Institutional Gaslighting Part 1: Medical Gaslighting

When we think of gaslighting, we often picture intimate relationships where a partner consistently denies your experiences or makes you question your own memory. But gaslighting doesn't only happen behind closed doors. It can be systematically embedded within institutions, creating a pervasive form of psychological manipulation that leaves individuals questioning their sanity, their worth, and their very perception of reality.

As an existential psychotherapist specialising in narcissistic abuse, I've witnessed firsthand how medical gaslighting can devastate individuals' sense of self and their trust in their own experiences. Understanding this phenomenon is crucial for anyone who has felt dismissed, invalidated, or systematically undermined by healthcare systems meant to heal and protect them. The impact extends beyond the medical setting, as family and friends often echo the dismissal, leaving individuals increasingly isolated in their suffering.

When medical professionals invalidate your reality, you begin to feel as though you don't matter, that your voice, your pain, and your experiences are somehow invalid. You are made to doubt the reality of your experience, your pain, the injustice you've faced, being told it's all in your head. Many people describe feeling as though they're "going mad" or question their own sanity and even their own pain, when faced with persistent medical denial of their lived experiences.

Perhaps most crushing is the feeling of not being believed by those who hold authority and power over significant aspects of your life. The inherent power imbalance in medical gaslighting, where individuals must confront entire systems with established hierarchies, policies, and resources, creates a uniquely isolating experience. You're not just fighting to be heard; you're challenging structures that have the power to affect your healthcare, your diagnosis, your treatment, and ultimately your wellbeing. This David-and-Goliath dynamic can leave you feeling utterly alone and questioning whether it's even worth speaking your truth.

Crucially, medical gaslighting doesn't just wound your psyche. It actively prevents you from receiving the healthcare, support, and protection you need and deserve. When healthcare systems dismiss your symptoms, you don't receive proper medical care, potentially leading to deteriorating health and delayed diagnoses. This denial of essential medical services creates a devastating secondary layer of harm, as you're left to cope not only with your original health concerns but also with the medical system's failure to address them. The psychological impact of being systemically failed by the very system meant to protect and serve you can be profound, often leading to feelings of abandonment, hopelessness, and a deep mistrust of medical authority that extends far beyond the initial experience. This erosion of trust fundamentally alters your relationship with healthcare providers, often leading to reluctance to seek help when you need it most and a deterioration in the quality of care you're willing to engage with or able to access.

What Is Medical Gaslighting?

Medical gaslighting occurs when healthcare professionals, systems, or institutions collectively engage in behaviours that systematically undermine patients' perception of their own health reality. Unlike interpersonal gaslighting, which involves one person manipulating another, medical gaslighting involves entire healthcare structures complete with policies, procedures, and cultural norms that complicate people's experiences when they try to explain their truth, serving as a way to gaslight the person.

It's important to understand that intent often differentiates medical gaslighting from classic gaslighting. Healthcare providers typically do not intend to deceive or harm patients, but the impact on patients can be severe, leading to self-doubt, distress, and delayed care. Recent research suggests viewing this on a continuum of medical invalidation rather than assuming deliberate deception, recognising that unintentional yet harmful dismissal can be just as damaging to patients' wellbeing and health outcomes.

This form of psychological manipulation operates through established medical power structures, making it particularly insidious because it carries the weight of medical authority and expertise. When a system or a representative of the system tells you that your experience didn't happen, or that you're overreacting, or that you're somehow to blame for your health problems, it can feel impossible to challenge. After all, who are you against an entire medical institution that is supported by all those policies and systems?

The term draws from the same psychological mechanisms as interpersonal gaslighting: the systematic erosion of someone's confidence in their own perceptions, memories, and judgement about their health, alongside the frustration and helplessness of not being believed. However, medical gaslighting adds layers of complexity because it's often dressed up as policy, procedure, expertise, or as "the way things are done here."

Recognising Medical Gaslighting

Medical gaslighting occurs when you're concerned about a symptom and seek medical help, only to be told your concerns aren't real or significant. You leave the appointment feeling confused, dismissed, or invalidated, whilst your pain or worry continues unchanged.

If you've ever walked out of a doctor's appointment questioning whether you're imagining your symptoms, despite knowing something feels wrong in your body, you may have experienced medical gaslighting. Trust that feeling of confusion and invalidation. Your body's signals matter, and your concerns deserve proper investigation and care.

