Self-Help

Escaping the System

A PTSD Survivor's Guide to Institutional Self-DefenseH. Nattanya Andersen

Mature

Length50m

About this audiobook

What happens when the people charged with helping you heal become the ones you need protection from? In this urgent guide, PTSD survivor and former flight attendant H. Nattanya Andersen shares what she learned after nearly being institutionalized—not because she was a danger, but because it was convenient for those who wanted her silenced. Drawing from her own harrowing experience and the landmark Rosenhan experiment that proved even sane people struggle to escape psychiatric commitment, Andersen provides essential knowledge for anyone navigating the mental health system during a PTSD crisis: your legal rights as a patient, the critical difference between voluntary and involuntary commitment, how to prepare before you're in danger, and how to get out if you find yourself trapped. This is not anti-treatment. This is pro-survival. Because knowledge is power—and the power to heal lies within your Self. Part of "The PTSD Fallacy" series.

Audiobook details

GenreSelf-Help

Length50 mins

Narrated bySelect Your Own

FormateBook with Audio

Publish dateFeb 17, 2026

LanguageEnglish

1Introduction

8Involuntary Patient

2A Note on This Edition

9Summary of Your Rights

3Introduction to Volume E: Protecting Yourself

10Maintaining Your Composure

4Chapter 32 - Three Days in the Nuthouse

11Chapter 53 - Turn the Ship About!

5Chapter 33 - How to Get Released from a Psychiatric Hospital

12Disclaimer

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6Chapter 34 - These Are Your Rights

13About Nattanya

7Voluntary Patient

About the author

H. Nattanya Andersen

Born in St. Peter at the North Sea coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, Nattanya set out to sail with the Danish Marine at the age of 17 before settling in Copenhagen, Denmark. Travelling in her blood, a few years later she began to fly for Air Canada out of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, and turned to writing her meticulously researched non-fiction books whilst injured with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the line of duty. She lives with her dogs by the Pacific Ocean on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.View all by H. Nattanya Andersen