Renowned trauma specialist Dr. Gabor Maté has candidly shared his deep regrets over his March 2023 interview with Prince Harry, which was part of the promotional activities for the royal’s memoir, “Spare.” The discussion, centered around trauma, loss, and healing, led Maté to suggest that Harry might have ADHD based on the narrative of the book. Reflecting on the experience, Dr. Maté confessed that he felt he “lost himself” amidst the circumstances surrounding his conversation with the father of two.

Dr. Maté opened up about his misgivings during an appearance on the “Diary of a CEO” podcast, hosted by Dragons’ Den’s Steven Bartlett. He explained, “I had a gut feeling all along that I shouldn’t agree to doing it the way they set it up, because… in order to watch it, people have to buy a copy of Harry’s book.” He expressed frustration, noting, “Four million people have already bought the book. Why can’t they watch this interview? Do they have to buy another copy? In other words, I believed that there should be a free public service on a part of two people who can have a very interesting conversation.”

Dr. Maté admitted that his decision to participate was driven by “sheer opportunism,” acknowledging, “So I lost myself even in agreeing to the format.”

The fallout from the interview did little to ease his dissatisfaction, as both he and Harry found themselves losing control over the distribution. “Harry and I both wanted it released to the public for free, but the lawyer said you can’t do that because this is advertised as a one-time-only event, and there could be a class action suit,” he revealed.

“So the result was that I agreed to something that I didn’t really like,” Dr. Maté concluded, highlighting his discomfort with the entire situation.

“Not that I didn’t like the idea of talking with them (Harry). I didn’t like the idea of putting this behind the pay wall. So I lost myself just in agreeing to it,” he conceded.

“Then there was the incredible social media and British media reaction to it that was, for the most part, so negative and so demeaning and so dismissive and so distorted that I barely even know how to talk about it,” he told Bartlett.

“I thought by this age I would know better. But you know what? It really got to me… Eventually what happened was that I was really in a negative state of mind.

Mate confessed he sought help dealing with these feelings. “I called a friend of mine, a psychiatrist, and I said, I’m just in a bad state.

“I said… there’s all this bad press and all the distortion of who I am and my motives. He said, What is about the bothers you so much? And I said, not being seen.”