After the engine exploded five feet away from her while they are at 6,000 feet altitude after the airplane’s takeoff, death was surely inevitable for her and the others, but they miraculously survived. Now, she needs to fight another big battle that consists of battles; she now needs to fight PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Fallacy by H. Nattanya Andersen details her terrible struggles when she had PTSD, and how she came out on the other side, victorious. She also details how the traumatizing event separated her soul from her body and how she lost purpose because she constantly thinks that she’s going to die anyway, so why continue living? This also revealed the problematic things happening in the agency that is supposed to help them.
This book consists of over 1,000 pages and is jam-packed with ample information, so it really takes some time to read this one. I liked how Ms. Andersen told what are the other ways to get better, how to heal the soul, and how to get on again. I liked that she honestly said that there is a gap between the patient and the experts, making them misunderstand each other. She also provided thorough research on her claims, and she mentioned works that are helpful when understanding a certain situation. This is both hard and easy to read; it’s easy because of her writing style, and hard because this is filled with information that instantly makes you confused due to information overload.
From the start, I liked that Ms. Andersen said that this book should not be taken as a substitute for proper diagnosis and treatment, because I did not like her beliefs. She questioned experts on their expertise, which makes a little bit of foreshadowing on people who will read this book. I think this foreshadowing is bad because people will be scared to get proper treatment just because it did not work out for someone. Disclaimer, I am not saying that she is directly foreshadowing, I am just saying what kind of vibes her writing gave off to me.
I would love to rate this a 3 out of 4 stars, because it made me understand PTSD more, and how hard life is for them. This is written well and professionally edited, but then I think this is very, very, very, long.
I would like to recommend this book to PTSD patients, and I hope that they would find comfort and friendship with this book, and to psychiatrists-to-be, because this helps understand a patient’s life.