Harry volunteered to have trauma therapy session filmed

Prince Harry volunteered to undergo psychotherapy on camera for his mental health series to demonstrate how ‘wellness is an ongoing pursuit’.

Prince Harry was filmed undergoing a form of therapy known as EMDR, which is designed to blunt the trauma of painful memories, as part of The Me You Can’t See docuseries.

The Duke of Sussex volunteered to undergo psychotherapy on camera to demonstrate how “mental wellness is an ongoing pursuit”, the director who filmed the session has said.

It was reported that the Queen has been upset by criticisms that Harry levelled at his family during The Me You Can’t See, a series on mental health that the Duke has made with the American broadcaster Oprah Winfrey.

Interviewed by Winfrey, Harry described how the Prince of Wales had caused him to “suffer” as a child. He was also shown undergoing a form of therapy known as eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing, or EMDR, which is designed to blunt the trauma of painful memories.

Dawn Porter, the director of the episode, told Town and Country magazine that the idea for the therapy section of the program had come from Harry. “He volunteered, he was game for trying something,” she said.

“And we thought well, we have the opportunity to film this [therapy] and maybe this is something that will work for some people, maybe it won’t, but the idea is that you don’t tick a box and you’re done, mental wellness is an ongoing pursuit. You have to continue to try new things and to push yourself and his volunteering to try something was a great way to emphasise and underscore that point.”

Harry, 36, described using EMDR to deal with the discomfort he feels when he travels to London, which he said reminds him of the loss of his mother. During the session he talked about feeling hunted and helpless, as though “there is no escape”.

Prince William, left, and Prince Harry pictured at Diana’s funeral, in 1997. Picture: AFP

A therapist asked about the memory and what he would rather feel instead. Ultimately Harry described moving to a place of calmness and strength.

Interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, Harry described how the Prince of Wales had caused him to “suffer” as a child. Picture: YouTube

The Queen is said to have been deeply upset by Harry’s criticisms of his family, which were repeated during the documentary. “Harry’s grandmother has taken this very personally and is deeply upset by what Harry has said, in particular his comments about Charles’s parenting and suggesting his father knows no better because of how he was brought up,” a source is said to have told The Mail on Sunday.

During the documentary Harry suggested that his father had allowed him and the Duke of Cambridge to suffer when they were children. My father used to say to me when I was younger, ‘Well, it was like that for me, so it’s going to be like that for you,’ ” he told Winfrey.

It was also reported that a source said that the Prince of Wales had been keen to rebuild the relationship. “Charles will want to engage, but it’s fair to say [that] what Harry has said in both interviews with Oprah has been seen as very callous within the family. If Harry was to attack the Queen in a more personal way Charles would close ranks with the Queen without a doubt and Harry would be out in the cold.”

The source added: “Charles is such a gentle man and a dedicated father first and foremost. He’ll be feeling wretched. He wants to seek a reconciliation. He is not vindictive at all.”

The Times