Prince Harry has opened up about seeking therapy to help ‘relieve the pressure’ of hearing traumatic stories from injured military veterans taking part in the Invictus Games
Prince Harry says he has therapy to help cope with hearing heartbreaking stories from brave injured military veterans taking part in the Invictus Games.
The poignant admission came in as the Duke spoke with veteran Mark Beare, who suffered from PTSD as a result of listening to the trauma and grief of other soldiers – many of which lost friends in combat.
Like Prince Harry, the former Canadian soldier served Afghanistan. As Commanding Officer, Beare said that soldiers would often lean on him with their traumatic stories and after years of taking on that emotional weight, he hit a point where it became impossible to process.
“Towards the end of my career, I was diagnosed with PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress disorder] and MDD [Major Depressive Disorder] and it really rocked me,” Beare said in a televised interview special with Canadian news channel CTV News. “I felt like I was broken and that I had failed.”
The veteran then explained that he didn’t share his diagnosis with his extended family until 12 months ago, and credits the Games for helping him start the conversation.
As Harry listened to Beare’s powerful story, he revealed that as founder of the Games and as a combat veteran, he resonated with the emotional toll of hearing from soldiers who have suffered life-altering injuries and PTSD from serving in war zones.
In the pre-recorded interview, TV anchor Omar Sachedina asks the prince: “Some of this is so raw and so painful. How do you find the strength to keep listening?”
In response, the duke, who served two tours in Afghanistan during his 10-year army career, said: “I do my own therapy. I think it’s really important for everything that we take on as individuals who help other people, that you also need to find a place to be able to relieve that pressure on yourself. I try to give some advice. I try to connect the dots. I tell those individuals that they have the support structure around them.”
Harry added: “People come forward more to share, you know their stories, and I don’t always get the chance to have that really deep conversation with them. A lot of times I do. You know, if there would be a time and a place for that, and timing is everything, and the last thing I want to do is be the person to probe a little bit deeper.”
The Duke also revealed how much the Games means to him. “Being around this community is my fix. When you’re around these people, you hear other people’s stories, and you can make that connection with your own experience. There’s just a lot of weight that gets taken off your shoulders because a lot of these individuals feel or have felt very lonely.
“I get so much out of hearing their stories, and that may sound weird, but I get my own sort of cure and confidence from them, knowing that what we’re doing is working. And being able to serve, I guess, is part of my service, and being able to use the position, the platform, and the spotlight gives these guys all the attention and the opportunity.”
It’s not the first time that Harry has candidly opened up about his own therapy. The Duke has previously said he sought professional help to cope with the loss of his mother, Princess Diana. He used a special therapy programme called EMDR to process the loss, and said that living with the trauma of his mother made him feel ‘helpless’, ‘hunted’ and as if ‘there is no escape’.
Elsewhere in the 30-minute interview, Harry has suggested he and wife Meghan are unlikely to have any more children. The dad-of-two, 40, described parenthood as “amazing”. But he admitted: “I think one or two kids is probably enough… I definitely think that.
“I know some people who’ve got five. I just say, ‘Well, that’s your own fault!’. Having kids is amazing, but it is… it’s a journey every single day, every single week, they just grow, and they change”. Harry added: “I love the questions that they ask and the experiences and the challenges that they give you. It’s great.”
The Duke is at the Games in Vancouver and Whistler until the closing ceremony on Sunday. His wife, Meghan Markle, joined him for five days but has since returned home to California, to be with their children Archie and Lilibet.
