How Does Holden Caulfield Bipolar Disorder (2023)

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It is easy to tell that Holden is not mentally well. He can not seem to get over his brother’s death even though it has been years since it happened. It takes time for someone to grieve their loss but Holden’s hallucinations suggest that what he needs is professional care.

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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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To begin, Holden has bipolar disorder. According to Mayo Clinic, Bipolar Disorder, previously called manic depression, is a disorder that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs and lows. A major sign or symptom is depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, such as feeling sad, empty, hopeless, or tearful (“Bipolar Disorder”). Holden portrays the symptoms throughout the novel. “ Then I went over and laid down on Ely’s bed. Boy, did I feel rotten. I felt so damn lonesome” (Salinger ___). Holden usually feels lonely and depressed throughout the novel. Bipolar Disorder and Depression almost mean the same thing. Mayo Clinic says, “Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. "So I went in this very cheap-looking restaurant and had doughnuts and coffee. Only, I didn't eat the doughnuts. I couldn't swallow them too well. The thing is, if you get very

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A study found that “53,920” (Friedman,2) women in sweden had a form of mental illness. This shows that almost every person can have or obtain some sort of mental illness and that they should receive the proper treatment for it. Another reason on why it's not Holden's fault that he's alienated is that his family has pushed him away for so many years, by moving him to boarding school after boarding schools like pencey prep the only people in his family that cared for him are his little sister phoebe and his little brother allie. Holden speaks so highly of his little sister because he realizes that she's the only one that currently cares for him. “Holden!’ she said right away. She put her arms around my neck and all, she’s very affectionate, for a child…” (Salinger, 161) this shows that Phoebe is genuinely happy to see Holden she's the only one that didn't push him away, adding to his mental illness making him feel like no one wanted him, no one in his family saw the signs of depression in Holden so they couldn't treat the young boy so it wouldn't lead to where he is, right now Holden is currently abusing drugs and alcohol and he's even tried to solicit a

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“Holden Caulfield holds a place in the American psyche akin to Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer: an exquisitely rendered character with whom nearly anyone can identify” (Perle). In the year 1946, the book “Catcher in the Rye” was published. The story is about a boy named Holden Caulfield, who shows many signs indicative of mental disorder throughout the book. A few of these problems are Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and depression.

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During High school many students struggle with grades and what they want to be when they are older. Holden Caulfield doesn’t worry about these things. He doesn’t apply himself in school which causes him to be kicked out repeatedly. Throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Sallinger Holden struggles with depression and mental breakdowns. When Holden gets kicked out of his current school, Pencey, he decides to leave a few days early to spend a few days in New York City alone. During the trip Holden experiences many events that cause him to have mental breakdowns. Holden’s mental breakdowns with his fight with Stradilator, date with Sally and crying episode in the rain eventually lead to an appointment with a psychologist.

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In the novel The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character and protagonist (all though at times, he is his own antagonist) is Holden Caulfield. Throughout the novel Holden exhibits many characteristic of different mental illnesses including the likes of depression and anxiety, along with various others. Holden is obviously suffering from mental illness(es), in a variety of forms. Three major examples include him imagining all different scenarios and constantly telling lies, his loneliness and how he pushes people away from him {doesn't let people get close to him}, and his suicidal thoughts. At times Holden also doesn't remember things “so hot” and seems to be getting sick. Holden Caulfield is a sixteen year old boy who has

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Throughout the novel, Holden makes many rash decisions that greatly affect his life negatively. From the book, “The next part I don't remember so hot. 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 goddam throat open” (Salinger 43). Holden tries to punch his roommate, Stradlater, out of jealousy because he thinks he slept with a girl he liked. Another example, “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was

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The Catcher In The Rye is a very controversial book that revolves around the adolescence of Holden Caulfield who speaks to the reader directly from a mental hospital or sanitarium in southern California. We find this out at the end of the book which gives a definite answer that he does have a disorder. Holden deals with many mind states which led me to believe that he is bipolar. Bipolar disorder is characterized by cycling mood changes, severe highs, mania, and severe lows, depression. Throughout the story we see that holden shows many symptoms of bipolar disorder.

