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Psychiatric assumptions underlie much of the book. "Adults demand that children understand what they're trying to say," Betsy Drake points out, "but too often they interpret a child's most serious moments as stupid or cute or funny. So children, in self-defense, learn to play for the laugh. It's a style of craziness, a style of survival, a style of distancing. I learned this style as a child but I'm not really impressed with my comic or ironic side. I'd much rather write straight out of despair."