5 Way To Combat Internalize Medical Gaslighting
The experience of medical gaslighting is more than just a frustrating appointment; it is a form of psychological trauma that can lead you to doubt your own physical sensations and intuition. When a healthcare provider dismisses your symptoms as "just stress" or "anxiety," it’s easy to begin internalizing that voice, eventually wondering if you are indeed "crazy" or "dramatic." To combat this there are several things you can do.
- Keeping a meticulous symptom log: Having a physical record of your pain levels and triggers acts as an anchor to reality, making it much harder for someone else's dismissal to override your documented facts.
- Separating medical expertise from lived experience: While a doctor is an expert in pathology, you are the world’s leading expert on your own body; their inability to find a cause is a reflection of the limitations of current testing, not the validity of your pain.
- Seek support from a group like The CAYA Collective or a trauma-informed therapist who can mirror your reality back to you.
- Check whose voice it actually is: Recognize that the doubt belongs to the dismissive provider, not to you.
- Remember that the patient-provider relationship is a partnership; if the trust is broken, you have the right to seek a new team that values collaborative care.
Healing your body is difficult enough; you shouldn't have to work with someone who will not listen to you.
XOXO
Katherine Rose
