While going through today’s newspaper, I came across a term called “MEDICAL GASLIGHTING”. I had never heard of this term before, so tried to find out more about this term, which I want to share with you all.
Medical Gaslighting is a term used to describe doctors or medical practitioners who wrongly blame a ‘patient’s illness or symptoms on psychological factors, or deny a patient’s illness entirely, like wrongly telling the patient they are not sick. Gaslighting refers to the type of manipulation where the intent is to lead someone to question their own experiences, memory, or perceptions. It is also viewed as emotional abuse.
The effects of gaslighting are that people often begin to question their own reality or may feel crazy, particularly if the person gaslighting them has the greater authority or personal power. Now in medical cases, people feel that as doctors have more knowledge on the medical issues, therefore they start believing doctors and feel whatever doctors are saying is true. Victims of gaslighting may become anxious, develop depression or mental illness, or become increasingly emotional as a result, which makes them more likely to be seen having questionable judgment, both by others and themselves, discrediting them further. In the end, it may result in a loss of trust and isolation. Gaslighting by medics is more commonly experienced by certain patient groups, particularly women, and in illnesses that do not yet clear diagnosis tests, for example, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), chronic pain, and many other illnesses. This form of gaslighting may be done either consciously or unconsciously.
People with ME/CFS many time experience doctors who dismiss or ignore their health problems, and attribute the symptoms as coming from a psychological rather than physical cause, leading to incorrect treatments. Some doctors have also made claims the patients are not really sick or have tried to discredit them by suggesting they are exaggerating the extent of their illness. Some long Covid patients have experienced gaslighting, particularly when a doctor or healthcare professional does not find a clear biological cause for their long covid symptoms.
Healthcare professionals might say they are sorry that you feel or you believe that there is something wrong, but they are quick to inform the patient that their physical exam or blood tests have come out normal. Patients are sometimes told they will feel better by taking anti-depressants or just exercising. These types of treatments might be appropriate for those with Major Depressive Disorder, but patients with long Covid, as well as ME/CFs, may be gaslit, and this insensitive and harmful intervention can produce irrevocable harm.
Medical gaslighting behavior by health professionals is experienced by patients with certain chronic illnesses, particularly those that also disproportionately affect women, such as fibromyalgia, irritable bowel symptoms, and people with long Covid, all these types of patients are generally gaslighted by doctors.
Some classic cases of medical gaslighting in India:
- An obese woman who was very active in her profession of event management started experiencing severe pain throughout her body. Being an overweight type of patient because of polycystic ovary syndrome (POS), her family doctor told her to see an endocrinologist ( a doctor specializing in conditions related to hormones) who diagnosed her with fibromyalgia and asked her to meet a rheumatologist, who confirmed it. She was sent back to an endocrinologist, and the doctor was requested to help in managing the pain, but the doctor talked negatively about her weight. The woman then joined online support groups and met a pain specialist who helped her.
- A woman who continued to experience many symptoms such as body aches, headaches, and fatigue even after recovering from Covid 19, says none of the doctors took her seriously. Nobody explained to her the long-term effect of Covid 19, and her family thought she was trying to avoid household chores.
- Here is another classic case of my spouse, which happened about 10 years back. She started with a high fever and her eyes were getting bloodshot red. After a few days of medicines prescribed by the family doctor that did not bring relief, we were asked to contact a senior MD doctor. This doctor started the treatment and admitted her to the hospital. She was in the hospital for 5/6 days, and her fever was brought down, but redness in the eye persisted. Her condition never improved as such. After consulting a few more doctors, we were asked to contact a doctor specializing in such ailments, and this doctor was attached to a very famous multi-specialty five-star hospital. For the next 2 weeks, so many tests were conducted including some tests with nuclear medicine, and then we were told about the exact disease, which is known as Sarcoidosis, and she was treated with some steroids for more than 10 months.
Medical gaslighting generally occurs when the doctor is busy and has no patience with the patient, or is simply not aware of the medical condition. In my opinion, the doctor should not gaslight the patient because the doctor is not able to find out what is wrong with the patient. Sometimes, the psychological issue may play a role, but the doctors have to rule out everything, and then refer the patient to a mental health professional. Secondly, when the doctor says nothing is wrong with you, the patient’s family members also start to believe the doctor, and that’s exactly medical gaslighting can have a huge psychological impact on the patient.
Waiting for your views on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
29th August 2022