Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWho Is Most at Risk?SignsWhy It HappensImpactIs It Fair to Use the Term ‘Medical Gaslighting?‘How to Avoid Medical GaslightingTake the Gaslighting Quiz
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Who Is Most at Risk?
Signs
Why It Happens
Impact
Is It Fair to Use the Term ‘Medical Gaslighting?’
How to Avoid Medical Gaslighting
Take the Gaslighting Quiz
Close
Medicalgaslightingdescribes a behavior in which a physician or other medical professional dismisses or downplays a patient’s physical symptoms or attributes them to something else, such as a psychological condition. Medical gaslighting is especially likely to happen to women andpeople of color.
This article will outline who is most at risk of experiencing medical gaslighting, describe the signs of medical gaslighting, and explain the reasons medical gaslighting happens. It will then explore the impact medical gaslighting can have on patients and discuss whether the term medical gaslighting is fair to healthcare workers. Finally, the article will wrap up with tips on how to avoid medical gaslighting.
Who Is Most at Risk of Experiencing Medical Gaslighting?
Women and people of color are especially likely to experience medical gaslighting. Research on various medical conditions has repeatedly shown that women’s and people of color’s symptoms are less likely to be taken seriously than those of White men. Marginalized groups also experience other disparities in the quality of the care they receive.
Women Are More Likely to Have Their Symptoms Attributed to a Mental Health Condition
For example, one study found that when men and women have the same symptoms of coronaryheart disease, doctors were significantly less certain of a diagnosis in women patients, and women were twice as likely as men to have their symptoms attributed to a mental health condition.Similarly, other research demonstrated that women withheart diseasewere treated less aggressively and weren’t as well represented in clinical trials.
Women Receive Cancer Diagnoses Later Than Men
Another study indicated that it took longer to diagnose women for a number of different kinds of cancer than it did men.In addition, an investigation at an emergency department found that women with abdominal pain were less likely than men with the same issue to receive pain medication, and even when they did receive pain medication they waited longer to get it.
BIPOC Folks
Furthermore, an analysis of emergency department records from several U.S. states demonstrated that Black, AAPI, and Latino people were more likely to have their stroke symptoms misdiagnosed.
Research has also shown that African Americans often receive lower quality health care than whitesfor a variety of conditions, at least in part due toracism.
What Are the Signs of Medical Gaslighting?
There are several common ways that medical gaslighting happens, including when healthcare professionals:
How to Recognize Passive-Aggressive Behavior
Why Does Medical Gaslighting Happen?
Medical gaslighting may not always be conscious. In fact, if healthcare providers’ treat women or people of color differently, it may be due to implicit instead of explicitbias. Part of this may be a result of systemic issues.
For example, research has shown that the United States National Institutes of Health have generally overfunded research on diseases that primarily impact men and underfunded research about diseases that primarily impact women.As a result, medical professionals aren’t as knowledgeable about women’s health issues, needs, and treatment.
Studies have also demonstrated thatdiscriminationis still prevalent in medicine, with one study finding that Black patients were two and half times more likely than White patients to be described negatively at least once in their medical records.
Impact of Medical Gaslighting
Medical gaslighting can impact patients in a multitude of physically and emotionally damaging ways. Patients may spend a long time attempting to find a doctor who can accurately diagnose their symptoms, leading to excessive tests, frequent visits to medical professionals, misdiagnoses that need to be corrected, and physical pain and suffering from the failure to address a medical condition with appropriate care, including death.
This is not only stressful for the patient, but research has also indicated that as patients continue to seek an accurate diagnosis, their history makes them increasingly less credible to doctors, who become less likely to trust the patient’s description of their own symptoms.
Not to mention, the emotional distress that occurs as a result of medical gaslighting can have long-lasting psychological effects. Patients may develop anxiety, depression, or PTSD as a result of such negligence and avoid undergoing future procedures or attending follow-up appointments.
Not surprisingly, medical gaslighting also leads to worse medical outcomes. For example, researchontraumatic brain injury(TBI) has shown that women are less likely than men to be admitted to intensive care following a mild TBI, and women with a moderate to severe TBI were hospitalized for a shorter duration than men. Seemingly, as a result of these issues, women with a TBI had worse health outcomes after six months than men.
The Medical System Needs Reform
However, one doctor notes that the whole American medical system is to blame rather than the doctors themselves. The system is rife with problems, such as allowing doctors minimal time with each patient leading to a reliance on biases that may not be applicable to a specific patient, inadequate training inmental health, and physical and mental exhaustion leading to burnout.
There’s a dire need for reform in the healthcare system, including supporting physicians in having the time and resources they need to make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe a course of treatment.
At the same time, medical professionals should be required to learn aboutimplicit biasesand how to avoid applying them to their patients.Unfortunately, these changes won’t happen overnight. Therefore, given the power doctors often exercise over their patients, it’s important for patients, especially women and people of color, to be aware of how their medical symptoms may be overlooked or ignored and to be supported in speaking up and advocating for their medical care and treatment.
Until the American healthcare system changes, medical gaslighting will likely remain a problem. Here are things you can do to ensure you get the care you need.
Find a Doctor You Trust
If you ever feel like your doctor is dismissing your symptoms or talking down to you, find another doctor who takes you seriously, listens to you, and you feel comfortable explaining your symptoms to.
Bring a Trusted Friend or Family Member With You
If you’re worried about being taken seriously or getting a correct diagnosis, bring a trusted friend or family member to your appointment. This ensures you will have someone there who can back you up if a healthcare provider questions your observations of your symptoms.
This individual may also ask questions you might not think of and remember facts and advise from the appointment that you may have missed.
Write Questions and Symptoms Down
To ensure all of your concerns are being addressed, come to your appointment with a written list of all the questions you want to discuss with your doctor.
It can also be helpful to keep a record of your symptoms and their progression, as well as details of any changes in your health to bring with you. You may also want to take notes during your appointment that you can refer to later, especially if there’s anything that comes up during the appointment that you might need to follow up on.
Get a Second Opinion
If you aren’t satisfied with thefirst diagnosisyou receive, don’t hesitate to get a second opinion. This may be especially important if you feel a doctor from a different specialty, such as a women’s health professional, may be better able to understand the issue you’re experiencing.
Thisfree quizcan help you determine whether gaslighting is happening in your relationship or friendship.
Keep in Mind
17 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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