Prince Harry speaks out.

Thank you. It was hard speaking as I did last night, but this is what talking about mental health is, hard, painful, distressing.

If only William and Harry spoke of the pain of living with a parent who is mentally ill , yes of the good she did but also the pain she caused

If you mean Diana (which I assume you do), maybe William and Harry have too much respect for their mother. It wouldn't surprise me, if it's a topic they've discussed amongst close friends and counsellors. I think most people protect problems with family relationships from outsiders. It can't be easy when one's family is a source of worldwide speculation and scrutiny.

Apologies if I've got that wrong.

If only William and Harry spoke of the pain of living with a parent who is mentally ill ....

Diana certainly had psychological issues but I never thought of her as 'mentally ill'. Is Prince Charles mentally ill - he's had a lot of issues?

Riverwalk, you are doing what many do, dismissing mental illness and using emotional issues in it's place, an attempt to make some mental illnesses clean , this is so wrong but expected

Daphne, if going to speak out in support of talking about mental health then do so, they cannot hurt their mother but they could help so many children who live in misery .

Speak up or shut up, stop making it clean,it is not.

I'm doing no such thing as dismissing mental illness, and why is this expected of me?

What's this 'clean' business?

There is a difference between mental illness and emotional issues. I would have thought you knew that, so I'm surprised by your dismissive comment.

It's not up to you to dictate what William and Harry talk about it. If they were to talk about their mother, they would no doubt have to talk about their father, their grandparents and plenty of people who are still alive.

Maybe they will talk about Diana one day, when they're psychologically ready to do so or maybe they just want to keep it to a close circle. They were still young when she died and almost certainly don't have the same perspective as others. Whatever they want, it's nobody else's business but theirs.

Posting an opinion on GN is now dictating?

Not expected of you personally riverwalk, just expected from many of the public

Princes William and Harry obviously loved their mother very much. They are now opening up about the pain they suffered when she died in the hope it will help others dealing with depression and other mental issues. Why on earth should we expect them to reveal more?

Why envoursge people to talk of mental illness but only some forms of mental illness

Back to Harry, William and Kate.

Good luck to ALL the runners in tomorrows London Marathon from ' HEADS TOGETHER ' the charity Harry, William and Kate have been promoting and are Patrons of that has caused 'SOME' posters to chastise.

www.headstogether.org.uk/partners/charity-partners/

"Through their work with young people, emergency response, homeless charities, and with veterans, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry have seen time and time again that unresolved mental health problems lie at the heart of some of our greatest social challenges.

The Heads Together campaign aims to help change the national conversation on mental health with a team of charity partners working on a wide range of mental health issues that are close to the The Duke and Duchess and Prince Harry’s passions.

Heads Together brings together inspiring charities with decades of experience in tackling stigma, raising awareness, and providing vital help for people with mental health challenges." :-

Anna Freud Centre

The Anna Freud Centre has been developing and delivering pioneering mental health care for over 60 years. They are leading the way by campaigning for and creating mental health services built around the needs and experiences of children, young people and their families, and not around the institutions who deliver them.

Best Beginnings

Best Beginnings works to give every child in the UK the best start in life. Supporting the mental health of pregnant women and new mothers has a direct and long lasting impact on women and also on their children's lives. This is why the charity is committed to help parents build their knowledge and resilience and also to have to confidence to seek help as soon as they need it.

CALM

Suicide is the single biggest cause of death in men aged under 45 in the UK. The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is a national charity dedicated to preventing male suicide by helping men who are down or in crisis, promoting culture change so that any man considering suicide feels able to seek help and campaigning for better understanding of suicide and prevention.

CONTACT

Contact is a collaboration of leading military charities, support organisations, the NHS, the Ministry of Defence, UK Psychological Trauma Society and top academics working together to make the most effective mental health support easily accessible to Service Personnel, Ex-Service Personnel and their families.

MIND

No one should have to face a mental health problem alone. Mind supports millions of people every year through our helpline, information services and online communities. Mind also have a network of local Minds providing face-to-face services tailored to communities across England and Wales.

