“What kind of question was that? Of course I wasn’t abused. If I were, things would be so simple. I’d have a reason for being in shrinks’ offices. I’d have a justification and something that I could work on. The world wasn’t going to give me something that tidy.”

This quotation shows Craig’s assumptions about mental health and the way he invalidates his distress. He has internalized the belief that you have to have experienced an adverse life event to have anxiety or depression. The double sword of guilt for anxiety and anxiety itself recurs throughout Craig’s journey, showing the reality of mental illness and the way that societal assumptions impact individual’s wellbeing.

“What did you want when you were a kid? Back when you were happy? What did you want to be when you grew up?” Dr. Minerva is a good shrink, I think. That isn’t the answer. But it is a damn good question. What did I want to be when I grew up?”

For Craig to have more peace, he has to deconstruct his assumptions about what it means to be successful. While he has pressured himself to enroll in Executive Prep High School, he realizes that his trajectory is only bringing him anxiety.

“I should be able to eat three plates of it. I’m a growing boy; I shouldn’t have trouble sleeping; I should be playing sports! I should be making out with girls. I should be finding what I love about this world. I should be frickin’ eating and sleeping and drinking and studying and watching TV and being normal.”

Because It’s Kind of a Funny Story is written in first person, the reader experiences Craig’s inner thoughts and can appreciate the magnitude of what he is going through. While he might seem lethargic or disinterested to observers, readers understand just how desperately he is trying inside. This shows how the inner and outer world of someone with a mental illness can be two very things.