What Prince Harry’s Therapy Journey Reveals About Grief, Trauma, and How We Heal

Prince Harry’s openness about therapy—especially EMDR and psychedelics—has helped normalise mental health care for millions. His story highlights that even immense privilege doesn’t protect us from inherited pain or emotional wounds.

Few public figures have changed the way we talk about mental health quite like Prince Harry. Known globally as a royal, veteran, husband, and advocate, his emotional story cuts deeper than most headlines captured.

For decades, Prince Harry carried invisible wounds: grief from losing his mother at age 12, trauma from constant media pursuit, and anxiety deeply wired into his nervous system. But what makes his story worth retelling isn’t that he struggled—it’s that he sought help and chose to speak openly about it.

“I was willing to drink, I was willing to take drugs, I was willing to try and do the things that made me feel less like I was feeling,” Harry said in the 2021 Apple TV+ series The Me You Can’t See. He recalled years of reactivity, public panic attacks, and a persistent sense of being emotionally trapped. Yet Prince Harry's turning point came in the context of love, not collapse.

During an early disagreement with Meghan Markle, she gently called out what she saw: that his outbursts weren’t about the moment but something older and unresolved. “It was like someone had taken the lid off all of my emotions,” Harry said later on The Armchair Expert podcast. That insight propelled him toward therapy, for the first time with full intention.

Through sessions of trauma-focused therapy, Harry began to peel back decades of silence. Eventually, he would go on to film himself undergoing EMDR, discuss guided psychedelic journeys, and break open the centuries-old taboo of emotion within the British royal family.

More than PR, Prince Harry's story was personal. And as we will see, more than a heartwarming stigma-breaking therapy tale, his story is about what happens when you stop running from pain—and start listening to it.

What Drove Prince Harry to Therapy: Loss, Triggers, and the Moment Everything Changed

Prince Harry’s path to therapy wasn’t immediate. For much of his life, he relied on emotional suppression—something he later recognised as part of his family’s legacy. After Princess Diana’s death, Harry said he barely cried. Instead of mourning, he threw himself into distraction: “I refused to accept that she was gone,” he wrote in his memoir Spare. “Because the pain was too much.”

He carried that unprocessed grief through adolescence, military service, and royal duties, describing himself as emotionally numb and constantly on edge. In Bryony Gordon’s Mad World podcast (2017), he admitted, “I was very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions.” But because his distress was internalised—manifesting in anger, avoidance, and anxiety—it often went unnoticed by others.

Over time, ordinary events began to activate intense emotional responses. Flying into London gave him panic attacks. Public events left him drenched in sweat. He described entering “fight or flight” mode even in low-stakes situations. These symptoms are now recognized as hallmarks of unresolved trauma and cumulative stress—particularly when grief has been buried rather than integrated.

The Conversation That Changed Everything

The shift came not from hitting rock bottom, but from being seen. In a candid moment shared during the Armchair Expert podcast, Harry recalled an argument with Meghan early in their relationship. Instead of escalating, she calmly observed that his reaction seemed bigger than the situation. “You need to talk to someone about this,” she said. That moment, Harry explained, “was the start of a learning journey.”

For the first time, he saw therapy as a tool, not a royal liability or public risk. And crucially, he began to see how his past was shaping his present.

Theat insight—that our reactions are often echoes of older wounds—is a central idea in trauma-informed therapy. And it was Harry’s first step toward healing.

Inside EMDR: The Therapy That Helped Prince Harry Process His Trauma

Prince Harry allowed the cameras to follow him into a therapy session in a rare and vulnerable scene from The Me You Can’t See. What viewers saw wasn’t talk therapy in the traditional sense. Instead, Harry was seated in a quiet room, eyes closed, gently tapping his shoulders in an alternating rhythm—part of a process known as EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing.

It might look unusual initially, but the science behind EMDR is well-established. Developed by Francine Shapiro in the late 1980s, EMDR was designed to help people safely revisit and resolve painful memories, particularly those that remain “stuck” in the nervous system after trauma.

How EMDR Works

When someone undergoes EMDR, they’re asked to bring a distressing memory to mind while engaging in bilateral stimulation, such as side-to-side eye movements, hand taps, or auditory cues. This combination activates both brain hemispheres and seems to unlock the memory in a way that allows reprocessing.

Rather than just recalling a painful event, EMDR helps the brain re-store it with a reduced emotional charge. The memory doesn’t vanish, but it stops overwhelming the person each time it resurfaces.

“It’s like cleaning the windscreen,” Harry said. “It removes the filters of life.”

For Harry, EMDR was used to help him process anxiety related to returning to London—something he said consistently triggered fear and physical distress. In the filmed session, he works through these associations, allowing his body and mind to separate the past from the present. His therapist guides the rhythm of his tapping while he recalls the emotion and imagery that rise.

While EMDR is widely known for treating PTSD—especially in veterans—it’s also effective for:

• Childhood trauma
• Complicated grief
• Panic attacks
• Phobias
• Emotional overwhelm linked to past events

Beyond EMDR: Harry’s Use of Psychedelic Therapy

While EMDR helped Prince Harry process specific traumatic triggers, it wasn’t the only method he explored. In both Spare and interviews—including a candid conversation with trauma expert Dr. Gabor Maté—Harry spoke about using psychedelic therapy as part of his emotional healing journey.

This was no recreational experiment. He was clear: “It was never to escape. It was a sense of, ‘Okay, I’m doing this for healing.’” What emerged from these sessions was profound: access to emotions that had long been suppressed, including grief he hadn’t fully allowed himself to feel.

What is Psychedelic Therapy?

