Harry and Meghan: The good, the bad... and the ugly?

The media storm created by Harry and Meghan’s documentary is a mighty one. But putting the Royals, family squabbles and brotherly rough and tumble aside, how might their documentary and television revelations impact those affected by trauma? Here we take a look…

The Good

The term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is widely recognised and accepted as a very difficult, challenging and permanent condition. The much less known Post Traumatic Stress Injury (PTSi) describes the same set of symptoms but is more aligned with the process of healing that follows an injury. For example, being involved in a minor road traffic accident could lead to traumatic injuries to the body, yet the expectation with such an injury is that healing will follow and a full recovery will be made. PTSi is the equivalent for emotionally traumatic events. The difficult and challenging elements of the trauma are equally acknowledged, but the primary objective is directed toward healing from the trauma and reaching a full recovery.

With the current climate in mental health and social media viral sensations such as the ‘it’s okay to not be okay’ movement, the danger is people accept these traumatic experiences as being permanent and unchangeable and misinterpret viral hashtags to mean ‘it’s okay to stay and live not okay’. Harry’s use of PTSi can refocus our perspective on trauma and encourage people to seek resolution rather than survival.

The Bad

Harry has shared details of the painful, upsetting moments of his childhood and that of those with the media growing up (ironically, sharing these media traumas in the media!). He repeatedly shares these traumatic experiences had hugely negative effects on him, while continuing to share these stories across multiple media outlets.?

Trauma dumping is a term used to describe the sharing of a trauma with another person without their consent. The whirlwind of media following Harry and Meghan’s documentary and television interviews could be perceived as trauma dumping on a mass scale. The focus here should be on how many other people who have experienced the death of a parent may be being triggered without their consent.

From a more personal perspective for Harry, it may also be doing him psychological harm. Recent research by Hudson and Johnson (2022) on ‘Emotional Memory Images’ shows us how our mind generates and stores mental images following a trauma. The more these experiences are repeatedly shared in all their detail, the more the Emotional Memory Image becomes ingrained in the person’s mind making the trauma all that much harder to overcome. When that trauma is framed by Harry as him being the victim, this narrative becomes more and more embedded in his psyche and becomes part of his identity. When a trauma becomes part of someone’s identity it becomes much harder to fully recover from.

The Ugly

Sharing the events of a trauma in a supportive, safe space can be a key step in the journey to healing for many people. The purpose of sharing the trauma is to begin processing the experience with the hope of moving toward a recovery. Sharing a traumatic experience is therefore framed in the context of healing. As a result of this, the listener or audience often feel empathy and understanding for the person’s struggles. The research indicates this is not the case with Harry. Surveys conducted by YouGov show 40% of people believe Harry is sharing these details for the purpose of profit, with only 21% believing he wants to share his side of the story. With so many people believing the purpose of these trauma stories is for financial gain, Harry has already seen his popularity slide.

Harry and Meghan’s documentary is loved by some and hated by others. On balance, there are both advantages and disadvantages of them sharing their story and it’s up to each individual to decide, based on their own past experiences, if it’s content that can help them on their journey.

What do you think?

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