"The Me You Can’t See" Co-produced by Prince Harry: A Heartbreaking Mental Health Documentary Series
In the four episodes available since this Friday on Apple TV +, the son of the youngest of Prince Charles, associated with the American host Oprah Winfrey, presents poignant testimonies on psychic suffering, among which those of Lady Gaga or the boxer Ginny Fuchs .
Impossible not to be upset in front of these images and these words. In "The Me You Can't See", a four-part documentary series put online this Friday, May 21 on Apple TV +, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, schizophrenia and a whole range of psychological traumas or emotional take on human form. Through numerous testimonials facing the camera from well-known and anonymous personalities around the world, punctuated by comments from doctors, the issue of mental health is highlighted where too often it is the physical pain that attracts all the attention. .
It all started with a discussion between American host Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry, now living in the United States with his family. These two public figures talk about how the current Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the situation of those in psychological suffering. Countless men and women have remained silent for too long, ashamed of what they experience, mental health issues still being a very large taboo in our societies.
Prince Harry talks about his childhood traumas. His mother constantly chased by paparazzi even while he and his brother were in his car. The impossible mourning after the death of Princess Diana which it was impossible for her to express and share. Then the years of perdition, between 28 and 32 years old, when he took refuge in alcohol to escape his anxiety attacks and his feeling of permanent imprisonment within a system and an institution from which he could not. escape.
A word that lifts a taboo
From there, "The Me You Can’t See" brings many other witnesses to talk. Singer Lady Gaga talks about her ongoing struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder from sexual assault as a teenager. American boxer Ginny Fuchs, in full preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, shares her distress in the face of her obsessive-compulsive disorders which push her to clean everything and to wash herself constantly: each brushing of teeth takes her 30 minutes, she empties two cans of liquid soap with every shower, spending 1,200 dollars (almost 1,000 euros) per month just on his sanitary products. Seeing her in the midst of a crisis is almost unbearable and you can understand the extent of her pain and that of her helpless loved ones.
Each section is dedicated to a specific stage in the healing process. The first is to speak up, to entrust someone with their unease. You then have to accept help and then find the methods, therapies or treatment protocols suited to the illness in question. Thus, this documentary series seeks to demystify the subject of mental suffering and to free speech.
When Tambar, a brilliant student who has fallen into a destructive paranoia since the sudden death of her father, expresses her thoughts of suicide, when her therapist herself is on the verge of tears, it is a face that is put on schizophrenia. When basketball player DeMar DeRozan tweets the world that he is suffering from depression, everyone in the sport is shaken up. When Fawzi, a young Syrian boy who sailed to Greece after three attempts revisits his brother's death in a bombing raid, it is the force of hope that overwhelms us through the words of the doctor who follows him.
Even if it is not exhaustive, the richness of this documentary series underscores the extent to which we are all directly or indirectly concerned by its subject. It thus adds a major stone to the edifice that still has a long way to go in terms of the recognition, management and awareness of mental health and emotional well-being problems.
