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.

2 October 2026

The Best Complex PTSD Books, and the Honest Verdict on Pete Walker

Pete Walker's book is the one everyone is told to read, and for understanding yourself it earns that. But it is not a treatment, one of the other famous trauma books has just had 122 of its claims checked, and the one with exercises in it is a different book entirely.

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30 September 2026

How to Get Complex PTSD Treatment on the NHS (UK)

NICE tells the NHS to give people with complex PTSD more time, not a different queue. The route, the two therapies it recommends, the one sentence to take to your GP, and why an online questionnaire is a screen and not a diagnosis.

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30 September 2026

Complex PTSD or BPD? The Difference Is How You See Yourself

They overlap so heavily that people are often given one when they have the other. The research says they are different, and the clearest dividing line is not the mood swings. It is whether your sense of self is steadily bad or constantly moving.

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10 September 2026

PMDD Supplements: What the UK Guideline Actually Says

The supplement pushed hardest for PMDD is scored "No" for efficacy in RCOG's own evidence table, at doses five to ten times the NHS ceiling. What the guideline really says about each one, the interaction nobody warns you about, and why the best-evidenced option costs about three pounds.

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10 September 2026

Can You Get PIP for BPD or PMDD? What the UK Rules Actually Say

You can get PIP with BPD or PMDD, but never for the diagnosis: 8 points across 12 activities is the line. The reliability test, the 50% rule that decides cyclical claims, why the four-point rule is not law, and the Equality Act line that protects your good week.

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10 September 2026

Does PMDD Go Away After the Menopause? Yes, and Three Things First

It ends, and the mechanism genuinely stops existing. But perimenopause usually makes it worse first, HRT can bring it back, and there is one operation offered every week that stops the periods and leaves the PMDD exactly where it was.

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8 September 2026

How to Get MBT on the NHS (UK)

Mentalisation-based treatment is patchy on the NHS, and the reason is a guideline written in 2009. The referral route, the words that get you past the gate, what the programme looks like, and what to ask for when your area does not run it.

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8 September 2026

How to Get a Personality Disorder Diagnosis Changed or Removed From Your NHS Records

You probably cannot get the diagnosis deleted, and deletion was never the thing worth fighting for. What UK law actually gives you, the ICO's own wording on misdiagnosis, the four asks in the order that works, and a letter you can copy.

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8 September 2026

How to Get Assessed for BPD on the NHS (UK)

Your GP does not diagnose this and is not expected to. The referral route, the NICE line that does most of the work, what happens in the assessment, the honest answer about the question on children, and four things you are entitled to that nobody mentions.

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8 September 2026

The Best Books for Families and Partners of Someone With BPD

Six honest picks, why the most-recommended one is the most-argued-about, and the free twelve-session NHS course that beats all of them and almost nobody in the UK knows exists.

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8 September 2026

The Best DBT App: What Each One Costs, and What It Does With What You Type

Four DBT apps compared on the thing no other list checks: their published privacy labels, real UK prices, and when they were last updated. One is free and good, one is £131.88 a year and reads what you write, and the one everybody recommends has not been updated since 2019.

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30 July 2026

Loving Someone With PMDD: A Guide for the Person Who Stays

For two weeks she is someone else. Then she is back, and devastated. Here is what is actually happening, what genuinely helps, and the line you must not cross in either direction.

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