The Many Faces of Medical Gaslighting

Medical gaslighting manifests in countless ways across different healthcare settings and specialties.

Systematic Dismissal of Symptoms:

Medical gaslighting is perhaps one of the most dangerous forms of institutional manipulation because it directly affects people's physical wellbeing. This systematic dismissal of patients' experiences is particularly prevalent when symptoms don't align with textbook presentations, when patients don't fit certain demographic expectations, or when conditions are poorly understood by the medical community.

The dismissal often follows predictable patterns. Patients reporting unusual or complex symptoms may be told they're "overthinking" their health, that their symptoms are "not that serious," or that they need to "give it time" without any investigation or follow-up plan. Healthcare providers may use phrases like "I don't see anything wrong," "your tests came back normal," or "you look fine" as if normal test results or physical appearance definitively rule out all possible health issues.

This dismissal becomes particularly problematic when patients present with symptoms that don't fit neat diagnostic categories or when they have conditions that are poorly understood or difficult to diagnose. Chronic conditions, autoimmune disorders, neurological issues, and emerging health problems often fall into this category. Patients may be told their symptoms are "rare" or "unlikely" without proper investigation, or that they're "too young" or "too healthy" to have certain conditions.

Women's experiences provide stark examples of medical gaslighting. A woman presenting with chest pain may be told it's anxiety whilst a man with identical symptoms receives immediate cardiac evaluation. Heart disease in women often presents differently than in men, yet medical training and protocols have historically been based on male presentations, leading to systematic dismissal of women's cardiac symptoms. Period pain that significantly impacts daily life is dismissed as "normal," even when it may indicate conditions like endometriosis that can take years to diagnose. Chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and autoimmune conditions are frequently minimised with phrases like "you just need to exercise more," "try yoga," or "it's probably stress-related."

The phrase "it's all in your head" has become synonymous with medical gaslighting, particularly affecting patients with complex conditions that don't show up clearly on standard tests. Patients with long COVID, chronic Lyme disease, ME/CFS, or fibromyalgia often report being told their symptoms are psychological when medical professionals can't find obvious physical causes on routine testing. This dismissal ignores the reality that medical knowledge is constantly evolving and that current testing may not detect all health conditions.

Healthcare providers may also dismiss symptoms based on patient appearance, age, or perceived reliability. Young, healthy-looking patients may be told they're "too young" for certain conditions, whilst older patients may be told symptoms are "just part of ageing." Patients who appear articulate or well-dressed may have their symptoms minimised because they "don't look sick," whilst those who struggle to communicate effectively may be dismissed as unreliable historians of their own experiences.

Patients often leave these appointments feeling deeply confused and distressed. On one hand, they know their bodies feel wrong or are in pain. They live with these sensations every day. On the other hand, they've just been told by a medical authority that what they're experiencing isn't real, isn't serious, or isn't worth investigating. This creates a profound disconnect between their lived reality and the medical interpretation of their experience, leaving them questioning their own perceptions and wondering if they're somehow imagining or exaggerating their symptoms. Additionally, people around you also start not believing your pain if the doctor said there is nothing wrong with you.

Mental Health Attribution:

Mental health symptoms within medical settings face particular scrutiny, but perhaps more damaging is when physical symptoms are immediately attributed to mental health causes without proper investigation. This creates a dangerous precedent where psychological labels are used to avoid thorough medical evaluation.

When patients present with physical complaints, healthcare providers may quickly conclude that symptoms are "just anxiety," "stress-related," or "all in your head" without conducting appropriate tests or examinations. This is particularly prevalent for symptoms that are harder to measure or diagnose, such as chronic pain, fatigue, dizziness, or gastrointestinal issues. Rather than investigating potential physical causes, providers may assume the patient is experiencing psychosomatic symptoms.

This is especially harmful for individuals with existing mental health diagnoses, whose physical symptoms are more likely to be dismissed outright. A person with a history of depression presenting with chest pain might be told it's anxiety without receiving proper cardiac evaluation. Someone with an anxiety disorder reporting persistent headaches may be told to manage their stress rather than being investigated for potential neurological causes.

The phrase "it's probably just your anxiety" has become a dismissive catch-all that allows healthcare providers to avoid deeper investigation. Whilst mental health can indeed affect physical symptoms, the automatic attribution of physical complaints to psychological causes without proper medical investigation is a form of medical gaslighting that can have serious health consequences.

