Mental health experts have praised Prince Harry for revealing that he sought counselling after 20 years of bottling up his grief over his mother’s death.
The prince had suppressed his emotions after losing his mother, Princess Diana, when he was 12. He took up boxing to help cope with feelings of aggression before finally seeking counselling.
Harry has rightly been praised for talking personally and thus de-stigmatising mental health issues. The normalising of mental health problems, which it is estimated will affect a quarter of us at one time or another, is necessary, but so too is funding.
Many people in Harry’s situation would not get access to counselling and would be offered antidepressants and possibly a short course of cognitive behavioural therapy, as this is considered most cost-effective.
Whilst socialists like me call for the abolition of the monarchy as a relic left over from feudal times, people like me who have an ongoing lifelong mental health condition need all the support we can get, even if it comes from Prince Harry.
JOHN SMITHEE
Wisbech
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