Place2Be

Place2Be provides in-school support to improve the emotional wellbeing of pupils, families and school staff, and expert training for professionals working with children. The charity helps children cope with emotional challenges so they can have brighter futures.

In fact good luck to ALL those running for charity tomorrow.

Annie for the second and last time - what's 'clean' in relation to mental health?

Thanks for that POGS. It's good to know what William, Harry and Catherine have already been supporting.

I hope it does at least as much good in the long run as the Duke of Edinburgh's scheme and the Prince's Trust have.

Like many people I have 'issues' but have never seen them as Mental Health illnesses, as they don't have too much impact on my day to day life, rather I suspect like Diana's issues.

For example, I'm severely claustrophobic to the extent that I have to carefully choose where to sit when booking theatre tickets; break out in a sweat at the thought of being shut in the boot of a car; never lock the door in a public loo, etc.

However, I view these problems of mine as psychological issues, not a mental heath illness. Diana was bulimic for a short time, so we've been told, and was underweight but as far as I can see, from a distance, she was a fully-functioning 36 year-old with all the up and downs of the rest of us.

I have explained this before Riverwalk,

Anorexia gets - sympathy, comfort eating which causes obesity gets - little or no sympathy, these people are gluttons, lazy etc. Yet both are mental illnesses

A person with OCD who cannot stop cleaning gets - understanding, a person with OCD who clutters, doesn't clean, lives in squalor gets - who would want to live near her/him, both are mental illnesses.

Riverwalk, bulimia is a mental illness , people die from it

ab So it's about time perception changes and people stop being so judgmental. I applaud the junior royals for doing their bit - and it can only ever be a bit.

Riverwalk There are so many forms of mental illness. Claustrophobia is offically recognised as an anxiety disorder. It's up to you whether you seek treatment, such as CBT, for it, but it sounds as though you've learnt to manage it to an extent. Many people live with personality and anxiety disorders, but unless they have a severe impact on daily life, they're usually not treated.

I wrote at he beginning of the thread that I was a bit concerned that people who don't know much about mental health might come to the conclusion that there is a rational cause for mental health issues and they can be "sorted" by therapy or medication. Unfortunately, it isn't like that, so I think I can see where annie is coming from.

I don't know and I expect nobody on GN knows what other symptoms Harry might have suffered. If he has and wants to keep quiet about them, he has every right to do so. He did mention that depression had affected his work, but didn't give any details, so I suspect there is more behind his depression. If he were to open up now, he would provide gossip for the vulture gossip columnists and I really don't see why he wouldwant to do that.

I think people sometimes forget that mental illness doesn't define a person's character. Even mentally ill people can have a positive outlook. They might know they're claustrophobic,but they're all different, so will try to deal with it in different ways.

Harry & William seem to be living fully-functioning lives, albeit rather leisurely ones. Whatever their failings I don't think they can blame it on having lost their mother at such a young age.

Many children, myself included, lose a parent very early on.

I really hope that Harry doesn't make a career of his loss, as an excuse for living an idle life.

I do think that's a very unfair comment, Riverwalk. He's done OK so far without even mentioning it in public...

Harry has done no more or less than msny, he works for charities, has taken drugs, unfortunately got filmed st a party in the nude, I think William is more grounded, plus he is an introvert Harry an extrovert, William isn't happy with the camera, Harry loves the camera. Nothing unusual in siblings being so very different from each other

I thought Bryon Gordon was spot on when she said today in the Telegraph (talking about her interview with Prince Harry)

Some commentators have said .........that Prince Harry should not equate grief with mental illness. He did nothing of the sort, of course: what he did was point out that mental health can encompass everything from sadness to schizophrenia, just as physical health spans a spectrum from common colds to cancer

I agree MawBroon, but as said in an early post some seperate emotional from mental . Rather like seperating measles from cancer for me, both are physical illnesses

What he has done will, I am sure, encourage others to speak out.

Diana would have been very proud of her boys. They have done a lot to help others and do not take their position for granted.