Medical Gaslighting: A Woman's Narrative of Biomedicine

What is Medical Gaslighting? 

The term medical gaslighting has become increasingly common in conversations about women's healthcare, but what does it really mean and how can it be prevented? Medical gaslighting is defined by the American Journal of Medicine as “an act that invalidates a patient's genuine clinical concern without proper medical evaluation, because of physician ignorance, implicit bias, or medical paternalism.” We’ll unpack this definition throughout the article, but first, let’s make one thing clear: we all deserve quality care free of psychological manipulation. Medical gaslighting is not simply an inconvenience women face, but is an imposition of years of unnecessary discomfort onto patients, and actively harms their health.

Medical gaslighting comes in many different forms. Cleveland Clinic defines a range of behaviors that this term may include, all of which undermine a patient’s experiences and concerns. It’s important to be aware of these patterns when entering the clinical setting so you can recognize them and advocate for yourself effectively. Doing so is the first step toward protecting yourself from the detrimental health effects of medical gaslighting and ensuring that your concerns are taken seriously. 

• Diagnosis without thorough examination

• Dismissal of the importance of your symptoms

• Refusal to address certain topics or concerns

• Make assumptions about you

• Told your symptoms are “all in your head”

• Requests for tests or referrals are ignored (without explanation as to why they may not be a good fit)

• Shame or blame for your condition

• Rude or condescending comments

• Talk over or ignore you

• Try to talk you out of getting a second opinion

• Referrals, diagnoses, or tests that run counter to your history and symptoms

• Told your symptoms are normal for someone of your identity

How Biomedicine Can Hurt or Help the Cause

Medical gaslighting disproportionately impacts women, queer individuals, people of color, the elderly, and the mentally ill (Gainty, 2024).  These are marginalized groups that often face bias in medical settings due to physicians’ implicit prejudices and/or gaps in their education. In other words, medical gaslighting is rarely intentional; it is more often a symptom of the historical power imbalances that still continue to shape modern healthcare (Gainty, 2024). Every one of us has implicit biases, that is, unconscious attitudes or assumptions that shape how we perceive and interact with others. These biases can significantly influence our behaviors, leading to unfair treatment in various settings, including healthcare. Unfortunately, many hospitals still lack a clear understanding of this issue and continue practices that perpetuate bias. This is a problem we can solve though. Let’s explore how the biomedical system can work to reduce medical gaslighting.

Hospitals and medical schools often train doctors to recognize a limited set of symptoms for identifying common conditions. While this approach is not inherently harmful, these symptom lists are based primarily on heterosexual white men, the group historically used in most medical research (Gainty, 2024). Since people of different backgrounds may present different symptoms, this often leads to high rates of misdiagnosis and the dismissal of serious conditions in people outside this narrow reference group. 

Art by Shea Davis

A prominent example of this is heart attack. While men experience symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath, and neck/back pain, women experience other symptoms such as lower abdominal pain, indigestion, and fatigue (American Heart Association’s Journal, 2019). These differences in symptom presentation, combined with persistent gender bias, make women twice as likely to have heart disease misdiagnosed as anxiety (Gainty, 2024). Increasing institutional awareness that atypical symptoms exist is essential to reducing unintentional medical gaslighting.

U.S. hospitals also impose tight schedules on physicians, with the average primary care appointment lasting only 18 minutes  (Cleveland Clinic, 2025). This drive for efficiency comes at the cost of giving doctors enough time to understand the complex interplay among a patient’s symptoms, medical history, and lifestyle. This once again encourages misdiagnosis and dismissal of clinically relevant symptoms. 

A system that makes space for narrative medicine is crucial to resolving this. Narrative medicine is a system encouraging patients to share their stories and emphasizes helping the patient, rather than simply treating the symptoms (Krisberg, 2017). This fosters a genuine connection between patient and provider that paves a pathway for competent care guided by empathy and genuine curiosity. 

What You Can Do To Protect Yourself

Medical gaslighting has detrimental effects. Whether it is misdiagnosis due to bias, a dismissal of serious symptoms, or just doubting your own experiences, this phenomenon has caused innumerable women unnecessary suffering. While progress is occurring, systematic change is slow and we need ways to protect ourselves now. So what are your options? Cleveland Clinic provides several recommendations on how to avoid the detrimental effects of medical gaslighting. These are not burdens anyone should have to face, but unfortunately are the actions we must take to keep ourselves safe. 

• Research your symptoms and possible treatments before your appointment 

• Research your provider 

• Collect information to give to your doctor 

  • Log symptoms, medications, previous health conditions 

• Share your expectations for care with your doctor 

• Ask clarifying questions during the appointment 

• Take notes or ask to record the conversation

• Advocate for yourself! 

  • If a doctor refuses to act on your concerns, ask them to note it in your chart 

• Get a second opinion

• Make a complaint to the hospital if the provider engaged in medical gaslighting 

• If you discussed a series of tests/treatments, have the provider note this in their records with an appropriate level of detail 

• If you are worried about seeing a provider, bring a friend with you who can help you with the tasks listed above

Medical gaslighting impacts all of us, whether it be directly or through someone we love. If you or someone you know has a story of medical gaslighting to share, we are here to listen. Storytelling is a wonderful tool that fosters empowerment, connection, and activism, so we are asking readers to share their experiences with us using the Google form below. The goal of this project is to publish a companion piece using narrative medicine to explore medical gaslighting. We look forward to hearing from you all.

Medical Gaslighting Story Form

References

1. American Heart Association’s Journal. (2019). Heart attack symptoms: men vs. women by American Heart Association News. https://www2.heart.org/site/DocServer/Heart_Attack_Warning_Signs_-_Howard_S_Wright.pdf?docID=7095

2. Cleveland Clinic. (2025a, June 9). Medical gaslighting: 10 signs to watch for. Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/are-you-experiencing-medical-gaslighting

3. Fuss, A., Jagielski, C. H., & Taft, T. (2024, August 26). We didn’t start the fire…or did we?-a narrative review of medical gaslighting and introduction to medical invalidation. Translational gastroenterology and hepatology. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11535807

4. Gainty, C. (2024, February 20). How to address “medical gaslighting.” Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-address-medical-gaslighting1/

5. Krisberg, K. (2017, March 28). Narrative medicine: Every patient has a story. AAMC. https://www.aamc.org/news/narrative-medicine-every-patient-has-story

6. Ng, I. K., Tham, S. Z., Singh, G. D., Thong, C., & Teo, D. B. (2024, October). Medical gaslighting: A new colloquialism . The American Journal of Medicine, Volume 137, Issue 10, 920 - 922. https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(24)00396-6/fulltext