Kate Garraway reveals she had the same therapy as Prince Harry to cope with husband Derek Draper's Covid battle

Kate Garraway
(Image credit: Alamy)

Kate Garraway has revealed she had the same therapy as Prince Harry to come with husband Derek Draper's Covid battle.

Kate Garraway has admitted she had the same therapy as Prince Harry to come to terms with her husband Derek Draper's Covid battle.

The Good Morning Britain host has had a heartbreaking time after her husband contracted Covid-19 and spent just over a year in the hospital battling the after-effects of the deadly virus.

But he returned home for around-the-clock care last month and Kate has revealed she needed to have a special type of therapy to help her cope with the traumatic experience she had gone through in lockdown. But the therapy Kate had wasn't just any therapy. It was the same Prince Harry has spoken out about having in his latest sit-down interviews with Oprah Winfrey as part of his new mental health docuseries The Me You Can't See. The talk show star also hosted Oprah with Meghan and Harry, earlier this year.

Discussing the therapy on the ITV daytime show, Kate said, "It's called Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing, a bit of a mouthful, I have actually had a little bit of this.

Kate Garraway and Derek Draper

She explained to viewers, "It's not a million miles away from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, processes like this. Less to do with therapy where you talk about your childhood, it's more practical."

Kate and Dr Amir discussed how the therapy differed from the traditional types. Dr Amir said, "People generally when they have had traumatic life experiences have a tendency to bury it away in their minds, and in their brains, and it stops them from healing. They then get things like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and what this therapy aims to do is unlock some of that."

Clips from the upcoming Apple+TV docuseries showed Harry having his therapy session and Dr Amir, explained for viewers at home what techniques were being used. He said, "What we have seen there is Harry using external stimulus by tapping on his shoulder, and therapist will ask the patient to focus on a traumatic memory, and while they are doing that they will either move their eyes very quickly following their hands, or use external stimulus like tapping."

A trailer has been released by Apple TV, teasing some of the in-depth content the series is expected to cover.

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Meanwhile, Kate described Prince Harry's mental health revelations as 'heartbreaking' after Harry, 36, admitted he turned to alcohol and drugs to 'mask' his pain over his mother Princess Diana's death. During his EDMR therapy session, Harry said he has 'always felt worried' for most of his life when he flies back to London.

The Duke, who now lives in Montecito, California, with his pregnant wife Meghan and their son Archie, two, carried out the therapy via videolink with Sanja Oakley, a UK-based psychotherapist who used to be a trauma specialist for London Underground.

Their shared therapy experience comes as Kate revealed the real reason her husband Derek has finally come home and shared the royal family’s generous gesture amid his health battle.

Kate previously revealed how Prince William said he could relate to her children Darcey, 14, and Billy, 11, in the most devastating way.

Selina Maycock
Senior Family Writer

Selina is a Senior Family Writer for GoodtoKnow and has more than 16 years years of experience. She specialises in royal family news, including the latest activities of Prince George, Charlotte, Louis, Archie and Lilibet. She also covers the latest government, health and charity advice for families. Selina graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2006 with a degree in Journalism, and gained her NCTJ and NCE qualifications. During her career, she’s also written for Woman, Woman's Own, Woman&Home, and Woman's Weekly as well as Heat magazine, Bang Showbiz - and the Scunthorpe Telegraph. When she's not covering family news, you can find her exploring new countryside walking routes, catching up with friends over good food, or making memories (including award-winning scarecrows!)