Chris Crutcher, the author of Chinese Handcuffs, had one main theme, healing from emotional traumas. Crutcher shows wounded teens that it is easier to overcome emotional traumas when one realizes their problem and want to fix it, gets help, and lets go of all of their extra, unnecessary emotional baggage. Dillon Hemingway and Jennifer Lawless, the main characters of Chinese Handcuffs, are both fighters. They are struggling to push the pain out of their lives, whether it is Dillon's struggle to overcome his brother's suicide or Jennifer's struggle against her rapist father and stepfather; only together can they survive and pull away from all of their sorrow, torture, and depression.

Crutcher shows that in order to help one's self, one needs to realize that he and /or she has a problem and want to change that predicament. For example, in Crutcher's book Chinese Handcuffs, Jennifer reveals the skeletons...