Prozac
Prozac is an incredibly powerful symbol of the way that the mental health industry has been commodified and treated as a business (instead of being treated as a way to help people). In her book, Aviv laments how the mental health industry has become focused on capitalism and selling drugs over other kinds of remedies.
Chesnut Lodge
Chestnut Lodge, the famed mental institution in Maryland, is a symbol of the old way that the United States dealt with the mentally ill. They sent them to an institution, locked them in there, and attempted to reform them. That way sometimes worked; other times, it didn't work. But for the person featured in Aviv's book, their time at Chestnut Lodge was ultimately successful.
Suffering in silence
A common motif in the book—and in the world more generally—is those with mental illness suffering with silence. Oftentimes, those with mental illness suffer in silence because of the tremendous societal stigmatization of mental illness and those who suffer with them. But they don't need to suffer in silence, Aviv argues. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and their mental illnesses, in Aviv's opinion, deserves to be treated.
