Clinical Report

Psychological

Center


Statement of Problem

Holden Caulfield was seen at Psychological Center. He was referred to by Carl Luce, son of a psychoanalyst and classmate. The client was accompanied by his parents, James and Sara Caulfield. They want to gain information about Holden’s mental state. The following is a summary of results based on the case history form, parent interview, assessment results and observations obtained before or during the evaluation.

Case History
Birth History
Medical History
Developmental History
School Performance
Behavioral Issues
Evaluation History

Holden Caulfield was born June 10, 1936. As he was growing he didn’t have any problems, until his brother Allie died. Allie died around the time when Holden was twelve years old. This happened at a young age and Holden didn’t know how to handle this. This was a traumatic experience for him because after that he was reported to be at the hospital with a broken hand. He had punched out the windows of his garage. Holden didn’t attend Allie’s funeral, during this time Holden was at the hospital. Later on, his parents reported that Holden was going to a psychologist to treat this experience that left him mentally wounded. He stopped going shortly after his start. There wasn’t any noticeable improvement.

Holden is sixteen and he has been entered to this mental institution. A psychoanalyst will be treating him. Also, he will be going back to school in the fall where he will make an effort to become a better student. His family visits him often and also his brother goes. He was absent for a long time, but he makes the effort to help Holden the best he can by visiting often.



Behavioral Observation

His behavioral issues just kept getting worse and worse. Also, he lacked the enthusiasm and this affected his performance at school. Holden has seen to fight with fellow classmates resulting Holden getting hurt physically. His mood-swings have been going from bad to worse without any improvement. Already four schools have expelled Holden. They say that they can’t handle this problematic child who doesn’t make an effort to improve. Also, they don’t want to take someone who has no interest in learning and goes causing mayhem in their installations.

Holden doesn’t let anyone help him treat his mental state. He won’t let anyone in and whenever someone tries to help him, or talks about the subject, he will instantly pull away and close up. He knows he has a problem but he won’t let anyone help. Often, friends will suggest for him to go somewhere to treat his mental state. Holden refuses and he says that there isn’t anything wrong with him, that he is fine. A friend of him, Carl Luce, suggested that Holden went to get psychoanalyzed. An extensive analysis would determine the patterns his mind runs in. Holden refused to this offer.

The people that have known Holden and that are around him say that the he isn’t aware of what he does. There is some sort of vacancy and often avoidance when the subject of his mental state comes up. Holden also has feelings of emptiness he will feel alone and when this happens he tries to make a bond with someone. When this happens he is inappropriate because he starts talking to people who are much younger or much older than him. The people he already formed a bond with, he will push them away when he feels that they are beginning to know too much of his character.

Now that he has been at the Psychological Center, he is always trying to persuade the nurses into going out on a date with him. Sometimes he even tries to take them out on a date, considering that he is under age and the nurses are much older than him. Also, the nurses have noticed that Holden talks about many different subjects at the same time without any type of order and it’s very hard to keep up with him, sometimes impossible. Often he will talk about “phonies” and a lot about children.


Summary and Recommendations


After several evaluations were ran on Holden, and the psychoanalyst’s several analyses, we have determined that Holden’s mental health is threatened by the fact that he can’t get over his brother’s death. Holden is seen to be trapped with the idea of Allie being the perfect child. Therefore, he wishes that every child stayed like that forever and never lose their innocence. He thinks that when they go into adulthood, they lose this and become what he calls phonies. Holden has also referred to himself as a twelve year old trapped in a sixteen year old body. His emotions are bottled up and he is clearly unable to get them out. His childhood was shaken with the loss of his brother.

His ability to form bonds with other people isn’t good either. Often Holden is immature for his age, and also he is inappropriate with people that are older or younger than him. He has difficulties on realizing what he does and what he doesn’t do. This becomes a problem because he causes several disruptions and problems with the people around him. Unintentionally, Holden pushes people away for him and that increases his need for company because he feels lonely most of the time. Holden’s fantasizing isn’t any good either, he often has fantasies in which he either disappears completely from any social encounters, or he has fantasies of him getting hurt.

It is recommended that Holden visits the psychoanalyst at least one day a week for the period of thirty minutes. The reason this is needed is to help Holden to express himself and be able to communicate properly with the people around him. Also, to help him move past the memory of Allie and to help him let go of this. If it’s possible, Holden could go more that one time a week. The counselor at the new school Holden is scheduled to go so he can get therapy in the installations as often as possible. Holden Caulfield can be placed at the patient list at the Psychological Center so we can put him with an expert on this ground to help him. If you still have concerns about your child a year from now, that is August 15, 1952, a re-evaluation will determine if there has been any significant changes or improvement.





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Graduate Clinician



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Diagnostic Supervisor