Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from June, 2017

Medical Gaslighting

Ever walk out of a medical visit questioning your own reality?  Like, what the hell just happened?  I am having symptoms, right?  They are serious , right?  I wouldn't show up to see a doctor if I wasn't actually in distress, right? The term "gaslighting" has been around for a long time, gaining in popularity in recent years, as a way to describe a strategy of psychological manipulation to make someone question their own perceptions of reality.  The term comes from a 1930s play Gas Light where a husband goes to great lengths to convince his wife she's insane and her only tangible symbol of reality becomes the nightly dimming of the gas lights in their home. Gaslighting is a malicious act.  I don't portend in the slightest that 99.9% of medical professionals intentionally gaslight their patients.  However, there are definitely qualities of our exchanges with the medical system that can leave us feeling, well, insane. Fundamental to this, I believe, is