Women, in particular, face this type of gaslighting when their symptoms are attributed to "hormones," "stress," or "emotional problems" rather than being properly investigated. Young women presenting with concerning symptoms are especially vulnerable to having their concerns dismissed as anxiety or attention-seeking behaviour.

This form of medical gaslighting is particularly insidious because it carries a grain of truth. Mental health can affect physical wellbeing, but this connection is used to dismiss rather than investigate. It creates a false dichotomy where symptoms must be either physical or psychological, rather than recognising that proper medical care involves investigating all possibilities.

When my clients mention that some of their physical symptoms are possibly just anxiety, I always encourage them to explore any physical causes before we try working on treating the anxiety. Proper healthcare should investigate all possibilities rather than making assumptions based on mental health history or presenting concerns.

Cultural and Racial Bias:

Cultural and racial minorities face additional layers of medical gaslighting that intersect with systemic racism and cultural misunderstanding within healthcare systems.

Black women face particularly severe medical gaslighting, with their pain consistently underestimated and undertreated compared to white patients. Studies have shown that Black patients are less likely to receive adequate pain medication and more likely to have their pain dismissed as exaggerated or drug-seeking behaviour. The maternal mortality rates for Black women are significantly higher than for white women, often due to their concerns being dismissed or minimised during pregnancy and childbirth. Conditions like endometriosis and fibromyalgia, which disproportionately affect Black women, are frequently misdiagnosed or dismissed entirely.

Language barriers create additional opportunities for medical gaslighting. Patients who speak English as a second language may have their concerns dismissed when they struggle to articulate symptoms in medical terminology. Cultural differences in expressing pain or distress are often misinterpreted as non-compliance, attention-seeking, or exaggeration rather than being understood as different communication styles. Healthcare providers may assume that patients from certain cultures are "more dramatic" about pain or "don't understand" medical instructions.

Patients from Middle Eastern, South Asian, or other communities may face gaslighting when their symptoms don't align with Western medical presentations or when cultural factors influence their health expressions. Mental health symptoms, in particular, may be dismissed or misunderstood when they don't match Western psychological models.

Economic status intersects with cultural and racial bias to compound medical gaslighting. Patients who appear to be from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may have their symptoms dismissed as "lifestyle problems" or may be assumed to be seeking drugs or benefits rather than genuine medical care. The assumption that certain communities "complain more" or are "less reliable" creates systematic barriers to receiving appropriate medical attention.

The intersection of gender and race creates particularly challenging situations for women of colour, who face both gender-based medical dismissal and racial bias simultaneously. Their pain is more likely to be minimised, their symptoms attributed to emotional or psychological causes, and their medical histories questioned or disbelieved.

Pain Invalidation:

A particularly painful aspect of medical gaslighting is the systematic invalidation of pain. While this affects all patients, it disproportionately impacts women and other marginalised groups. This represents one of the most widespread and damaging forms of medical bias, where subjective experiences of pain are dismissed, minimised, or attributed to psychological causes without proper investigation.

For years, women were told that contraceptive coil insertions were merely "uncomfortable" when many experienced excruciating pain. Their descriptions of severe pain during the procedure were dismissed, minimised, or attributed to anxiety, leaving countless women traumatised by what should have been routine medical care. Only recently has the medical community begun to acknowledge that coil insertion can indeed be extremely painful for many women, leading to changes in practice including offering pain relief.

This dismissal of pain extends across many medical procedures and conditions. Chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia, which predominantly affects women, have historically been minimised or attributed to emotional instability. Endometriosis, affecting one in ten women of reproductive age, takes an average of seven to ten years to diagnose, often because period pain is normalised and women's descriptions of debilitating pain are dismissed as "normal" menstrual discomfort.

Pain invalidation also affects men, particularly when their pain doesn't align with stereotypical expectations of masculine stoicism. Men experiencing chronic pain or conditions traditionally associated with women may face dismissal or inadequate treatment. Men with fibromyalgia, for example, are often underdiagnosed because the condition is seen as a "women's disease."

Elderly patients of all genders frequently have their pain dismissed as "normal aging," whilst children's pain may be minimised because they're seen as unable to accurately describe their experiences. People with disabilities, those with mental health conditions, and individuals from marginalised racial or cultural backgrounds face additional layers of pain invalidation.

