Twenty-year-old Andrew James Archer seemed to have it all as a midwestern college student at the top of the dean's list and with a beautiful girlfriend at his side. Yet somehow the balance of perfectionist goals and the ability to temporarily turn off anxiety with the help of alcohol and friends allowed Andrew to hide what was lying just beneath the surface: bipolar disorder.

In his poignant personal narrative, Andrew invites others inside a hellish prism that left him the victim of substance abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts, mania, and delusions-and in a psychiatric unit with a...