What do the sleeping pills given to the narrator represent in the story, Your Duck Is My Duck?

In "Your Duck Is My Duck," the sleeping pills Christa gives the narrator represent willful avoidance of the real. Though the narrator knows the negative effects of drugs on her ability to engage with her work or surroundings, while at the beach house, she decides to take them anyway. When she wakes up the next morning, she is horrified to discover the pills made her send an inane email to her ex Graham. The pills, while a deflection of her psychological unrest, seem to unleash the truth of her internal turmoil. While the pills are another escape from reality for the narrator, they ironically succeed in exposing the truth of her character.