Medical research has historically been male-centered, with pain scales and treatment protocols developed primarily based on male experiences. This means that when women present with pain that doesn't match these male-normed expectations, their experiences are more likely to be questioned or dismissed. Heart attacks in women, for example, often present differently than in men, yet women's chest pain is more likely to be attributed to anxiety or stress.

The phrase "women are just more sensitive to pain" is often used to dismiss rather than validate women's experiences, ignoring research that shows women may actually have higher pain tolerance in many situations. This dismissal teaches women to minimise their own suffering, leading many to downplay symptoms or avoid seeking medical care altogether.

Pain invalidation particularly affects women with invisible disabilities or chronic conditions. When pain cannot be easily measured or seen, healthcare providers may question its legitimacy. Patients with conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, or multiple sclerosis often report having their pain dismissed as exaggeration or attention-seeking behaviour, particularly when they appear "well" during medical appointments.

The impact of pain invalidation goes beyond the immediate dismissal. It creates a culture where women learn not to trust their own pain experiences, where they feel compelled to prove their suffering is "real enough" to warrant attention, and where they often delay seeking medical care because they expect to be dismissed. This systematic invalidation can lead to worsened health outcomes, delayed diagnoses, and profound psychological trauma around medical care.

The impact on lives

The consequences of medical gaslighting can be life-altering and sometimes life-threatening. Delayed diagnoses mean conditions worsen unnecessarily, turning treatable illnesses into chronic or severe health problems. People may suffer in silence for years, believing their pain isn't real or significant enough to warrant medical attention. Some stop seeking medical care altogether, leading to preventable complications and deteriorating health. The psychological impact includes loss of trust in medical professionals, anxiety about future healthcare interactions, and a profound sense of being failed by the very system meant to heal and protect them. For those with chronic conditions, medical gaslighting can mean years of inadequate treatment, reduced quality of life, and the devastating realisation that their suffering could have been minimised with proper care and validation.

The people that have been medically gaslighted most likely will experience doubt about their health symptoms from everyone else in their lives. Family members, friends and colleagues will say that the doctor said there is nothing wrong, so it's all in your head. When medical professionals dismiss symptoms, it gives everyone else permission to do the same, creating a devastating cycle of invalidation. People may stop talking about their symptoms altogether to avoid judgement, or find that their relationships become strained as others grow tired of hearing about "imaginary" health problems. They may find themselves increasingly isolated and alone, carrying their pain in silence whilst those around them question their credibility and mental state. This social isolation compounds the original medical trauma, leaving people without the support they desperately need during their health struggles.

In my practice, I have had clients who come to therapy after years of being medically gaslighted, and they present with PTSD symptoms. They are very scared, have a profound lack of trust in medical systems, and carry trauma not just from their original health conditions but from the pain or the invasive medical procedure they endured, without being believed or properly treated. This medical trauma can be just as debilitating as the physical conditions themselves.

I have worked with women who experienced invasive procedures in their reproductive areas very early in their lives, sometimes as teenagers, and they don't know how to process these experiences as adult women. They were told at the time that the procedures were not painful, or that any discomfort was normal, when in reality they experienced significant pain and trauma. Years later, they carry the psychological impact of having their pain dismissed during such vulnerable and intimate medical experiences. Especially when experienced early in their lives, this has a profound effect on how they relate to their bodies and on their trust in others, as this trauma becomes foundational in their development.

People are often left confused and desperate, turning to mental health treatment believing their symptoms are psychological as they've been told. When this approach doesn't resolve their physical symptoms, they return to their doctor feeling even more lost and distrustful. This cycle can continue until they eventually give up seeking help altogether, resigning themselves to living with their condition.

Strategies for Protecting Yourself

If you recognise that you're experiencing medical gaslighting, there are steps you can take to protect your mental health and advocate for proper medical care.

Document Everything:

Keep detailed records of all medical interactions, symptoms, and communications. This documentation serves multiple purposes: it helps you trust your own memory, provides evidence if you need to seek second opinions, and can be crucial if you need to escalate concerns or change providers.

Seek Second Opinions:

Don't hesitate to seek second or even third opinions, especially for ongoing health concerns. Different healthcare providers may have different perspectives, and finding someone who takes your symptoms seriously can be life-changing. In the NHS, Martha's Rule gives patients and families the right to request an urgent second opinion if they feel their concerns about deteriorating health aren't being taken seriously. This acknowledgment by the NHS itself highlights how real and significant the problem of medical dismissal can be.

