Holden Caulfield has Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Most of Holden’s disorders are the same as J.D. Salinger’s. Many things lead up to PTSD. Some events that could lead to this disorder are war, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, rape, kidnapping, and sexual assault. J.D. Salinger had Posttraumatic Stress Disorder due to being in the army. Salinger went through a lot after being drafted in the army in 1942. He couldn’t maintain a woman for a long period of time, he had many violent flashbacks, and he was so reclusive that he even built a tall wooden stockade fence around his house in New Hampshire to keep admirers away. Salinger also built a bunker-like building on his property, where he would lock himself away for days on end while he wrote.
Like Salinger, Holden couldn’t maintain a strong relationship with a woman. Salinger ended his relationships with women, which is another trait of PTSD. One second thing is fine, the next second they are not. Salinger dated at least 6 women in a 20-30 year span. To me, that’s a lot of women. Holden had a hard time picking up babes. He would want them one moment but then change his mind. Like when he hired the prostitute, but then only ended up talking. Holden is a flirt. All talk but no action that he’ll actually do what he talks about. He asks girls if they want a drink, he’ll dance, and lead them on. The girl would ask him if he wanted to do things and Holden would say no and walk away.
A theory at the end of the book is that throughout the story, Holden is writing from a mental hospital. Everything we just read was flashbacks. A symptom of PTSD is having flashbacks as if you would be reliving those previous events. J.D. Salinger got flashbacks from when he served in the army. They could have been from watching close friends die or him having to kill someone. Salinger fought in the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, which means he fought in three of...