Summary: Holden Psychoanalysis

860 Words4 Pages

Andy Bouboukas
Honors English
Mrs. Dunkle
19 April 2016
Holden Psychoanalysis 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. Depression is by far the most prevalent of all the disorders that Holden showed signs of. Depression happens when feelings of sadness become overwhelming …show more content…

Impulsivity is being inclined to act on impulse rather than thought. This is also a characteristic of ADHD. “All I know is I got up from the bed, like I was going down to the can or something, and then I tried to sock him, with all my might, right smack in the toothbrush, so it would split his .. throat open.” (CITR 43) This quote clearly shows that holden isn’t thinking clearly and is letting his impulses take over. Treatments for this include medication such as focalin or concerla. The medications is going to help control the impulsivity, basically is going to calm the patient. One final disorder Holden could have is forgetfulness. Holden also shows signs of this throughout the story. “I’m so … absent-minded, I gave the driver my regular address, just out of habit and all-I mean I completely forgot I was going to shack up in a hotel for a couple of days and not go home till vacation started.” (CITR 60) This directly says that Holden is forgetting things and implies Holden has trouble from forgetfulness. Treatments for this include counseling and medication. The medication is going to help maintain thinking, memory and speaking skills. The counseling is going to help treat the patient 's behavior problems. In conclusion, Holden suffers from an array of disorders. The most serious of which is depression which then branches off into other disorders. Some of the symptoms that he displays include forgetfulness, mood changes, impulsivity, and suicidal thoughts. Those can even branch out into even more detailed disorders such as impulse control disorder, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and ADHD. However, luckily for Holden all of these disorders can be helped with medication and