I was involuntarily held for a total of seven days at the age of 22 in a closed off and locked psych ward unit within a hospital. Fully against my will, I went through the brutal process of stigma, and realizations of how little society truly understands about those who suffer with mental illness, especially individuals who did time in a mental facility. Having experienced being an average person with no outwardly visible problems, to now being a man walking around with scars up and down my arms, while "normal people" gawk at the sight, is an untold gift that opens my eyes to who I am. I have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder and severe anxiety upon my exit from the hospital, with no accommodations in place for me to make it in this world financially, let alone socially. Though crippling to daily life and limiting my chances of experiencing healthy relationships with others, I have the privilege of seeing the world from both perspectives as I have personally transformed. I was once a working member of society, blended into everyday life, turned into a complete outcast seemingly overnight. The experts within mental clinics who write their observations get it all wrong from time to time, blanketing conditions and generalizations. Going from the book and what was learned from college does not offer the full picture of what lives inside the mind of a patient suffering with mental illness in its entirety, so I offer insight from my experience being under the emotional turmoil and derealization that came alongside my psychiatric hospitalization, and living with a condition that is hidden under long sleeves too often.