As a result to my evaluation of Holden, I believe Holden is a troubled teen. Being a troubled teen to me means doing something bad for the sake of yourself feeling good or better about something. For one, not many teens hire prostitutes. Yes, teens smoke and drink, but excessively abusing the drinking and smoking could mean he is troubled. In most cases, Holden found himself doing theses things in the time of need and company. For instance, when he was at the hotel alone, someone asked him if he wanted a girl to come up to his room. And of course he said yes, but when she got there, all Holden did was talk. In a way he's afraid of being alone, which is kind of ironic because he left Pencey for that same reason. This falls under being troubed because Holden doesn't really have anyone to go to when he's feeling alone or depressed, so he does things that a typical teen wouldn't do. Plus, he doesn't have a lot of good relationships with other people because according to him, he doesnt't like people who are phony. In most cases, it's almost all people he encounters. The only real good relationships he has had was with his brother, Allie and kid sister Phoebe.  

Holden's Diagnosis

Holden was an interesting patient. Each day was different and each day I gained a piece of knowledge about Holden. Based on my observation and evaluation, the cause for Holden's breakdown was loneliness and the inability to accept oneself for who you are. Some triggers that aggrivate Holden's emotional outbursts were sometimes people that he didn't like or situations that were hard to deal with. Could be stressful and/or depressing situations.These outbursts could indicate that Holden may have a stressfull life, bad habits, or it could be medical and genetic problems. Holden mentioned previously that he wanted to be like the ducks in the winter, running away from your problems. In a way, this is what's going on in Holden's state of mind, he's running away. In my opinion, that could lead to a stressfull life because not only is he not facing his problems, the idea of not facing them is like having a sack of potatoes hanging on your back. And it wont go away until you take each potatoe out making the sack lighter and lighter. If Holden would just take a minute to empty his "potatoe sack" his life would be less stressfull and he could have a chance of reassimilating into society. Acceptance of his problems and dealing with them is the only remedy needed for Holden to live a better life.

Holden's Motivation/Motives

I am intrigued and impressed with the past meetings I have had with Holden. He has managed to to leave me in astonishment. His past and relationships could server as an inspiration or contribution to who he is today and probably explains his motivation and motives for doing something meaningful or nonmeaningful in his life. And that is what i'm trying to depict about him in this next meeting. He settled in as always and got comfortable befrore we sarted. I then ask, "Holden, can you tell me what you did recently that was meaningful to you in some way?" He replied, "Let's see, well, I left Pencey before I started coming here and-". I cut him off and asked my next question, "Why? What was your motive?" He replies, "Ducks." Ducks? Really? "How?", I ask. Initially, I thought he was kidding. But then I saw the seriousness in his eyes. I let him reply, "Well, do you ever wonder where the ducks go when the lake freezes during the winter? In a way, the ducks are like me, I guess. And the lake freezing are like my problems and all. This motivated me from leaving Pencey because the ducks go away from their problems and that was what I was doing, running away from my problems." His anwser was completely unexpected to me. In most cases dealing with motivation, people motivate people. The idea of using a comparison with his life was indeed intelligent, however I do not agree with Holden's idea of "running away from your problems" I tell Holden, "But, don't you think it's better to face your problems?" The only thing he said to my question was, "Um, I don't know." And that concluded our meeting. Hopefully and what I greatly recommend Holden do is try to contradict what he said about problems in life and comprehend what I said about them.

Holden's Relationships

So far, Holden is a very interesting boy. During our intense yet resolving meeting, I now possess a deeper understanding for what goes on in Holden's life. This understanding of Holden that I have expanded my knowledge and interest on his relationships with people. So, this next meeting is about just that. I silently wait in my office for Holden to arrive then that silence is immediately broken as the door opens and Holden walks in. Without his red hunting hat. Which was very strange to me considering he's been wearing it in our previous meetings. "Hello, Holden! Where's your red hunting hat?", I ask suspiciously. He replied,"Oh, it's with my kid sister Phoebe!" Sister? He never mentioned anything about her. I figured this was a great opportunity to discuss his relationship with his sister since it was brought to my attention. "Your sister? You never mentioned this before. "Tell me about her.", I say to Holden. "Well, she's only ten, but boy is she smart! Straight A's and all. I'm the only really dumb one. She's really pretty, you should see her. She knows about a lot of things. Like if you tell old Phoebe something, she knows exactly what the hell you're talking about!", he replied. After he finished, that's when i asked, "So, tell me, Holden, are you guys close? How is your relationship with her?" Holden answers, "Hm, yeah, I guess you could say we're close. I remember when Allie and I used to take her to the park, especially on Sundays. She's somebody you always felt like talking to on the phone with. Anyways, about the hat, I gave it to her when I visited old Phoebe, right before I left. But before all that, we danced and talked. It was nice. And i liked it, I did, I really did. And our relationship is like how any old brother and sister should be like, I guess. Afterall, I think that maybe she's the only one that really accepts me for who I am and all. I don't know." I really admired Holden's very touching answer. To close things off, I smile and say, "Thank you, Holden for sharing this with me." Each day is different. And for that, I acknowkedge all the differences that Holden offers to further expand my evaluation on him.

