disorder following the traumatic death of his younger brother, Allie. Due to the fact that Holden acutely loved his brother, the tragedy of his untimely death served to amplify intense feelings of trauma and grief. The traumatic memory of his brother’s passing leads Holden to develop post-traumatic stress disorder. First, The Cleveland Clinic reports that a common symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder involves the reliving of a traumatic event through flashbacks or dreams (1). In Holden’s case, he re-experiences conversing with his dead brother Allie. For example, while reminiscing about Alllie’s death, Holden undergoes a flashback of riding bicycles with his friend Bobby, and relives the fact that he did not invite Allie to go with them (Salinger 53). While experiencing this flashback, Holden declares, “So once in a while, now, when I get very