The Impact of Medical Gaslighting

info822671
Oct 17
3 min read

What Is Medical Gaslighting?

Medical gaslighting occurs when healthcare professionals dismiss or minimize a patient’s symptoms, often attributing them to stress, anxiety, or imagination. This form of invalidation is not always intentional—it may stem from limited medical knowledge, implicit bias, or the pressures of modern healthcare systems.

Gaslighting in medicine reflects a power imbalance: clinicians control the narrative, while patients begin doubting their own experiences. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) The result can be devastating—eroding trust, worsening mental health, and contributing to medical trauma that discourages future care.

My Lived and Professional Testimony

It’s not an exaggeration—medical gaslighting is widespread. I speak from both personal and professional experience. Since age 15, I’ve lived with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and understand how chronic neuroimmune, autoimmune, and rare diseases often defy easy diagnosis. General practitioners frequently have limited knowledge, and a process of elimination is sometimes necessary.

Yet there’s a vast difference between saying, “I don’t know what’s wrong with you,” or “I think it’s Y, not X,” and asserting, “There’s nothing wrong with you,” or “It’s all in your mind.” Only recently—after a Scottish study identified eight genetic marker regions linked to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/CFS—has the medical community begun to recognize this condition and, more importantly, its sufferers’ symptoms.

As a registered counsellor, I see many clients with chronic or uncommon illnesses. For almost all of them, medical gaslighting contributed to trauma. Though it’s rarely their initial reason for seeking help, it has a profound mental health impact.

When Denial Becomes Harm

Clinicians who attribute physical symptoms to “just” depression or anxiety often create self-fulfilling prophecies. Their denial of a possible physical cause leaves patients feeling unheard and invalidated, leading to heightened distress, depression, and anxiety — the very issues doctors claim to see.

During a Palliative Care course at UCT, Dr Rene Krause stated, “Pain is what the patient says it is.” Why isn’t this a universal principle in medicine? Too often, the mindset is: “If I can’t diagnose or treat your symptoms, they can’t exist.” But history repeatedly proves otherwise—conditions like CFS were dismissed for decades until science caught up.

Atul Gawande, in Being Mortal (2014), highlights how a doctor’s identity is built on fixing problems. When faced with unsolvable cases, some experience shame, which can unconsciously drive denial and dismissal. Facing uncertainty threatens their sense of competence—so they invalidate the patient instead of admitting, “I don’t know.”

The Broader Consequences: Medical Trauma and Eroded Trust

The medical gaslighting impact extends beyond frustration; it’s a form of medical trauma. Research shows that invalidation can cause lasting psychological harm, leading patients to withdraw from care, delay diagnosis, or avoid treatment altogether.

A Rutgers-led review of 151 studies found that patients who experienced medical dismissal often developed long-term distress and mistrust in healthcare systems. These effects are particularly severe among women, people of colour, and marginalized groups, who experience higher rates of disbelief and bias.

Repeated dismissal can accumulate over time, resulting in what researchers call “clinician-associated trauma.” For many, healing from gaslighting involves rebuilding both body and mental health—and finding care that is truly patient-centred.

Addressing the Medical Gaslighting Impact

To reduce the medical gaslighting impact, healthcare systems must embrace a patient-centred mindset. Physician leaders can:

Recognize how bias and communication styles lead to invalidation and misdiagnosis.
Emphasize empathy, curiosity, and listening as core medical competencies.
Integrate trauma-informed and mental health awareness into medical training.
Strengthen interprofessional collaboration between medical and counselling professionals.
Implement checks to prevent premature diagnostic closure—especially in chronic or complex cases.

For patients, it helps to document symptoms, seek second opinions, request referrals, and bring a trusted advocate to appointments. Empowerment and partnership—not defensiveness—should define the clinical encounter.

Toward Healing and Patient-Centred Care

The impact of medical gaslighting reaches far beyond communication failures—it’s about safety, trust, and human dignity. As someone who has lived with CFS and worked closely with clients facing similar experiences, I’ve seen how invalidation deepens suffering and erodes hope.

Medicine’s greatest strength lies not just in knowledge, but in humility. When a patient says they are in pain—or unwell—listening is the first act of care. Embracing patient-centred values and acknowledging uncertainty are not signs of weakness; they are acts of integrity that restore trust, prevent medical trauma, and protect mental health for all involved.

Finding Support When You’ve Experienced Medical Gaslighting

If you’ve experienced medical dismissal or invalidation, you don’t have to navigate the aftermath alone. Counselling can help you process the emotional fallout, rebuild trust in yourself and the healthcare system, and restore your sense of agency.

I offer online, confidential support for individuals who’ve experienced the medical gaslighting impact or who live with chronic health conditions and resulting mental health challenges. My approach is grounded in empathy, safety, and patient-centred principles that recognize your experience as real and valid.

Reach out to learn how you can start healing from medical trauma, strengthen your resilience, and reclaim your voice in your own health journey.