{"id":599805,"date":"2023-01-21T12:49:53","date_gmt":"2023-01-21T18:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/21\/medical-gaslighting-when-the-doctor-dismisses-your-concerns\/"},"modified":"2023-01-21T12:49:53","modified_gmt":"2023-01-21T18:49:53","slug":"medical-gaslighting-when-the-doctor-dismisses-your-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/21\/medical-gaslighting-when-the-doctor-dismisses-your-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical Gaslighting: When the Doctor Dismisses Your Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jan. 20, 2023 \u2013 Preslee Marshall, a 25-year-old resident of Canada, began having severe electric shock-like sensations shooting throughout her body. It started happening once a week, then progressed to once a day, then multiple times a day, she says. Worried, \u00a0Marshall, who co-manages a public relations agency, consulted a neurologist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me my symptoms were caused by anxiety. He said, \u2018If you get your nails done, you\u2019ll feel better,\u2019 which shocked me,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I took his advice, got my nails and hair done, went for a massage and got a facial, and my pain kept getting worse.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, Marshall was diagnosed with fibromyalgia \u2013 a long-lasting condition that often causes pain and tenderness throughout the body \u2013 by a rheumatologist after a thorough examination and an MRI to rule out other serious conditions, like multiple sclerosis, which can have similar symptoms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lorrie Lewis, a 56-year-old social worker, was also brushed off by her doctor. Her daughter, Beth DeCapua, a house painter in Toms River, NJ, says her mother had consulted a doctor because she was having a hard time coordinating her hands while trying to dust the coffee table.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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\u201cThe first doctor my mother saw said, \u2018You\u2019ve got to expect this at your age,\u2019 and when she went to a second doctor, he advised her to go home and relax with a glass of wine,\u201d DeCapua recalls. Two years later, Lewis was diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease, which eventually claimed her life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Obadiah J., a clergyman from New York who asked that his last name not be used for this article, began feeling \u201cterrible heartburn\u201d when he was 15. He consulted a doctor who told him that young men “don’t get heartburn.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until I got married and my wife introduced me to a gastroenterologist that I got diagnosed with a hiatal hernia and an inflamed esophagus,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Having one\u2019s symptoms dismissed by a health care professional is sometimes called \u201cmedical gaslighting,\u201d a term that comes from <\/span>Gas Light, <\/span><\/i>a 1938 play that was later adapted into a movie, in which the husband manipulates his wife into questioning her perceptions of reality and her sanity.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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Karen Lutfey Spencer, PhD, a professor of health and behavioral sciences at the University of Colorado in Denver, says that \u00a0while \u201cmedical gaslighting\u201d has become a popular term to describe the downplaying or dismissing a patient\u2019s symptoms, it may be a label that’s not accurate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe word \u2018gaslighting\u2019 implies that someone is purposefully trying to mess with another person\u2019s head, as the husband did in the movie. But we have many well-intentioned health care providers who are not deliberately trying to \u2018gaslight\u2019 their patients,\u201d she says. That said, the absence of malice doesn\u2019t justify dismissing a patient\u2019s symptoms, she notes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

‘Horses’ vs ‘Zebras’\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In medical school, doctors are taught, \u201cIf you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.\u201d This encourages providers to look for the most common rather than the most exotic diagnosis for a person\u2019s condition. But that approach might unintentionally lead to downplaying a patient\u2019s symptoms \u2013 especially in today\u2019s high-pressure health care environment, where providers are forced to quickly find out what the patient\u2019s problem is.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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So, why would common conditions like fibromyalgia, Parkinson\u2019s, and a hiatal hernia be considered \u201czebras\u201d?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Spencer, a medical sociologist whose research focuses on medical decision-making, health care disparities, and patient-provider relationships, says that some providers have biases that affect their diagnoses and treatment decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cResearch has shown that women, people of color, older people, non-heterosexual people, and individuals with \u2018stigmatized\u2019 conditions \u2013 like being overweight or having a mental illness \u2013 are more frequently misdiagnosed and their symptoms are more frequently dismissed,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One reason is that much of the research that informs diagnosis and treatment was historically performed on white males. \u201cThere\u2019s much less research into other populations with other biologies. It\u2019s assumed that what is known about white males will translate into other groups, and that\u2019s simply not always true,\u201d Spencer explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, heart problems are often misdiagnosed in women because heart disease has been regarded as a \u201cmale\u201d condition.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA doctor in one of my studies once reported that that the encyclopedia he used in medical school to learn about angina had an illustration of an elderly gray-haired white man clutching his chest. This picture, which hasn\u2019t changed in decades, reinforces the message that heart disease is a white male problem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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These various kinds of influences become \u201cbaked into medical training.\u201d So when a woman has heart symptoms, \u201c[doctors] may be less certain that it\u2019s a heart problem and give more consideration to other causes, like stress or depression,\u201d says Spencer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, Parkinson\u2019s disease statistically affects more men than women, so some doctors may not think of it in a woman who has symptoms, suggests Christine Metz, PhD, of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell and department of OB\/GYN at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra\/Northwell, Long Island, NY.<\/span><\/p>\n

