To think people with eupd aren’t taken seriously when struggling

[User30372]

A friend of mine has repeatedly told professionals that she didn’t feel safe and was going to do something. She’s now seriously unwell in hospital and I just feel if people listened to her she wouldn’t be in that position. I’m sure she will be sent back into the community despite this. I know inpatient care isn’t the answer to everything but surely for someone at such high risk it should be considered not dismissed due to a diagnoses.

@UndertheCedartree, Yes, but the point is that they are not sectioned on their EUPD diagnosis alone. You cannot force treatment on someone who does not wish it.

I don’t think it is as simple as saying they get appropriate treatment and recover. I doubt full recovery is possible. But with the right tools, it can be managed. If the individual has the awareness, then DBT is helpful in that respect. If not, well there is not much that can be done unfortunately.

@FabbyChix - I'm sorry but you are incorrect. It has been proven that it can be cured by DBT. It has also been shown that many of the symptoms can be treated with medication. For example psychosis can be treated with an anti-psychotic.

Dbt is not a cure it only allows you to manage how you react to stuff. What it doesn’t do is change your head from making you do and think stuff because it only sees one side. It’s not black and white thinking it’s you never get for and against you only get what your head wants you to believe and that in most cases is hullshit.

I’m dandy I’m stable. I have. I personal relationships. I work in a professional job and am happy

That’s no personal relationships

Oh god - eupd can’t be treated it does cause depression in some and anxiety that’s what the pills are for. You can’t take mood stabilisers as the moods aren’t caused by chemicals they are caused by outside factors. I’ve had eupd for 40 years and diagnosed for 20 I’m no novice so please don’t try to tell me how to suck eggs. It’s an illness that feeds on need a need to be loved unconditionally. Rejection is the trigger not getting a text back in like two minutes not being the priority. Family not understanding, eupd is a life of being the victim

The PD part of EUPD stands for personality disorder and is defined as being a pervasive set of behaviours throughout someone’s life. It is very difficult to manage and change ingrained personality traits and you often need to challenge strongly held beliefs to try and move forwards and then come up with clear plans to manage crises with available support to minimise the risk of harm. Not easy and often nothing you do seems to help which causes frustration for all

@WarrenNicole - well no, noone is sectioned on their diagnosis but many, many people are sectioned because of the symptoms of EUPD they are suffering. And then of course you can force treatment. But of course if the person is not sectioned you can't.

And yes of course it isn't straight forward. But if there was less stigma and misinformation around EUPD then maybe more people would get correct treatment. Officially it can be cured in that the person no longer meets the criteria for diagnosis but yes I think in reality it is more that the person still struggles but is able to manage their illness. I suspect early intervention would make prognosis better too but the way things are you don't get help (if any) once things have been going on for a long time and got really bad.

@FabbyChix - maybe you're not very up to date? DBT can cure EUPD in the same way any mental illness can be said to be cured - that the person no longer has the amount of symptoms that lead to a diagnosis.

Mood stabalisers can be taken as can anti-psychotics, anti-depressants etc and they all help with the symptoms of EUPD. EUPD is caused by a combination of factors - internal - such as a smaller amygdala and external - an invalidating environment.

@MummingAlong - as you said EUPD is about a pervasive set of behaviours - it actually has nothing to do with 'personality traits'. So for example a behaviour I have is I show regressive behaviour around unknown males. A personality trait would be like - I'm an extrovert.

It’s not treatable with medication. It’s the only mental illness with no cure.

Sorry @fabbychix I appreciate that you, like many of us, are living with a painful mental health condition.

Mine isn't EUPD but I do think it's important to be clear that a huge number of mental health disorders aren't "curable" but that's not to say they cannot be managed or symptoms improved to varying levels of success with medication, DBT and a number of other therapies.

It's simply not accurate to say that EUPD is "the only mental illness with no cure", that isn't true and it's a very dangerous thing to say because fellow sufferers may believe it and feel even more hopeless when the statement isn't accurate.

I sympathise and empathise with you as someone who has mental health disorders as well as physical health issues including epilepsy, but I think it's important people have challenged you on that statement.

I do wish you well

I have EUPD, I've never called an ambulance or the police, I have no medical interactions at all, no crisis team and never see my doctor. I just get my pills once a month and try to survive. I don't go around abusing those who I love and who love me, if anyone ever gets punished for my EUPD it's me with the self harm I do to myself over the possibility of having hurt someone I love. I hate attention always have, I don't interact with people.

Some of the accusations on this thread really hurt to read and I wish some people would think about the real people behind the disease before they start accusing us all of being attention seeking psychos.