Psychedelic-assisted therapy typically involves guided sessions using substances like ayahuasca, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), or MDMA—administered under clinical or ceremonial supervision. These substances can temporarily loosen mental defences, allowing repressed emotions, patterns, and beliefs to surface for healing and integration.

In Prince Harry’s case, he said psychedelics helped him reconnect with memories of his mother, feel the grief he’d been avoiding for decades, and gain insight into the emotional habits shaped by his upbringing. “It helped me deal with the traumas and the pains of the past,” he explained. “I started doing it recreationally and then realised how good it was for me.”

Psychedelic therapy is tightly regulated. In most countries, these substances are only legal in clinical trials or culturally sanctioned settings. Prince Harry's story doesn’t endorse psychedelics for everyone. But it does model a thoughtful, intentional use of emerging tools for trauma and grief—tools that, under the right conditions, can offer access to profound emotional truth.

How Therapy Changed Him: Emotional Growth, Parenting, and Public Advocacy

Prince Harry’s therapy journey didn’t help him survive personal pain and transformed how he sees himself, how he relates to others, and how he parents. Through EMDR, traditional therapy, and carefully guided psychedelic experiences, Prince Harry began unpicking the emotional inheritance of his childhood: silence, emotional suppression, and a “never complain, never explain” royal culture. And through that, he began to interrupt it consciously.

In interviews, Harry often describes this transformation as both emotional and practical. “Now, as a husband and a father,” he said during his conversation with Dr. Gabor Maté, “I feel a huge responsibility not to pass on any of the pain or suffering that perhaps I experienced.” That awareness—the desire to parent differently—is a common motivation for people in therapy. In Harry’s case, it became a cornerstone of his healing.

From Personal Recovery to Public Responsibility

Harry’s experience didn’t stay private for long. His decision to speak openly about therapy—even showing a session on camera—wasn’t for spectacle. It was part of a broader mission. Alongside Meghan, he co-founded the Archewell Foundation to support mental health access. He partnered on the Heads Together campaign with Prince William and Princess Kate to challenge stigma around mental illness.

But his real contribution may be even simpler: showing that therapy is for anyone with a past and a desire for change.

He never claims to be healed or finished. Instead, he talks about being in process—openly, imperfectly, and on record. That kind of honesty from someone born into global attention sends a powerful message: therapy is not only for crises. It’s for growth.

Could EMDR Be Right for You?

Prince Harry’s experience doesn’t offer a universal answer, but it does prompt a personal question: What kind of help might help you?

He didn’t enter therapy because he had a clinical diagnosis. He entered it because he was stuck—reacting strongly to stress, feeling emotionally blocked, and haunted by memories he couldn’t face. These aren’t just royal problems; they’re human ones.

EMDR is especially well-suited for people who:

• Can clearly identify distressing experiences from the past that still affect them
• Experience triggers, panic, or emotional overwhelm in response to certain places, people, or memories
• Struggle with unprocessed grief, childhood trauma, or recurring nightmares

Conditions EMDR is commonly used for:

• PTSD, anxiety, phobias, complicated grief, early relational trauma, and performance anxiety
• Could Psychedelic Therapy Be Useful?
• This approach is still emerging and is only legal in specific clinical or ceremonial settings (depending on where you live). It’s best suited for people who:
• Have tried conventional therapy and still feel emotionally blocked
• Experience persistent depression, existential despair, or grief that feels disconnected from everyday life
• Are seeking to access deeper emotional insight and are emotionally stable enough for potentially intense experiences

Many people who’ve experienced bullying, medical trauma, complicated breakups, or emotionally unavailable parenting find that EMDR helps their body “let go” of old responses, even when their mind has already moved on.

What matters most—whether you’re considering EMDR, psychedelics, or traditional therapy—is whether your healing method meets you where you are.

How to Find the Right Therapist—And What to Watch Out For

If Prince Harry’s story has opened a door for you, the next question is practical: How do I find someone I can trust with my inner world?

Whether you’re seeking trauma therapy like EMDR, considering talk therapy, or exploring integrative approaches, the same guiding principle applies: safety first, credentials second, connection always.

Licensing & Credentials

• Check that the therapist is licensed in your region (e.g., psychologist, licensed counsellor, social worker).
• For EMDR, seek certification or training through a recognised body like EMDRIA (U.S.) or your country’s national association.
• Don’t hesitate to ask: “What training do you have in trauma or EMDR?”

Relevant Experience

• Choose someone who has worked with issues similar to yours—whether it’s grief, anxiety, trauma, or identity struggles.
• Ask: “What kinds of clients or challenges do you work with most often?”
• A good therapist will explain how they work, what a session involves, and how you’ll know if it’s helping.

A Safe, Respectful Relationship

• You don’t need to “click” instantly, but you should feel respected and not judged.
• Therapy should never feel like persuasion, performance, or pressure.

What We Can Learn from Prince Harry’s Openness

“I’ve learned that asking for help is not a weakness. In fact, it was one of the strongest things I’ve ever done.” – Prince Harry

There’s something undeniably human about watching someone as publicly known—and privately wounded—as Prince Harry step into therapy, name his pain, and stay with it long enough for it to change him. He didn’t do it perfectly. He did it personally.

• If you’re reading this and wondering whether therapy could help you, you don’t need to have everything figured out.
• You don’t even need to know what to say. All you need is the willingness to begin—to explore the idea that healing might be possible, even for you.
• You may not be a royal. But if you’ve ever swallowed pain to keep the peace, avoided places that trigger memories, or lost yourself while trying to hold it all together, there’s a place for you in this story.
• Prince Harry’s legacy here won’t be a title or a tabloid. It may very well be the thousands of people who read his story and said, “Maybe I’m allowed to get help too.”

And if that’s you, there’s no better time than now to begin. Search TherapyRoute and find a therapist near you today.