Prince Harry wishes William ‘would be able to feel the same benefits of therapy’

Prince William may have been the first person to urge his younger brother to consider therapy, but Harry claims heeding this advice only drove a bigger wedge between the pair.

In his latest promotional interview for his memoir, Spare, the Duke of Sussex told The Telegraph he wishes his brother ‘would be able to feel the same benefits’ that he has experienced since seeking treatment.

Harry has spoken openly in his memoir and the subsequent media rounds that he used ayahuasca, a psychedelic, with a professional during his treatment.

He says it was this experience that prompted ‘the acceptance and realisation that she [Princess Diana] has gone, but that she wants me to be happy and that she’s very much present in my life. 

‘As two brothers, if one of you goes through that experience and the other one doesn’t, it naturally creates a further divide between you. Which is really sad.   

‘But as much as William was the first person to even suggest therapy, I just wish that he would be able to feel the same benefits of that as opposed to believing what he doesn’t need to.’ 

Harry also was filmed taking part in a EMDR therapy session in 2021, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing – and praised the practice for helping him deal with his past

 ‘I would never recommend people to do this recreationally,’ Harry (seen in 2004) said. ‘But if you are suffering from a huge amount of loss, grief or trauma, these things have a way of working as a medicine’

Ayahuasca – a plant-based South American drug that’s usually brewed into a tea – is made from the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub along with the stalks of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine.

‘The main ingredients of ayahuasca – Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis -both have hallucinogenic properties,’ Healthline says.

‘When combined, these two plants form a powerful psychedelic brew that affects the central nervous system, leading to an altered state of consciousness that can include hallucinations, out-of-body experiences, and euphoria.’

In Spare, Harry revealed William believes all his therapy has made him delusional and questioned whether he was being ‘brainwashed’ by the therapist he was seeing.

The Duke of Sussex says his sibling was so worried about what he was being exposed to at his confidential sessions that he even asked to come along to one.

And after one particularly nasty brotherly row, in which William reportedly physically attacked Harry, the ‘spare’ opted to call his therapist immediately afterwards – even before speaking with his wife Meghan. 

Harry has previously spoken of going to therapy to process the trauma of his childhood, which included the death of his mother, Princess Diana.

He was only 12 when Diana tragically died in a car accident.

Prince Harry has reportedly claimed his brother William grabbed him by the collar and threw him to the floor during a heated argument over his wife Meghan Markle

Now, Harry (seen with Diana in 1987) admitted he only cried once over his mother’s death – and said he was plagued with guilt over feeling like he was not being emotional enough

The Duke praised EMDR – which stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing – for helping him deal with his past.

It is based on the principle that the mind can heal from trauma by using external stimuli to help the brain process traumatic experiences and facilitate healing.

Elsewhere in the book the 38-year-old also confessed to taking cannabis and magic mushrooms, and ended up hallucinating that a bin was talking to him. 

In a sit down interview with 60 Minutes, Harry clarified he would ‘never recommend people to do this recreationally’.

‘But doing it with the right people if you are suffering from a huge amount of loss, grief or trauma, then these things have a way of working as a medicine,’ he said.

‘For me, they cleared the windscreen, the windshield, the misery of loss. They cleared away this idea that I had in my head that… I needed to cry to prove to my mother that I missed her. When in fact, all she wanted was for me to be happy.’

Harry (seen at her funeral) was only 12 when Diana died in a car accident

Prince Harry has revealed he has enough material to publish a second memoir and cut almost half of the material he’d written in a first draft. Pictured: Copies of Harry’s memoir Spare stacked at Foyles bookshop in London 

Harry’s foray into getting professional help began in his late 20s, when he first saw a ‘counsellor’ at the age of 28, or in around 2014, because he felt ‘on the verge of punching someone’ and faced anxiety on royal engagements.

It’s not clear when his therapy came to an end, but it appears there was a break in his sessions before he met his wife Meghan.

In a series of candid interviews with Oprah Winfrey for the Apple+ series The Me You Can’t See, which was released in 2021, Harry recalled how Meghan suggested that he start seeing a therapist after they had an argument in the early days of their relationship.

He also said he experienced burnout in his late 20s as a result of a ‘hectic’ royal engagement schedule and suffered ‘severe anxiety and panic attacks’ until the age of 32, roughly around the same time he met Meghan. 

‘I knew that if I didn’t do the therapy and fix myself that I was going to lose this woman who I could see myself spending the rest of my life with,’ he told Oprah. 

Prince Harry has also revealed he has enough material to publish a second memoir and cut almost half of the material he’d written in a first draft. 

Harry knew that including any details about intimate moments with his family would attract backlash, but ultimately decided he couldn’t truthfully tell his story without them.

There are details, though, they he knew would cross the line. These memories were shared with his ghostwriter only for context, and did not make the final cut.

The Sussexes are said to have signed a four-book deal worth upwards of £16 million ($USD20 million) with the publishing giant Penguin Random House.

Harry previously told Oprah: ‘I knew that if I didn’t do the therapy and fix myself that I was going to lose this woman who I could see myself spending the rest of my life with’. Pictured with Meghan in January 2020