I was diagnosed with BPD / EUPD a few years ago & care transferred from a specialist complex depression & trauma team (inc my PTSD team) to a personality disorder unit. That unit (specialist for a huge inner London borough) does not offer DBT. They only offer STEPPS - I was in a group & it's utter bollocks & a waste of resources.

This thread - along with so many others on MN I comment on - is riddled with stigmatising language about ppl with EUPD. Non compliance isn't a conscious choice. Would you say the same about a schizophrenic? We may be more high functioning, but the inability to regulate emotional responses to stimuli is indescribable.

And in my experience, BPD/EUPD is often a diagnosis given to those presenting with complex comorbidities, esp if they include addiction & self harm. I know so many friends in recovery who have been given a EUPD diagnosis, as if it's a catchall for the utter fuck ups.

Crisis teams often don't know how to support EUPD, and if your crisis plan includes A&E, it's even less so. If DBT isn't even available, and crisis teams are stretched too thin with "more deserving" mentally ill ppl, what's the answer? I honestly would like to know.

For those on here with an understanding or a diagnosis of EUPD, we're not the sum of a bunch of tick box traits & attention seeking manipulators.

Ffs.

Should also point out I'm not high functioning, I'm registered disabled and my husband cares for me. I'd fall apart without him. I don't even go to the shops alone because it's terrifying.

"Most EUPD sufferers are childhood abuse survivors."

This

Most have experienced neglectful, coercive or abusive early years resulting in severe difficulties in knowing who is safe and who isn't, how the world works, how to be part of healthy relationships and how to cope with feelings. Essentially they are people not set up to live well. Therapy not psychiatric treatment is often helpful.

@KillJoysDutch - I'm the same I have always hated attention or anyone 'looking at me'. I find it very hurtful when people brand all people with EUPD as manipulative attention seekers. I wish people would understand it is a serious mental illness we didn't choose - we didn't choose to be born with a difference in our brain and we didn't choose to be brought up with abuse or dysfunction in our family. I'm sorry to hear about your self harm. Have you ever tried any therapy?

Really? Not worse for the small, vulnerable child who is reliant on consistency from a caregiver who is unable to provide that to them?

Haven’t you considered that the person with EUPD perhaps was once that small child?

Fucking hell I have a diagnosis of eupd. The responses here are really depressing

@Underthecedartree I did group therapy for 6 months and was supposed to do a year long course but I couldn't handle it due to a very extroverted member just really setting off my anxiety, then the funding changed and I was told I was too severe for them and to self refer for counselling which I have done to 3 separate places so far and been turned down by them all because my issues are too severe. My doctor doesn't care or doesn't have a clue what to do. So I just have to get by day by day.

@QueenOfOversharing - an eupd unit - but no DBT? As you said what a waste of resources. I know what you mean - it does sometimes seem a catch-all diagnosis. Most people on an acute with serious mental illness seem to have EUPD (women) or paranoid schizophrenia (men), ime.

Haven’t you considered that the person with EUPD perhaps was once that small child?

@Mulledwineinajug, yes, but they are a child no more. Nor does it make what is happening to their own child okay.

@UndertheCedartree yep, they no longer offer it. The STEPPS course consisted of about 10 of us sat round tables reading aloud some printed sheets. I have a fucking masters degree, I don't need my reading comprehension supported!! Then they changed my meds & discharged me - GP had never prescribed it (vortioxetine) so repeatedly asked for a review. Never got one. GP had to re-refer to main MH hub!!

@KilljoysDutch - I'm really sorry to hear that.

@Friendsofmine - a combination of therapy and psychiatric treatment has helped me. I very much need my medication to be able to cope with therapy.

Fabbychix I appreciate that you are living with this illness but other posters are right to challenge you on some of your points.

EUPD can be cured. I and others are testament to that. DBT doesn’t teach you to mask feelings. It is absolutely possible to learn different ways of coping so that the feelings and need to react in certain ways just aren’t there any more.

You can’t take mood stabilisers as the moods aren’t caused by chemicals they are caused by outside factors.

That isn’t correct. You can’t separate it out like that. Trauma affects brain development (it is possible to learn new pathways). Brain chemistry is affected by brain structure and life experiences. There is ample evidence that a reactive depression as a response to a life event can be responsive to medication.

I personally have taken medication including mood stabilisers and found myself more able to benefit from therapy as a result.

Non compliance isn't a conscious choice. Would you say the same about a schizophrenic?

@Queenofoversharing, Sorry, but schizophrenia and BPD are not remotely comparable.