In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is a troubled teenager who isolates himself from the world and has difficulty being part of society, much like the author same. Holden begins his psychoanalytic experience the day he is expelled from school. “I want to start talking about the day I left Pency Prep” (Salinger 2). Holden's reminiscence of this part of his life recalls the theme of Sigmund Freud's idea regarding the unconscious part of the mind. “[The unconscious] contains primitive sexual and aggressive impulses, as well as memories of troubling emotional experiences (e.g., traumatizing events)” (Hartford 469). Holden's crazy decisions illustrate the mindset of an unstable young mind who is unable to understand what he truly wants in life. Holden's logical thinking is questionable throughout the novel in several situations. Holden creates a world in his mind as if he has planned the future when he says, “Here's my idea… We'll stay in these camps of cabins and stuff until the money runs out. Then when the money runs out, I could get a job somewhere and we could live somewhere with a stream and everything” (Salinger 132). Holden imagines a world where he can escape from all his problems, his problems, and live happily without having any worries. Such mentality could be described and seen as childish thoughts. A theory by Jacques Lacan known as the “mirror phase” states that “for a certain period the mirrored being and the world around him seem completely under the control of the child” (Hall 109). Lacan's theory can be used to describe Holden's perspective towards the world and what fantastic plans he has in store for himself. Mu... middle of paper... who came forward to be friends and people he could trust betrayed him somehow. You could say that the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is a form of self-therapy for Salinger by the way he creates Holden to be very much like himself. Salinger creates a confused teenager who has created a world of his own and has isolated himself from the world because this is what Salinger had experienced as a teenager. “In 1945 he was hospitalized for 'battle fatigue,' often a euphemism for a nervous breakdown” (McGrath). Salinger's collapse in 1945 is very similar to Holden's and that is why this novel was created. It is, in a sense, an autobiography of Salinger's psychoanalytic experience as a child. In conclusion, Holden Caulfield is diagnosed as an unstable young teenager who is unable to deal with the daily life of a teenager..