Reading Response to It's Kind of a Funny Story

     

     It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini is an inspiring story about a teenage boy struggling with depression throughout his high school life. The main character, teenager Craig Gilner, goes to a prestigious, elite Manhattan school called Executive Pre-Professional High School where academic and social stress make Craig stop eating regularly and he becomes more and more depressed until one night, Craig almost tries to kill himself. Criag ends up checking himself into the hospital and gets placed into the adult psychiatric unit. There, Craig makes many new friends and finds the root of his depression. I learned a lot from Craig's journey throughout It's Kind of a Funny Story. From wanting to kill himself to wanting to be an artist, Craig's crazy life taught me a lot about anxiety and coping with stress by finding an outlet. A big part of Craig's depression is academic stress that results from challenging classes and homework from his school. He has a lot of trouble balancing social time with homework time and then trying to find a moment to just relax. Sometimes I get stressed from having a lot of assignments due the next day and balancing hanging out with friends with homework and studying and extra-circulars. Sometimes homework can seem overwhelming, which is why it's important to make sure you leave yourself a little time to relax and focus on a hobby or something you like to do as opposed to something you have to do. Craig discovers in the book that art is a great creative outlet for him and it allows him to focus on what he's drawing instead of stressing about studying and homework.
     Throughout this book, Craig changes a lot as a person as he struggles with depression. In the beginning of the book and before he's hospitalized, Craig is very stressed out about school and life after school. Craig wastes time doing drugs with friends, counting down until the next day where he goes through the same daily routine of slacking off and stressing. When Craig calls the suicide hot line which sends him to the hospital, Craig makes the life-changing choice of deciding to voluntarily check himself in the hospital. Craig begins his stay in the hospital by getting a room in the adult psychiatric unit because the children psychiatric unit is under renovation. In the adult psychiatric unit, Craig meets many adults with different problems and disorders that brought them to the hospital. Craig immediately starts socializing and over the course of only a few days, Craig gets to know and befriends almost everybody in adult psychiatric. He learns the stories of President Armelio, Noelle, and many others that have a big affect on the way he views life. Craig learns from the other people not to take everything for granted or judge anybody for their past or for simply being in the hospital. Meeting these people helped Craig realize what real friends were and that friends should actually care about what you're going through and not just expect you to hangout. This lesson about friendship is a big breakthrough for Craig and helps him get closer to beating his battle with depression. Craig also takes an art class in the hospital that allows himself to express his feelings and ideas creatively. Through his drawings, Craig lets go of all his stress and just enjoys what he's doing. He learns that having time to relax with a hobby can be very good for you. When Craig eventually leaves the hospital, he's confident, excited, and ready to take charge of his life without letting stress take over again. Overall, what Craig learned in the hospital about friendship and relaxing helped him change as a person and beat his depression once and for all.