Medical gaslighting is a troubling phenomenon where healthcare providers dismiss patients with hard-to-diagnose ailments, like long COVID or irritable bowel syndrome, often labeling them as purely psychological. This issue is exacerbated by increased caseload pressures that lead doctors to feel compelled to provide definitive answers. Alexandra Fuss, alongside her research team, suggests the term 'medical invalidation' as more accurate for situations where diagnosis is elusive, emphasizing that meaning to deceive is usually absent. The interaction between medical hubris and the pressure on providers is crucial in understanding this concept.
Patients struggling with hard-to-detect conditions may feel dismissed when doctors can't find a cause for ailments, often leading to feelings of being invalidated.
The authors concluded most cases of medical gaslighting are not intentional deception but should be termed 'medical invalidation.'
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