Shocking

I was curious about the effectiveness of electroshock theory, because frankly it sounded ridiculous to me. Some quick reading taught me a couple of interesting things:

Electroshock therapy is effective about 50% of the time. It works by inducing a seizure to treat depression. Those who respond to the therapy typically relapse within twelve months, so electroshock therapy isn't a long-term solution (if you can call it a solution at all). Electroshock therapy is still used today although it is rarely the first treatment for depression or bipolar disorder. It requires informed consent, which means that if a patient refuses the treatment, it cannot be forced onto them.

The health risks of electroshock therapy are equivalent to that of general anesthesia. When I was reading the book, I assumed that electroshock therapy was doing the opposite of what it was supposed to, but that isn't necessarily true. It's safe to have the treatment when you're pregnant!

It is true that electroshock therapy may have been detrimental for Esther. It is also true that electroshock therapy could have been quite helpful for Esther. No matter what the exact cause of Esther's renewed well-being is, she ends the novel ready to leave the asylum and away from electroshock therapy.

Holden Caulfield and Mental Health

I just wanted to address something that someone said in class a couple weeks ago that I haven't gotten around to responding to until now. The class was discussing how Holden was inconsistent in some of his behaviors; how he was flip-flopping back and forth between feelings and moods. Someone used the phrase "Bipolar Disorder", and everyone agreed that Holden might be suffering from mental health issues.

I just wanted to clarify some errors in that statement. A few years ago, a friend of mine was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, so I did some reading on the subject. The disease is often portrayed in the media and popular culture as someone, who like Holden, flip-flops between emotions " :) >:( :) :(". There are two types of Bipolar Disorder and neither of them is like that. The more common form makes those with the disease have a manic period and a depressive period (especially compared to the manic period). The manic period lasts between six and nine months and the second period is a couple months shorter. During the manic period, the person with the disease feels on top of the world, and my friend described it "as if you could do anything." During the other period the person with the disease feels very let down and can be suicidal during this period.

Now I'm sure this information isn't perfect, and my information about how long each period is may be off by a month or two, but my point still stands that Holden Caulfield's mood swings aren't caused by bipolar disorder, they're caused by a short fuse and hormone shifts. If he has mental health problems, he may have depression or anxiety, but not Bipolar Disorder.

I just wanted to clear that up so that people involved in that discussion don't continue to think false things about mental health. I encourage people to do some reading by themselves on the subject so that they can be better informed when discussing mental health.

Thanks for reading!

Anxiety For the Future

Sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed by how little control I have and how little I know about my future. In Catcher in the Rye, part of Holden's struggles are similar in that it depresses him how formulaic the future is for others, but he just doesn't have it figured out. Esther is very comfortable being a student, but she has no real, concrete plans for the future.

This really resonates with me as a reader and as a young adult because I don't have a clear grasp on what I'm going to do when I grow up. I'm pretty sure I'll be fine, but I have so many different factors pulling me in all directions that I don't know which way to turn permanently. If I were to write a reflective novel as Sylvia Plath and James Joyce did where, the main character portrays events similar to what they experienced, my novel would go something like this:

Picture the scene, a young man sits in his room not doing his homework. He is more of a boy than a man. He is anxious for the next stage of his life but not ready to leave this one. With each assignment completed, he is one step closer to moving onward. What is the next step? Why is there a nagging feeling in his gut?

I have plenty of teenage angst. I feel bad for Holden and Esther because they know less than I do. Holden can't think far enough into the future to see what his poor decisions will lead to, whereas Esther worries too much about the future. I feel somewhere in between those. I try to live life one day at a time and see where it takes me.