Prince Harry says he hopes the openness with which he addressed his inner struggles in his memoir Spare will help break stereotypes around men’s mental health. The Duke of Sussex gave an in-depth insight into his personal battles in a tell-all interview while rejecting the notion that he should be considered a victim.
In a wide-ranging live interview with controversial trauma expert Gabor Maté, he insisted “I’m not a victim” and said “sharing my story will help some people out there”.
The 38-year-old said: “To be able to share the things of my life that I think is important feels good – to me it feels like an act of service.
“If we can encourage other people to be vulnerable themselves and be vulnerable to their family the world will be a better place.”
The Duke of Sussex was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder by the academic.
Dr Maté said: “Reading the book, I diagnose you with ADD… I see it as a normal response to normal stress.”
The Hungarian-Canadian Dr noted that the condition can be “healed at any age”.
ADD is similar to ADHD, where the individual struggles to concentrate, however they don’t exhibit the same hyperactivity.
Opening up about his mental health journey, Harry discussed his initial reluctance to engage with therapy.
“My awareness of myself was distorted by my environment but also society”, he said.
“When I found my therapist and started to unpack 12-year-old Harry at the point my mother died was scary.”
He continued: “One of the things I was most scared about was losing the feelings that I had of my mum.
“I thought that if I went to therapy it would kill me and that I would lose whatever I had left, whatever I managed to hold onto of my mother and it turns out that wasn’t the case. I didn’t lose that it was the opposite.
“I turned what I thought was supposed to be sadness to try and prove to her that I missed her into realising she just really wanted me to be happy, and that was a huge weight off my chest.”
The California-based royal noted the emotional distance prevalent amongst his relatives. He said he intends to behave far more affectionately towards his own children.
“I feel a huge responsibility not to pass on any trauma or negative experiences that I’ve had as a kid or as a man growing up.
“There are times when I catch myself when I should be smothering them with that love but I might not be.”
