Post-Traumatic Stress In Relation To Holden Caulfield Essay example --

Post-Traumatic Stress In Relation To Holden Caulfield Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout life, an individual may endure emotionally and physically straining moments causing the person to become downhearted, and or irate. These feelings are normal, but may however become a problem when these feelings prohibit someone from living a ‘normal’ life. An estimated 5.2 million American adults ages 18 to 54, or approximately 3.6 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have PTSD (Narrow, Rae, Regier). This purpose of this report is to prove whether or not Holden Caulfield, the main character of J.D. Salingers’s book The Catcher In The Rye, is depressed. What Is A Depressive Disorder? Depression is a serious medical illness that negatively affects how a person conducts him/herself, and the way he/she think. Depression may include anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, manic depressions. People with a depressive illness cannot merely ‘pull themselves together’ and get better. About 5% of the population will have some form of a mental illness at some point in their lives. Half of these people will also have a substance abuse Whorpole 2 problem, according to statistics from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, or NAMI. What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)? Difficult situations are a part of life, and people everywhere must cope with difficult circumstances such as conflict in out lives. See Appendix 1 (Depression). But occasionally, people experience an event, which is so unexpected that it continues to have serious affects, long after it has happened. Like depression in general these events may include a traumatic event involving actual or threatened death to themselves or others. Also learning that a close friend is in danger or has died can cause this type of anxiety disorder (What Is A Depressive Disorder?). This condition is one of several known as an anxiety disorder. One significant event in Holden’s life that is a factor for his mental illness is the death of his brother Allie. When Holden found out, â€Å"[He] was only thirteen and they were going to have [him] psychoanalyzed and all, the night [Allie] died, and [he] broke all the windows with [his] fist, just for the hell of it† (Salinger 39). Holden’s brother died of leukemia and at the time he did not know how to properly deal with the situatio... ...work hard on it, because as of now, he is always talking about Allie as if he was still alive. There has also been a good deal of research on the use of medications for adults with PTSD, including research on the formation of emotionally charged memories and medications that may help block the development of symptoms (Gold, McCarty 151-62). Medications appear to be useful in reducing overwhelming symptoms of arousal (such as sleep disturbances and an exaggerated startle reflex), intrusive thoughts, and avoidance; reducing accompanying conditions such as depression and panic; and improving impulse control and related behavioral problems. The incomparable solution for Holden would be a combination of the two, psychotherapy and medication. One should not rely on just medication, because then the risk of addiction increases. If medication and psychotherapy and being used, the person will become more able to cope with the situations that the person may face, on their own. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The report was to prove that Holden Caulfield of J.D. Salingers’s book The Catcher In The Rye, is depressed. POINTS TO SUMMARISE REPORT: - - - - - - - CONCLUDING STATEMENT