What Is Medical Gaslighting, And How Does It Affect Our Lives?

How many times has it happened that you visited a doctor hoping to get a diagnosis for your ailment, but you came out even more confused than before? This happens to a lot of us. Often doctors misjudge our symptoms and may give a diagnosis that is far from reality.

Such wrong or misjudged diagnosis can aggravate your problems, and a minor ailment may grow into a major disease. While there can be a number of reasons for such misdiagnosis, one of the major reasons is what we may call medical gaslighting.

You’re probably wondering what is medical gaslighting.

Well, it is a situation when a doctor dismisses your symptoms on the basis of stress or hormonal change. Often, doctors relate our symptoms to psychological factors when the actual reason might be more physical. This can unnecessarily delay your treatment and may aggravate your problem.

But why would a medical professional not listen to you? Well, there can be many reasons for that, such as they themselves are clouded by psychological biases and may directly correlate symptoms to a particular ailment even if they do not have a concise idea. One reason could be the lack of experience or knowledge on the part of medical professionals.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that women are most likely affected by this as they have more medically unexplained symptoms than men, and their problems are often misjudged as hormonal changes. So it is best to get multiple medical opinions or visit a renowned medical professional for a consultation.