When I had my first therapy session 17 years ago I remember looking around the consulting room for an empty chair.
I was suffering from depression which I blamed entirely on overwork, insisting I just needed a good rest and some happy pills
But, deep down, I knew my issues were all linked to a dysfunctional childhood in a family scarred by my father’s alcoholism.
And I feared the psychotherapist would expect me to make peace with my recently departed Dad by imagining he was sitting in a chair in front of me.
She didn’t, and I wasn’t anywhere near ready.
In fact it took a further decade and another crisis before I fully understood the legacy of childhood rejection.
And my breakthrough moment was one of the most cathartic experiences of my life.
(Image: Getty)
It was so transformative that I wanted to help others struggling with their own childhood baggage and even fancied myself as a bit of an amateur shrink.
So when a young relative opened up about his own depression and strained relationship with his mum, I decided I could fix everything by getting them talking.
But my cack-handed counselling backfired spectacularly and caused terrible pain to them and the wider family which still reverberates today.
Prince Harry felt a similar evangelical zeal after his own “bubble bursting” therapeutic experience, as he explained in a US…
