Medical Gaslighting

The dismissal, minimization, or invalidation of a patient’s reported symptoms or experiences by healthcare providers, often leading patients to doubt their own perceptions. The phenomenon disproportionately affects women, people of colour, disabled people, and neurodivergent individuals, and is a documented barrier to accurate diagnosis of ADHD, autism, chronic pain, and other conditions. Medical gaslighting contributes to delayed diagnosis, imposter syndrome, and distrust of the medical establishment.