Holden's Past Evauation 2: Negative

Following up on my previous meeting with Holden, we discussed his past that he found negative in his life. Now, before we even started, it was easy to infer that Holden thought the situation of what he was going to talk about would be awkward and emotional. Judging by the stillness of his body,eagerness of his hands, and the sweat accumulating on his forehead. However, this was the least initial intention to how I wanted him to feel during our discussions. It's just a way to get to know him better. So, we pursued the meeting. Anyways, like the day before, I begin by saying, "Alright, Holden, tell me again about this past event."  He looked down as if in desperation to get out of this position and then looked up as if for inspiration. Both of which were slow movements. Finally, he said, "This on kid that went to Elkton Hills with me, James Castle, wouldn't take back something he said about this one boy, Phil Stabile. Stabile eventually brought six other guys to old Castle's room. And no matter how much they nagged him, he still wouldn't take back what he said. You should've seen him; he was a skinny little weak-looking guy. Well, anyways, old James Castle decided to jump out the goddam window. He was dead. Right on the stone steps and all. The weird thing was that I let him borrow my turtleneck sweater one time and now he's just gone. This is negative to me because this kid was one of those quiet guys then all of a sudden he dies over some stupid thing. I don't know." That was the end of our conversation. Well, actually Holden just walked out the room with his head down not saying a single word as he did so. I underestimated Holden's answer. My intuition tells me that there might be more to this story or past event. His body language and tone of his voice contributed to the intuition that I have.

Holden's Past Evaluation: Positive



In order for me to know a little more about Holden, I am interested to know what his past was like. I am aware that there are positive and negative sides to the past. When i introduced this new topic to Holden, upon his request, he suggested to start with his positive past. To begin, I simply said, "Alright, Holden, tell me about your past." By the expression on his face as he was about to start was one most appealing. Big smile on his face. He spoke, "Ok, well, it's about my brother, Allie! He was two years younger than me. But like fifty times as intelligent! And plus he never got mad at anybody and all. But he died of leukemia on July 18, 1946. You'd have liked him. He had this baseball mitt with like poems written all over the fingers and pockets. I think this is a positive type past because, well even though he was younger than me, it's still inspirational to have been taught that life is about facing challenges. And that it's up to you to face them or not. And I think Allie faced it and all, you know, the leukemia." I was very impressed with Holden's answer. In addition to the evaluation, I observed that Holden's mental, as well as physical state change depending on the subject that are being discussed.

Emotional Evaluation

Upon arriving for our second meeting, Holden revealed to be a different person from when we first encountered each other. Physically as well because his nose appeared to be bruised and swollen as if he came in contact with a fist. I took advantage of this opportunity to evaluate his emotional being while he was, let's say, "in the mood". So, to start things off, I simply ask Holden how he has been. With no hesitation, he replied, but not to the question. More to himself, he said, "God, how I hated him." Initial thought to his comment led me to believe that he must have a lot of concentration to be able to tune me out. I was curious to know who he was referring to. "Who do you hate, Holden?", I asked. His voice in a rage Holden replies, "That goddam Stradlater that's who!" Further evaluation continued on his emotional being. I began to ask my next question, but Holden immediately cut me off with another interesting statement, "I know his ways with the girls! He better have not done anything to Jane and all!" Unable to get my next question in, i go along with what he said and tried to make conversation with that. "Who's Jane?", I ask. Holden turned his head very sharply towards me, smiled, and explained who Jane was as if he'd known her forever. "Oh, Jane Gallagher is this girl that I practically lived next to. I met her because her dog kept coming to my house and all." That emotional change from having rage to having total calmness greatly intrigued and astounded me. I switched off talking about Stradlater and Jane to test my idea that his emotions change depending on the subject being discussed. My idea or theory, if you will, was proven to be correct.