Analysis Of It's Kind Of A Funny Story

The purpose of this paper is to provide and explain my personal opinion on why I believe that Craig, the protagonist of It’s Kind of a Funny Story, made the appropriate decision when he decided to admit himself to the psychiatric hospital. This paper will cover information about what depression looks, sounds and feels like, and why it is so important to seek some form of help.
It’s Kind of a Funny Story, is a story surrounding the life of a fifteen-year-old male named Craig and his battle with depression. This novel illustrates many of the pressures that teenagers are faced with daily such as: the need to appear cool and flawless in the eyes of their peers, the fight to be the perfect student, the whole rollercoaster of emotions involved in

So, what is depression? According to our text book, Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing, depression is, “An alteration in mood that is expressed by feelings of sadness, despair, and pessimism. There is a loss of interest in usual activities, and somatic symptoms may be evident” (Townsend, 2015, p. 459). To provide a more personal answer to that question, depression is like this big dark hole that seems to sneak up behind you and swallow you whole. At times, it feels like an impossible task to gather the motivation to climb yourself out of this hole to reach some form of joy again. Depression is much more than just the feeling of sadness. It is this feeling of waking up in the morning and not wanting to leave the bed. It is this feeling of emptiness that you really cannot describe. It is this feeling of not being able to connect with anything around you. It is this feeling of constantly wanting to be left alone, but also wanting and needing someone to be there to care. It is mental and physical pain. It is sometimes the feeling of being so overwhelmed by the sense of emptiness that you no longer want to live. When you are struggling with depression, it is so important to seek help. Knowing that you are not alone and that you have people there to love and support you, makes climbing out of that hole a much easier task. As evidenced by Craig’s journey, the road to getting control back over your life, often involves many failed attempts. Much like Craig’s story, it also often involves the collective support from many individuals. There were many examples throughout the book that outlined the effects that depression has on an individual. I am going to outline a few that I can relate to my personal experience with depression. Relating my personal experience to the journey that Craig faced in this novel confirmed my