Mental Health
Holden has been demonstrated to be more than average person with mental issues. He has been described as a severely mentally ill person which could be a case of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia but more likely he is suffering from major depressive disorder for which was caused by his traumatic experience of his brother Allie's tragic death, examples are his negativity towards the world.
Holden is literally about to crash. Near the beginning as well as the end of the novel, he feels that he will disappear or fall into an abyss when he steps off a curb to cross a street. Sometimes when this happens, he calls on his dead brother, Allie, for help. Part of Holden's collapse is due to his inability to come to terms with death. Thoughts of Allie lying in his grave in the cemetery in the rain, surrounded by dead bodies and tombstones, haunt Holden. He wants time itself to stop. He wants beautiful moments to last forever, using as his model the displays in glass at the Museum of Natural History, in which the same people are shown doing the same things year after year. Holden's fears and desires are understandable, but his solution (avoiding reality) is impossible. Life is change. His feelings are typically adolescent, feelings shared by virtually everyone who is or ever has been his age. One of the reasons we like Holden is that he is so candid about how he feels.
During the 1950s mental illness was defined in an extreme way, causing the public to socially reject mentally ill people.
The public viewed both patients and doctors of mental illnesses in a negative way
One in three families would admit a family member to a mental institution.
Doctors in mental institutions during the 1950s would use extremely shocking treatments and the leading treatment would be electroconvulsive shock treatment. Electroconvulsive shock treatment is a procedure in which electric currents are passed through the brain, intentionally triggering a brief seizure. ECT seems to cause changes in brain chemistry that can quickly reverse symptoms of certain mental illnesses. It often works when other treatments are unsuccessful.
Holden shows a habit for singling people that he despises by calling them "phonies", he uses this phrase as a way to express criticism. Holden calls his schoolmates phonies in chapter two. During a conversation with Mr. Spenser, Holden goes on an internal rant, providing information for his audience regarding the phony nature of everyone at Elkton Hills (his school before Pencey Prep): "One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies." Later in chapter three, Holden talks about his schoolmates at Pencey Prep being phony. First he talks about Ossenburger: "I just see the big phony bastard shifting into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs." Later, he talks about Stradlater being a phony: "He was at least a pretty friendly guy, Stradlater. It was partly a phony kind of friendly, but at least he always said hello to Ackley and all." At one point, Holden even nonchalantly calls himself a phony: "I stopped on the way, though, and picked up Ackley's hand, and gave him a big, phony handshake." Overall, Holden simply thinks that the entire world is phony--himself included.
One in three families would admit a family member to a mental institution.
Doctors in mental institutions during the 1950s would use extremely shocking treatments and the leading treatment would be electroconvulsive shock treatment. Electroconvulsive shock treatment is a procedure in which electric currents are passed through the brain, intentionally triggering a brief seizure. ECT seems to cause changes in brain chemistry that can quickly reverse symptoms of certain mental illnesses. It often works when other treatments are unsuccessful.
Holden shows a habit for singling people that he despises by calling them "phonies", he uses this phrase as a way to express criticism. Holden calls his schoolmates phonies in chapter two. During a conversation with Mr. Spenser, Holden goes on an internal rant, providing information for his audience regarding the phony nature of everyone at Elkton Hills (his school before Pencey Prep): "One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies." Later in chapter three, Holden talks about his schoolmates at Pencey Prep being phony. First he talks about Ossenburger: "I just see the big phony bastard shifting into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs." Later, he talks about Stradlater being a phony: "He was at least a pretty friendly guy, Stradlater. It was partly a phony kind of friendly, but at least he always said hello to Ackley and all." At one point, Holden even nonchalantly calls himself a phony: "I stopped on the way, though, and picked up Ackley's hand, and gave him a big, phony handshake." Overall, Holden simply thinks that the entire world is phony--himself included. 
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