PRINCE WILLIAM HAS spoken out about the importance of discussing mental health.
The Duke of Cambridge has joined his brother Prince Harry in raising awareness about the topic.
In an interview The Telegraph newspaper yesterday, Harry said his life was in “total chaos” before he eventually sought help to deal with the death of his mother, Princess Diana.
Today, a joint interview with the two brothers has been published in CALMzine, a charity mental health magazine aimed at men.
In the interview, William said: “For too long there has been a taboo about talking about some important issues. If you were anxious; it’s because you were weak. If you couldn’t cope with whatever life threw at you, it’s because you were failing.
Successful, strong people don’t suffer like that, do they? But of course – we all do. It’s just that few of us speak about it. Attitudes are changing and this is being helped by high profile people talking about their experience.
“Men like Professor Green, Freddie Flintoff and Rio Ferdinand have led the way and made films for Heads Together (a campaign raising awareness about mental health) showing the conversations they have had about pressures on their mental health.
“The recent interview with Stormzy about his depression was incredibly powerful and will help young men feel that it’s a sign of strength to talk about and look after your mind as well as your body. There may be a time and a place for the ‘stiff upper lip’, but not at the expense of your health.”
Children
William said he and his wife Kate want their children George and Charlotte “to grow up feeling able to talk about their emotions and feelings”.
“Over the past year we have visited a number of schools together where we have been amazed listening to children talk about some quite difficult subjects in a really clear and emotionally articulate way – something most adults would struggle with.
“Seeing this has really given me hope that things are changing and that there is a generation coming up who find it normal to talk openly about their emotions. Emotional intelligence is key for us all to deal with the complexities of life and relationships.”
Lady Gaga
As part of the Heads Together campaign, Prince William recently called musician Lady Gaga, who has been open about her own mental health struggles, to promote the message that it’s okay to talk about the subject.
Can’t watch the video? Click here.
During the conversation, Gaga said: “There’s a lot of shame attached to mental illness, you feel like something’s wrong with you.
In my life I go, ‘Oh my goodness, look at all these beautiful, wonderful things that I have’ and I should be so happy, but you can’t help it if in the morning when you wake up you are so tired, you are so sad, you are so full of anxiety and the shakes that you can barely think … This is a part of me and that’s okay.
“I feel like we are not hiding anymore, we’re starting to talk and that’s what we need to do.”
Prince William added that we need to get to the stage where people feel as comfortable talking about their mental health as they do about their physical health.
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