What would you do if someone you love and care about was experiencing some kind of a downer? Be around them as much as possible? Cuddle them and fill them up with attention, love, and care, right? Well, while this approach may be the recommended go-to approach for people with a histrionic, borderline, or narcissistic personality disorder to name a few, it may not help with post-traumatic stress disorder. Leaving the sufferer in his own space and world has a better chance of helping him recover. This is one of the many enlightening points that I got from the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Fallacy.
The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Fallacy is a self-help book that was written by H. Nattanya Andersen. The book is based on the knowledge she gained from her PTSD experience and the journey she went through to her healing. She incurred PTSD after a near-miss accident where a Boeing 727 engine exploded five feet away from her at 6000 feet altitude while she was working as a flight attendant for one of the world’s largest air carriers. She was inspired to write the book after hearing and getting to know what some so-called experts in PTSD had to say concerning the disorder.
Just in case you are like the author who knew nothing about PTSD at the time she incurred the disorder and even after ten months into it, or like me who had not heard of it until after coming across this book, then here is a little definition to help you. PTSD means Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is a psychiatric disorder that may be incurred by people after they have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event. It comes with intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to that experience and may last long after the event has ended. Some of the things being said about PTSD are fallacies as pointed out by this book. The author brought these fallacies to light. For instance, some medical practitioners prescribe opiates for PTSD sufferers but this does not really help take away the disorder, it only numbs down the experience for a while.
This book is very enlightening. I love that it is not based on theories but practical ideas coined from the author’s experience. Besides her experience, the author obviously put in a good deal of research to the work. She did not fail to make references to some prominent experts in the medical field as well as scholars, scientists, spiritualists, and philosophers. The book is easy to understand and there are no ambiguous terms in it.
There was nothing much to dislike about the book. Apart from a few typographical errors, I think the book is well written and easy to comprehend. The content of the book is so invaluable as it exposes the rot that is obviously present in the medical field which mislead people. It is also properly structured and easy to comprehend. Based on these, I give this book a rating of four out of four stars. I recommend it as a good read for everyone, particularly those that are suffering from, or know someone that is suffering from PTSD.