The Duke of Sussex has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) by a trauma expert during a live interview. Prince Harry spoke to Doctor Gabor Maté at length about losing his mother Diana. During the interview, which cost Brits £17 to watch, the doctor threw a curve ball at the Duke by saying he believed Harry had the condition.
ADD, also known as ADHD, is a condition that affects people’s concentration and can make them easily distracted. In adults, it can lead to “unstable relationships”, low “self-esteem” and other issues, according to the Mayo Clinic.
After he was diagnosed, Harry joked “thanks for the free session”.
Doctor Maté has over 20 years experience working with people with mental health issues, including addiction and trauma.
He diagnosed Harry based on the material he read in his memoir Spare and said he views ADD as a “normal response to normal stress”.
Elsewhere in the interview, Harry opened up about his use of drugs, including cocaine and marijuana. He described his drug use as a deliberate attempt to “feel different” although nothing was said about whether ADD could be connected.
Talking about cocaine, he said: “That didn’t do anything for me.
“It was more of a social thing.”
He added: “It gave me a sense of belonging for sure.
“It also made me feel different to the way I was feeling, which is kind of the point.”
As well as discussing ADD, the two also chatted about Harry’s post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Harry said he felt like he had “burst a bubble” when he went to therapy, where he would be diagnosed with the condition.
He said he found it “scary” working with a therapist to “unpack” how “12-year-old Harry” reacted to his mother’s death in 1997.
At one point in his chat with Gabor, he said he had even used psychedelics such as ayahuasca to help with his trauma.
He said: “It was the cleaning of the windscreen, cleaning of the windshield, the removal of life’s filters just as much as on Instagram, these layers of filters.
“It removed it all for me and brought me a sense of relaxation, release, comfort, a lightness that I managed to hold on to for a period of time.
“I started doing it recreationally and then started to realise how good it was for me, I would say it is one of the fundamental parts of my life that changed me and helped me deal with the traumas and pains of the past.”