Common But Hard to Diagnose<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Certain types of illnesses are more likely to be missed or dismissed, according to Allyson Shrikhande, MD, chief medical officer and co-founder of <\/span>Pelvic Rehabilitation Medicine<\/span><\/a>, a national women\u2019s health care company that specializes in pelvic pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Endometriosis is a condition that causes pelvic pain, and though it\u2019s very common \u2013 1 in 9 women are affected \u2013 there are no definite lab tests or X-rays to diagnose the condition, which is often diagnosed only during surgery.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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\u201cWomen experience pain in the lower abdomen, often during intercourse, and they\u2019re told by their physicians to relax and have a glass of wine, that they\u2019re simply overanxious. They\u2019re made to feel crazy,\u201d Shrikhande says.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the main reasons is lack of education about chronic pelvic pain \u2013 and similar conditions \u2013 during medical school and residency. Insufficient education can lead to even a common condition being regarded as a \u201czebra,\u201d according to Shrikhande. This is true for other conditions as well, such as fibromyalgia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Myths and Facts About Pain<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Pain similarly has no \u201cobjective\u201d measurement technique, according to Metz.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, people are asked to report their pain on a 1-10 \u2018pain scale,\u2019 but it\u2019s still very subjective. A level 1 or 2 pain to me might be different from a level 1 or 2 pain for you,” she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And a lot of myths abound, despite scientific evidence to the contrary \u2013 for example, that Black people have a higher pain threshold than white people \u2013 leading to their pain complaints being taken less seriously in medical settings, says Tina Sacks, PhD, an associate professor at the University of California-Berkeley\u2019s School of Social Welfare.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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Sacks, a social scientist who specializes in racial inequities in health, has written a book called <\/span>Invisible Visits: Black Middle-Class Women in the American Healthcare System<\/span><\/i>. She notes that pain in women is also more frequently underestimated and undertreated, compared to pain in their male counterparts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spencer says she\u2019s been told by female athletes \u201cthat when they\u2019ve sought treatment for an injury, they were told to go home and use ice or take ibuprofen, while their male counterparts with similar injuries were more aggressively treated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sacks agrees. \u201cThere\u2019s still some version of women being seen as \u2018hysterical\u2019 \u2013 and providers sometimes assume that the pain is a product of that \u2018female hysteria.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Sacks, people with \u201cintersectionality\u201d \u2013 for example, people who are both Black and female \u2013 are even more vulnerable because both groups are taken less seriously when they complain about medical symptoms such as pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

She notes that people with disabilities are among the most at risk for medical gaslighting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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\u201cAgeism, sexism, and ableism go hand-in-hand in the medical field, and these factors sometimes work together to effectively minimize or even negate altogether what the person is experiencing,” Sacks says, noting that immigrants are often taken less seriously as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Signs of Medical Gaslighting<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnaddressed pain \u2013 or, for that matter, the downplaying or denial of any symptoms you\u2019re describing \u2013 is a red flag,\u201d says Spencer. And \u201cbe concerned if your questions aren\u2019t being answered or are rerouted.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The experts point to phrases that can be \u201cwarning bells\u201d of gaslighting:<\/span><\/p>\n