During this interview, we learn that Prince Harry was diagnosed as suffering from attention deficit disorder (ADD) by Dr. Gabor Maté. Disorders present in particular since the disappearance of his mother Lady Diana in 1997.
The Hungarian-born Canadian doctor said he came to this conclusion after reading Harry’s book, “The Substitute”. “Reading the book, I diagnose you with ADD, I see it as a normal response to normal stress, not a disease.”
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To which Harry replied, after the diagnosis, in an ironic way: “Thanks for the free session”, before explaining that he had, younger, turned to therapy to help him when he had the impression of being misunderstood and abandoned by those around him. “I suddenly realized that I had learned a new language and that the people around me didn’t speak it – I actually felt more left out.”
Dr Gabor Maté said he could see “a lot of trauma” in Harry’s life, despite being “a scion of one of the richest families in the world, gilded by power and privileges.”
To which Harry replied that he had tried to improve the lives of his children by giving them a different upbringing. “We only know what we know, and my wife and I are doing the best that we can as parents — learning from our own past and cross-referencing those mistakes, perhaps, and growing up…to break this cycle,” he said.
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Harry then announced that he had been “in shock” from an early age: “Since I was 12 years old, in addition to being in shock, I was in a fight or flight state” , adding that he had learned the importance of “self-regulation” in managing his mental health.
The latter also indicated a sentence that his therapist had told him during a session: “We are dealing with a 12-year-old Harry”. A sentence that says a lot according to Dr. Mate. “At some point you go back to much younger ages – when you’re hurt, when you’re upset. The trauma is what happens inside of us”.
Doctor Mate then touched on how people use drugs to deal with problems in their lives before asking Harry about his reasons for using drugs, including cocaine and cannabis.
”The first one you mentioned (Editor’s note: cocaine) didn’t do anything for me, it was more of a social thing. It gave me a sense of belonging and probably also made me feel different from how I felt,” Harry first quipped. “Marijuana is different, it really helped me,” he later explained. As for drinking, the Prince also said it was more of a “social thing”.
Prince Harry supports the use of “psychedelic” drugs to combat certain traumas. “It took everything away from me and gave me a feeling of relaxation, release, comfort, a lightness that I managed to keep for a while.”
The 38-year-old man even admits to using this type of drug quite regularly. “I started doing it recreationally and then I realized how good it was for me. I would say that it is one of the fundamental parts of my life that has changed me and helped me deal with the traumas and pains of the past”.