Access NHS Advocacy Services:

You can access NHS advocacy services to help you navigate healthcare systems and ensure your voice is heard. These advocates can support you in appointments, help you understand your rights, and assist in making complaints when necessary.

Bring Support:

Consider bringing a trusted friend or family member to medical appointments. Having a witness can help validate your experience and may influence how healthcare providers treat you.

Know Your Rights:

Educate yourself about your rights as a patient. This includes the right to be heard, to receive appropriate care, to seek second opinions, and to have your concerns properly investigated. The NHS Constitution sets out your rights and responsibilities as an NHS patient, which you can find here.  

Trust Your Body:

Remember that you know your body better than anyone else. You live in your body every single day, experiencing its rhythms, changes, and responses in ways that no healthcare provider can fully understand from brief appointments. If something feels wrong, trust that instinct even when healthcare providers dismiss your concerns. Your body sends you signals for a reason, and changes in how you feel physically are valid indicators that something may need attention.

You know what normal feels like for you, what pain levels you typically experience, and when something has changed. This intimate knowledge of your own body is valuable medical information, not something to be dismissed or minimised.

Persistent advocacy for your health is not being "difficult." It's being responsible for your wellbeing. Many patients worry about being seen as "problem patients" or "hypochondriacs," but seeking proper care for genuine concerns is your right. You don't need to minimise your symptoms to make healthcare providers comfortable, and you don't need to accept dismissive treatment. If something doesn't feel right, you deserve to have it properly investigated, regardless of how many appointments it takes or how many questions you need to ask, or being in a lot of pain without being believed.

Find Supportive Healthcare Providers:

Seek out healthcare providers who listen, validate your experiences, and work collaboratively with you. These providers do exist, and you deserve to receive care from someone who respects your experiences and expertise about your own body.

How Therapy Can Help

Medical gaslighting can be deeply traumatic, with effects that persist long after any medical issues have been resolved. The trauma stems not just from physical suffering, but from the profound betrayal of trust when those meant to care for you systematically invalidate your reality. This betrayal can shatter your fundamental sense of safety in the world and your confidence in your own perceptions. Years later, even successful treatment of the original condition may not heal the psychological wounds of being dismissed and in pain. The memory of pain can be traumatic in itself, but when combined with the dismissal, disbelief, or blame for your own suffering, it can create lasting patterns of hypervigilance, self-doubt, and fear around seeking medical care.

Therapy can be profoundly helpful for individuals who have experienced medical gaslighting. The therapeutic relationship provides a space where your reality is acknowledged, validated, and explored without judgement.

Validation and Reality Testing:

One of the most important functions of therapy in cases of medical gaslighting is providing validation. After experiencing systematic dismissal of your reality, it can be profoundly healing to have someone acknowledge that your experiences are real and legitimate. A skilled therapist can help you separate what happened from the healthcare system's interpretation of what happened. This reality testing can be crucial for rebuilding trust in your own perceptions about your health. Many clients describe feeling relief at finally having their experiences believed and understood, which begins the process of healing the deep wounds left by medical invalidation.

Processing Medical Trauma:

Medical gaslighting often creates a form of medical trauma that requires specific therapeutic attention. Therapeutic approaches such as trauma-focused therapy can help you process these experiences and develop healthy coping strategies. This might involve working through memories of dismissive appointments, painful procedures, and trying to cope with pain while you are being told that it is in your head, processing feelings of betrayal and abandonment, and addressing the hypervigilance that often develops around medical interactions. Understanding your responses as normal reactions to abnormal treatment can be deeply healing. Therapy helps you recognise that your anxiety about medical appointments, your difficulty trusting healthcare providers, and your tendency to minimise symptoms are all natural responses to having been systematically invalidated.

Rebuilding Self-Trust:

Therapy can help you rebuild confidence in your own judgement and perceptions about your health. Medical gaslighting systematically erodes your trust in your own body and your ability to assess your health needs. Through exploring your experiences in a validating environment, you can begin to trust your body's signals and your own health advocacy again. This process involves learning to distinguish between reasonable medical advice and dismissive gaslighting, developing confidence in your ability to assess your own symptoms, and rebuilding the connection between your mind and body that medical gaslighting often disrupts.

