In Portland, Maine, Christina, 39, has been constantly ignored by her doctors. They wouldn’t listen to her, instead choosing to blame all her injuries on the weight she has been gaining.
This is known as medical gaslighting, where health professionals turn their heads away from your health concerns.
Recently, a New York Times article regarding this has received over 2,800 comments saying how medical gaslighting has almost lost them their lives or left them in long-lasting pain.
“Gaslighting is real; it happens all the time. Patients – and especially women – need to be aware of it,” Dr. Jennifer H. Mieres of the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra said. This has been getting much attention these days, since women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ have a lot of experiences of being treated differently.
You might be dealing with gaslighting if your healthcare provider interrupts you as you speak. They also might question the pain and symptoms you’re feeling or blame it on other non-relevant things; refusing to talk about your issue or not confirming a diagnosis might lead to gaslighting.
Stand up for yourself by making sure to keep track of when, where, how, and why you got the discomfort/pain you’re feeling. Ask as many questions as you need, and understand what’s going on before moving on. Maybe even bring a witness or trusted friends into the office with you to confirm the events that happened.
If your provider still ignores you, you maybe should think about switching to another professional or discussing the problem with your doctor’s head/supervisor and hope they could do something about it.
The moral of the story isn’t to not trust your health professional; It’s to learn that you understand your body best, not your parents, doctors, siblings, but you.
This is known as medical gaslighting, where health professionals turn their heads away from your health concerns.
Recently, a New York Times article regarding this has received over 2,800 comments saying how medical gaslighting has almost lost them their lives or left them in long-lasting pain.
“Gaslighting is real; it happens all the time. Patients – and especially women – need to be aware of it,” Dr. Jennifer H. Mieres of the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra said. This has been getting much attention these days, since women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ have a lot of experiences of being treated differently.
You might be dealing with gaslighting if your healthcare provider interrupts you as you speak. They also might question the pain and symptoms you’re feeling or blame it on other non-relevant things; refusing to talk about your issue or not confirming a diagnosis might lead to gaslighting.
Stand up for yourself by making sure to keep track of when, where, how, and why you got the discomfort/pain you’re feeling. Ask as many questions as you need, and understand what’s going on before moving on. Maybe even bring a witness or trusted friends into the office with you to confirm the events that happened.
If your provider still ignores you, you maybe should think about switching to another professional or discussing the problem with your doctor’s head/supervisor and hope they could do something about it.
The moral of the story isn’t to not trust your health professional; It’s to learn that you understand your body best, not your parents, doctors, siblings, but you.