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Throughout the novel Holden expresses his feeling of deep sadness to the reader. Holden’s sadness is being triggered by small incidents that occur in his daily life. Holden’s inability to function within his society without feeling a rush of deep sadness shows that he is emotionally damaged. For example, when Holden went to the bar for a drink he was disgusted by the audience clapping for the excellent piano player that he believed was phony, he states, “I partly blame all these dopes that clap their heads off--they’d foul up anybody, if you gave them a chance. Anyway, it made me feel depressed and lousy again, and I damn near got my coat back and went back to the hotel, but it was too early and I didn’t feel much like being alone,” (Salinger 95). The way Holden overreacts about the crowd clapping to the point where he gets depressed it shows his suffering of psychological problems. The depression that he suffers from affects his thoughts and the emotional feelings he suffers from are not normal adolescent emotional behaviors. Holden finds himself drinking away his pain, or attempts to over the smallest incidents that occur in his life. Several times throughout the novel, his thoughts get too much for him he wishes he was dead. The unhealthy thoughts of this adolescent boy indicates that his thoughts are being influenced by his

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In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, the character Holden shows the symptoms of depression. Holden is kicked out of boarding school multiple times and is unable to make meaningful connections with others because he thinks they are all phonies. Holden’s negative attitude and inability to deal with his brother’s death cause many of his problems. Holden Caulfield is extremely lonely, often thinks about suicide, and drinks excessively.

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Due to his depressive thought and mood , Holden will behave strangely. Trying to be an adult, Holden will try act like one, which causes him to not be himself and have a different behavior. Holden seems phony when he tries to become an adult. There is a part in the book that really shocked me, it is when he Holden took advantages of Jane’s emotion to kiss her. He knew that something was going wrong in Jane’s house, but that did not change anything, when he saw the opportunity he took it, she seemed not willing to do it. Also there is another part where Holden seems like he does not even know what he likes or not for like in this quote “I hate movies” (chapter 6) , he hate movies but often talk about and goes to them this shoes how unreasonable Holden

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The first reason that the reader diagnosed holden with suicidal depression is He tried to kill himself. One way holden has suicidal thoughts in the book states, ”Everybody was asleep or out or home for the weekend, and it was very,very quiet and depressing in the corridor. […] All of a sudden, I decided what I'd really do, I'd get the hell out of Pencey – right that same night and all. I mean not wait till Wednesday or anything. I just didn't want to hang around any more. It made me too sad and lonesome. […] Besides, I sort of needed a little vacation. My nerves were shot. They really were”. (7.58 J.B Salinger). Throughout the story holden had many

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Depression. Alienation. Loneliness. Depression sets off a chain reaction of alienation and loneliness that causes people to make bad decisions. In the book, Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger explores the topic of mental health. The main character, Holden Caulfield, tells a story about the decisions he made at a certain point of his life. Throughout the book, Holden shows many signs of depression, alienation and loneliness. He acts out differently and always feels hatred for the world. The state of his mental health stopped him from making smart decisions but he also alienated himself which then caused his loneliness. Holden Caulfield went through a chain reaction of depression throughout the book which provoked a bad mental health

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The cause of depression can vary from many aspects such as a devastating loss or a terrible incident. Depression is neither inevitable nor a character flaw, however the emotional pain, a persistent feeling of anger and sadness, is demonstrated through the protagonist in J.D Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield, the young teenager in the novel, struggles with several tragic experiences that contributes to his depression. Holden Caulfield’s depressive state of mind causes him to isolate himself from society and serves as a primary reason for his difficulty dealing with others. Initially, Holden is prohibited from attending Pencey Prep due to his poor academic grades. As a result, this causes Holden’s manic and uncontrollable behaviors, as he tries to cope with his problems