Tamara Hill, a specialist in adolescent mental health, once said: “The supposed societal view that mental health is not as bad as they say the media, blocks progress...". Some people think that mental illness can be taken lightly, when in reality it is quite the opposite; Mental illnesses can cause children and adolescents in particular to act strangely, commit crimes, or harm themselves, to name a few things. A good example of how mental illness affects teenagers can be seen in the main character, Holden Cauffield, from J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Holden's erratic behavior is the result of the mental illness Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, resulting from the death of his brother. This can be diagnosed because of his brother's tragic death and because Holden shows major symptoms of the disease. The death of Holden's brother Allie makes him very vulnerable to PTSD due to the circumstances surrounding Allie's death. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is described by the “Glossary of Symptoms and Mental Illnesses Affecting Adolescents” as “when an adolescent experiences a shocking and unexpected event that is outside of normal human experience” (“Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ”). While everyone experiences tragic events, some are worse than others, and some are powerful enough to affect the person for the rest of their life. The death of a sibling at such a young age is not something many people can even imagine let alone actually deal with. In this case, Allie's death is very tragic and prolonged because: “she got leukemia and died…” (Salinger 38). All death is hard to deal with, but having to watch a loved one suffer slowly and painfully until the end of their life brings a whole new moment... middle of paper... a change in emotions, so every child would react in so intensely, which is not the case. The most reasonable explanation for Holden's strange behavior is that he suffers from a mental illness, specifically post-traumatic stress disorder. The death of someone very close to Holden made him feel like he was disconnected from the rest of the world and made him feel like Allie was with him when he wasn't, making him a clear victim of PTSD. The Young Catcher in the Rye can be an eye-opener for parents, children and even doctors around the world, showing how destructive these diseases can be to a teenager's life if they go undiagnosed and given help to deal with them. Continuing research into these diseases and possible treatments or cures can help many people get the resources they need to live life to the fullest.