The author spent seven years at the Orthogenic School, trying to resist the pressure to become someone she was not. She wanted to find out who she really was, but was told that she was crazy incapable of functioning in the world. She felt dichotomized—trying to be two people at once. It was only with the help of the other patients, years later, that she realized she had been right all along, and the best person she could be was herself.