The Journal

Writing from the series

Short, honest pieces on the things The Steady Series is about, for the parents who love hardest and struggle most.

5 October 2026

What Does EUPD Mean? Why the UK Uses a Different Name for BPD

EUPD stands for emotionally unstable personality disorder, the World Health Organization's ICD-10 name (code F60.3) for what the American DSM calls borderline personality disorder. Here is where each name comes from, what ICD-11 changed, and whether they are really the same thing.

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5 October 2026

Schema Therapy for BPD: Does It Work, and Can You Get It on the NHS?

Yes, schema therapy has good trial evidence for BPD, and two head-to-head trials found it did about as well as DBT. But NICE's 2009 guideline does not name it, so on the NHS it depends on what your local service runs.

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5 October 2026

PMDD Symptoms: The Diagnostic Criteria in Plain English

PMDD is diagnosed on at least 5 of 11 symptoms, at least one of them a core mood symptom, in the week before your period and gone the week after, confirmed by daily tracking over two cycles. Here is every criterion, in plain English, with the sources.

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5 October 2026

Is PMDD More Common With ADHD?

Yes, on every study so far, women with ADHD screen positive for PMDD far more often. But almost none of those studies used the two-cycle daily tracking a real diagnosis needs. Here are the actual numbers, the limits, and what to do with them.

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5 October 2026

How to Fill In a DBT Diary Card (With a Free One That Stays on Your Phone)

Once a day, at roughly the same time, score your emotions and urges from 0 to 5, note anything you did that you are working to stop, and tick the skills you used. Then take the week's card to your therapist. Here is how to do it honestly, and what to do when you miss a day.

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5 October 2026

How Common Is BPD? The Real Numbers, Including in Men

About 2 in every 100 adults in England screen positive for BPD, and the big community surveys find men and women affected at similar rates. The '75% women' figure comes from clinics, not the general population.

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5 October 2026

Complex PTSD Symptoms: The Full ICD-11 List, the Codes, and What They Look Like Day to Day

Complex PTSD (ICD-11 code 6B41) has six symptom groups: the three core PTSD symptoms plus problems with emotions, self-worth and relationships. The full WHO list, the ICD-10 and DSM position, and what the research says about memory, dissociation, psychosis and physical symptoms.

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5 October 2026

Is There a Test for BPD? What Diagnoses It, and What Online Quizzes Can Tell You

No blood test, no scan. BPD is diagnosed in a clinical assessment, which NICE puts with community mental health services. The best-studied screening questionnaire, the McLean MSI-BPD, caught 81% of cases in its original study, and a screen is still not a diagnosis.

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5 October 2026

Is There Medication for BPD? What NICE and the Cochrane Review Actually Say

No medicine is licensed for BPD, and NICE says drugs should not be used specifically for it. A 2022 Cochrane review of 46 trials found no medication beat placebo on any primary outcome. Where medication does have a place: co-occurring conditions, and short-term use in a crisis.

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4 October 2026

Complex PTSD Support in the UK: Who to Call, by What Happened to You

There is no single complex PTSD helpline in the UK. There are excellent free services organised by what happened to you, and knowing which one to ring is most of the battle. Every number here was checked on the charity's own site.

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4 October 2026

How to Support Someone With Complex PTSD (Without Losing Yourself)

Most of what hurts in a relationship with someone who has complex PTSD is the trauma doing what it was built to do. What helps is safety and predictability, not fixing. And you are allowed to need support too.

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2 October 2026

Is Complex PTSD a Disability? What UK Law Actually Says

Often, yes, but not because of the diagnosis. Under the Equality Act it is the effect that counts, three rules in Schedule 1 fit complex PTSD unusually well, and PIP is a completely separate test.

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