Developing Advocacy Skills:

Learning to advocate for yourself in medical settings is crucial when dealing with potential medical gaslighting. Therapy can help you develop these skills and practice asserting yourself in safe contexts before applying these skills in challenging medical environments. This might include role-playing difficult conversations with healthcare providers, developing scripts for requesting specific tests or referrals, learning how to document interactions effectively, and building confidence to persist when your concerns are initially dismissed. Therapy can also help you prepare emotionally for medical appointments, process difficult interactions afterwards, and maintain your sense of self-worth when facing dismissive treatment.

Existential Exploration:

From an existential perspective, medical gaslighting attacks fundamental aspects of human existence: our relationship with our body, our sense of agency over our health, and our trust in systems meant to care for us. When medical professionals dismiss your reality, it challenges your very sense of being and your place in the world. Your body becomes a source of confusion rather than a trusted companion, and your ability to make meaning from your suffering is undermined.

Existential therapy can help you explore how these experiences have affected your sense of meaning and purpose, and support you in reclaiming your authentic relationship with your health and body. This approach helps you examine questions like: What does it mean to live in a body that has been dismissed? How do you find meaning in suffering that has been invalidated? How do you rebuild trust in your own lived experience? Through this exploration, you can begin to reclaim your sense of agency and develop a more authentic, trusting relationship with your own embodied experience.

Understanding Institutional / Medical Power Dynamics:

Therapy can help you understand the power dynamics at play in medical gaslighting. This understanding can be empowering, as it helps you recognise that the problem lies with the system, not with you. It can also help you develop strategies for navigating these power imbalances more effectively.

Building Resilience:

Whilst it's important not to place the burden of change solely on patients, therapy can help you build resilience for dealing with medical gaslighting. This might involve developing emotional regulation skills for medical appointments, building support networks, or learning effective communication strategies with healthcare providers.

A Note for Medical Professionals

To medical professionals reading this: preventing medical gaslighting starts with believing your patients and validating their experiences. When patients present with symptoms you cannot immediately explain, avoid dismissing their concerns as psychological without proper investigation. Take time to listen fully to their account of symptoms, ask open-ended questions, and acknowledge their expertise about their own bodies. Even when tests come back normal, this doesn't mean the patient's symptoms aren't real. Consider saying phrases like "I believe you're experiencing these symptoms" and "Let's explore what might be causing this together" rather than "Everything looks normal" or "It's probably just stress." It is better to say "I cannot find what is causing this" rather than "There is nothing wrong with you" because you cannot find it.

Also, maintain eye contact with your patients. Notes are very important, but remember what they are for. In my last few GP appointments, I left the office and I was not even sure they could have described what I looked like. Remember that your words carry significant weight and can either heal or harm the therapeutic relationship.

A Note for Therapists

For fellow therapists: when clients present with physical symptoms they attribute to psychological causes, always encourage them to seek proper medical evaluation first. Our role is not to diagnose or dismiss potential medical conditions. Be aware that clients who have experienced medical gaslighting may present with complex trauma responses that require sensitive, validating care. Help clients distinguish between appropriate medical advice and medical gaslighting, and support them in advocating for proper healthcare. Remember that medical trauma can be just as significant as other forms of trauma and deserves the same level of clinical attention and validation.

One of the main impacts of medical gaslighting is that it becomes internalised, and clients may gaslight themselves. Give them space and time to ensure that you are a safe person who truly understands their experience. Their defences may make them sound chaotic and doubt their own experience at first, not only because they genuinely doubt it, but to preemptively protect themselves from your potential doubt, as has been their repeated experience with medical professionals. Encourage them to retell their story many times, and build on it each time. The first time they feel fully validated and believed by you, their sense of relief will be immense.

Conclusion

Medical gaslighting is a serious form of psychological manipulation that can have lasting effects on both physical and mental health. By understanding what it is, recognising its forms, and knowing how to protect yourself, you can maintain your sense of reality even when healthcare systems try to undermine it.

If you're struggling with the effects of medical gaslighting, professional support can help you heal from these experiences and rebuild trust in your own perceptions. By recognising these patterns and seeking support, you're taking important steps towards protecting yourself and your health.

If you're struggling with the effects of medical gaslighting or other forms of institutional abuse, professional support can make a significant difference. As an existential psychotherapist specialising in narcissistic abuse and systemic invalidation, I understand the complex psychological impact of medical trauma and am here to help you reclaim your truth and rebuild your relationship with your health and body.