"Our medical system doesn't heal; it creates lifelong patients": Patient Narratives of Symptom Invalidation as the Contemporary Phenomenon of Medical Gaslighting

Connelly, Grace

"Our medical system doesn't heal; it creates lifelong patients": Patient Narratives of Symptom Invalidation as the Contemporary Phenomenon of Medical Gaslighting

Persistent URL

https://dspace.allegheny.edu/handle/10456/56764

Author(s)

Connelly, Grace

Date Issued

April 30, 2023

Abstract

A review of academic literature on patient satisfaction reveals that patient health outcomes are influenced by intricacies of the patient-provider relationship. Adverse healthcare experiences surrounding medical bias, mistrust, and symptom invalidation may drastically decrease patients' perceived quality of care, altering individual medical trajectory. Provider dismissal, often referred to in the literature as 'symptom invalidation,' is a frequent predictor of patient dissatisfaction. Unlike within academic journal articles, general media may refer to provider dismissal as 'medical gaslighting.' The phrase 'medical gaslighting' demonstrates the perceived unfairness that patients endure within the clinical encounter. Those who experience medical gaslighting discuss the phenomenon in terms of manipulation, discrimination, distrust, and other negative provider behaviors. Patients may publish personal health experiences surrounding medical gaslighting to various sources of online media. In this project, I ask, How do narrative responses to The New York Times' article, Women are Calling Out Medical Gaslighting, present discrepancies between provider diagnosis and patient lived experience?. A qualitative thematic analysis of publicly available online narrative-style comments is conducted. A literature review reveals themes surrounding provider identity, barriers in receiving accurate diagnoses, and biomedicalization. Chapter two highlights diagnoses that minimize patient lived experience, including perceived psychological illness, menstruation, and weight. Chapter three demonstrates additional trends within the analysis, including consultation composition, sexism, and offensive language. Global Health and Psychology context is provided to highlight the interdisciplinary nature of the project. Future recommendations and directions are provided, including suggestions for individual, systematic, and research efforts.

Major

Global Health Studies

Psychology

Honors

Global Health Studies, 2023

Psychology, 2023

First Reader(s)

Runestad, Pamela L.