Any experience with EUPD?

Following a recent hospital admission, I have had ‘EUPD tendencies’ noted on my medical history. I understand this to refer to Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder. I have never had this mentioned to me before, nor am I diagnosed with this disorder, so I looked it up online to find out the features of it. Most of what I found did not appear to fit with my experiences, and the features I did have overlap with features of my Asperger’s or depression anyway, which I suppose is why  they said I had ‘tendencies’, but then couldn’t I realistically have tendencies of all sorts of conditions? I think it’s important for me to determine if this diagnosis would be something that would fit me or not, because it would directly affect which psychological therapies would likely be of benefit to me, and for the last three years mental health services have failed to identify a suitable treatment plan for me.

I was therefore wondering if any of you have experience of EUPD and could shed some light on what it means for you? I don’t think I understand it properly from online resources, especially not from the viewpoint of someone who is autistic too, so I would appreciate any personal viewpoints on the topic. Also, does anybody know of any links/overlaps between ASD and personality disorders? As you can tell, it’s not an area of my expertise!

Parents
  • It's a slightly better term than 'borderline personality disorder', but not much. As I see it, autistic people are sometimes misdiagnosed as BPD/EUPD: maybe it's a repeated anxious request for help, or distress that the clinician doesn't understand that makes the patient seem attention-seeking or manipulative. Treatment sometimes includes Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. 

    I take a dim view of a note like that - a proper medical observation should surely specify the behaviour?  You've the right to see your medical records and check they're corrected. You might also want to ask who added it and why.

Reply
  • It's a slightly better term than 'borderline personality disorder', but not much. As I see it, autistic people are sometimes misdiagnosed as BPD/EUPD: maybe it's a repeated anxious request for help, or distress that the clinician doesn't understand that makes the patient seem attention-seeking or manipulative. Treatment sometimes includes Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. 

    I take a dim view of a note like that - a proper medical observation should surely specify the behaviour?  You've the right to see your medical records and check they're corrected. You might also want to ask who added it and why.

Children
  • Thank you for that insight Cassandro. It wouldn’t surprise me if autistic individuals were misdiagnosed with personality disorder, as it seems professionals often jump to a number of diagnoses before finally admitting the person may be autistic! In this case though I find it a bit strange, because I’m already diagnosed with autism...

    I agree with your dim view of the way it was recorded. I wasn’t at all happy about the way it was inconspicuously noted in my discharge letter (a letter I had to request a copy of), and that it wasn’t explained in any sense. I’ve been trying to contact the consultant who wrote it to find out more, but as yet he has remained elusive! I’ve also requested the full notes from my hospital stay, in case it was explained more in there. Next step, PALS. Fun, fun, fun!