I’m touching on a delicate topic this week. I thought it was a little too delicate but then I thought, well, I shouldn’t ignore it for much longer. Princess Diana is all over my feeds and news again and her well-known mental health issues rooted in trauma, betrayal, deception and depression had to be looked over again in my eyes.
I’m almost looking at this for the first time since the 90’s. I don’t watch The Crown either, so what I do know is just from the recesses of my brain or from what my wife has relayed to me from the Netflix show.
Instead of ‘reacting’ to a dramatisation of what happened, I wanted to take a look at Diana herself.
I wanted to watch her famous interview with Martin Bashir. The interview already is wrapped in emotions towards what Princess Diana is talking about and the entire web of lies surrounding the interview and the BBC.
What I couldn’t get out of my mind all the way through was the irony that she is discussing her lack of trust with someone that was, at that moment, also deceiving her to agree to the interview in the first place.
She was surrounded by betrayal, and a lack of faith in her beliefs and who she wanted to be as The Princess of Wales.
It is no wonder that this resulted in several mental health issues
What she went through is an example of what can happen as a result of trauma, PTSD, manipulation, gaslighting, narcissism, and the list goes on. Not only that but all this was in the spotlight, making it even harder for her to have the space and mental capacity to resolve these issues in a professional setting.
Many people with trust issues will find it the hardest to seek out professional help just for this reason. This is also a powerful manoeuvre for abusers and narcissists to make as it ensures that their subject will remain trustworthy to them.
This kind of thing happens all of the time and are still happening. Which is why I continue to talk about it.
The main thread throughout the interview was Princess Diana expressing that she couldn’t talk to anyone. She consistently wanted help, and tried multiple times but with no outcome.
This is why, even though this interview stems from such a bad place, we should keep watching.
If we keep watching, we keep hearing. and if we keep hearing, then we can’t forget. If no one was listening to her now, then what we can do now is listen and learn.
How can we learn?
We can learn from the signs. A lot of people with depression or any mental health issue may let you know they need help, they may even say they’re ‘Better than ever’. But it’s worth noticing when someone:
- Increasingly drinking or using substances
- Comfort eating more or losing their appetite increasingly
- Repetitively refusing to go to social events or cancelling plans
In these instances, being a present person in their lives will help them feel less need to turn to those more negative habits.
Negative habits or development in mental health issues happen from a need for control and in many cases, is a physical cry for help when they feel unable to say how they are feeling.
In today’s society, it can seem easy to save face and make your life seem fantastic and perfect. This is why it is important as ever to look up and really see your loved ones. Mental health can not always be in our own control, so noticing when someone needs a hand can create substantial change for the better.
