Mental Illness and Death in The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Sallinger

Tamara Hill, a specialist in adolescent mental health once said: “The presuming social view that mental health is not as serious as the media says it is, blocks progress...”. Some people think that mental illness can be taken lightly, when in reality, its quite the opposite; Mental illness can cause children and adolescents in particular to act strangely, commit crime or hurt themselves just to name a few things. A good example of how mental illness affects teenagers can be seen in the main character, Holden Cauffield, of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Holden's erratic behavior is a result of the mental illness Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, resulting from his brother's death. This can be diagnosed because of how tragic his brother's death was and because Holden displays main symptoms of the illness.

The death of Holden's brother Allie makes him very vulnerable for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because of the circumstances involving Allie's death. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is described by the “Glossary of Symptoms of and Mental Illnesses Affecting Teenagers” as “when a teenager experiences a shocking, unexpected event that is outside the range of usual human experience” (“Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”). While everyone experiences tragic events, some are worse than others and some are powerful enough to affect the person for the rest of their life. The death of a sibling at such a young age is not something many people can even imagine let alone actually go through. In this case, Allie's death is very tragic and prolonged because: “ he got leukemia and died...” (Salinger 38). All death is hard to go through but having to watch a loved one slowly and painfully suffer to the end of their life brings a whole new l...

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...ange of emotion, then every child would be reacting this intensely which is not the case. The most reasonable explanation of these strange behaviors Holden has is that he suffers from mental illness, specifically Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The death of a person very close to Holden made him feel as if he was disconnected to the rest of the world and made him think that Allie was with him when he wasn't, making him an clear victim of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The Catcher in the Rye can be an eye opener to parents, children and even doctors around the world, showing how destructive these illnesses can be to a teenager's life if they are not diagnosed and given help to cope with the illness. The continuation of research about these diseases and possible treatments or cures can help many people get the resources they need so they can live life to the fullest.