The book The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Fallacy: A Mental Health Industry Bonanza of Profit and Human Destruction by H. Nattanya Andersen tells about the author’s recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder syndrome. She became a victim of this syndrome during her work as a flight attendant. Once the engine of her plane exploded and she narrowly escaped death.
Of course, it immediately becomes interesting how this woman was able to cope with her PTSD syndrome.
On the surface, this book really does live up to the highest expectations. It is excellently edited. The book has neither syntactic nor grammatical errors, nor even minor typos. It is written in a plain and easy style. The author is able to present very complex scientific theories in extremely accessible language. She also knows how to tell the story of an idea clearly and concisely. For example, her story about the evolution of ideas about the soul in antiquity deserves a place in a history or philosophy textbook.
Naturally, you expect new knowledge in psychology and medicine from a book dedicated to the author’s struggle with PTSD. What is this mysterious “fallacy”? How did the author manage to cope with her problem? Of course, on many pages of The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Fallacy: A Mental Health Industry Bonanza of Profit and Human Destruction the author actually talks about her contacts with psychologists and doctors.
However, later H. Nattanya Andersen begins to talk about supernatural things, spirituality and suchlike high matters. Of course, it is very good that reading spiritual literature helped the author to overcome PTSD syndrome. As the saying goes, a drowning man grabs a straw. Nevertheless, it is somewhat strange to come across extremely lengthy discussions about reincarnation and angels in a book about PTSD syndrome and mental health industry. It’s about the same as buying a serving of sugary ice cream and finding fatty fried fish there. There is nothing wrong with the very reasoning about the reincarnation. After all, everyone have his or her point of view. But in a book devoted to an important medical problem, such reasoning seems out of place. Angry and highly biased statements about some politicians seem even more out of place.
Another serious drawback of The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Fallacy: A Mental Health Industry Bonanza of Profit and Human Destruction is the lack of restraint and impartiality of the author. She insults poor clinical psychologists and psychiatrists almost continuously, calling them “the psycho-the-rapists” and “psychiatric locust plague”. Expressions like these are more likely to cause rejection among readers than sympathy for the author and her ideas. Such rudeness and inventing offensive nicknames are more suitable for a school bully than for a grown-up woman who endured a terrible shock and was able to bravely overcome it.
Sometimes H. Nattanya Andersen even comes up with something like a new conspiracy theory, accusing mental health practitioners of transforming their patients into test subjects and deliberately trying to stuff them with harmful drugs. It seems often that she is about to accuse clinical psychologists and psychiatrists of conspiracy with aliens and intent to destroy humanity.
Thus, the shortcomings of this book substantially outweigh its few advantages. Therefore, I give her 1 out of 4 stars. It is difficult to say whom I can recommend this book to. It can cause unreasonable fear of doctors and exacerbate pre-existing problems in real PTSD victims. Perhaps this work will be successful with supporters of already existing conspiracy theories.