In a world where basic healthcare rights and access are being fought and debated over, you would think healthcare would be more efficient and inclusive in well-developed areas with easy access, right? The sad truth is, healthcare professionals are not giving their all when it comes to treating young patients honestly and equally.

Healthcare Can Discriminate

Patients can experience medical neglect in many different instances, but oftentimes, it seems to happen to younger generations of patients.

In Nicole Fernley’s case, her endometriosis was diagnosed after 20 years of neglected pain‒ that’s 20 years of pain from the age of 13 to 33. Despite all of Nicole’s self-advocacy and insistence that something was wrong, her stress, pain, and quality of life were swept under the rug, putting her at risk of worse health complications

This issue isn’t just exclusive to Nicole, however. She eventually did get her deserved diagnosis, but the long wait was due to the ignorance and deception of doctors and healthcare professionals over a long period of time. It is safe to say that Nicole got very lucky in this instance.

But, like Nicole, young patients deal with dismissive healthcare professionals all the time, with women, disabled individuals, LGBTQIA+, and people of color all getting the worst of it. So, what is this phenomenon called, and what’s the ruckus about?

This common practice, whether done intentionally or not, is known as medical gaslighting: when doctors or other healthcare workers choose to dismiss symptoms and subjective patient views instead of investigating them thoroughly to identify the problem. In particular, the prevalence of young people who deal with this seems to be increasing, and this isn't a coincidence.

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Who (or What) Are the Culprits?

Let's discuss what exactly is causing this upsetting deceit that many patients have to deal with during their doctor's appointments.

The reason for medical gaslighting is typically a result of some type of subconscious bias, meaning even seasoned medical professionals can unknowingly contribute to a young patient's latent diagnosis because of systemic issues that have influenced their thought process or perception of patient injury. Another reason, which is usually totally dependent on the physician, is the time pressure that prevents them from making a thorough analysis and accurate diagnosis.

Let's discuss some biases first:

Gender Bias

According to Soliant Health’s 2024 State of Healthcare Report, women were more likely (66.1%) than men to receive a misdiagnosis. This is a common disparity that shows up when comparing men's and women's healthcare, but why does this happen?

This is because the cause of women's symptoms is too often reduced to anxiety, hormones, and weight, all of which are the root cause of many problems, and make it easy for doctors to gloss over cases that may have more nuance and complexity.

Women are also misrepresented as being overly emotional and more susceptible to pain due to gender stereotypes. Patriarchal norms of strong men and emotional women are systemic, and find themselves drilled into the minds of all people without them even knowing.

Unfortunately, the medical field is not exempt from this plague, and physicians can fall victim to misdiagnosing women based on systemic influence. This explains why anxiety and hormones are common scapegoats of dire physiological problems in women, such as endometriosis, severe menstrual cramps, and even some cancers.

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Racial Bias

These scapegoats are not limited to women; however, people of color have to deal with similar results when going to doctors' appointments.

Similarly, medical racism is a systemic issue, stemming from the exploitation and non-consensual medical experimentation on enslaved people. Many medical professionals have been found to generalize the experiences of colored people, resulting in a deflated sense of credibility when taking a colored person's subjective symptom report.

People of color have been subject to medical experimentation, and scientists have used them for revolutionary advancements in reproductive health and childbirth.

Racial stereotypes about black women, specifically, including having a high pain tolerance, or a lessened chance of being diagnosed and treated for certain illnesses, can prevent Black women from living the healthiest lives.

Generational Dismissal

In the Information Age, where knowledge is available at everyone's fingertips, the youth are typically better informed than their older counterparts. Despite this, some doctors and nurses still undermine the severity of young people's symptoms.

The reason for this may have something to do with the increase in mental health problems in youth and suicidal ideation.

Young adults and teens are not being taken seriously because it is easy to categorize symptoms as being "all in their heads." This means attributing severe problems to anxiety, depression, or nervousness, because these are blanket diagnoses that can be responsible for a variety of conditions.

An example of this kind of case is described in an NIH article on Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome— a disease of increased heart rate, dizziness, and fainting when standing up after lying down. The 19-year-old girl in this case was misdiagnosed with anxiety from age 13. POTS is a commonly misdiagnosed condition, and part of the reason for this is that it is quite similar to anxiety in terms of symptoms.

But does that make it fair, when all that needs to be done to confirm if a patient has POTS is to perform a simple head-up tilt table test?

It isn't, and that is why misdiagnosis is such a problem for teens who are not taken seriously because of age-assigned medical ignorance.

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What Are the Consequences?

Providing groups of people with haphazard medical attention is problematic to upholding equity in healthcare, especially if it is for reasons they have no control over.

Medical professionals are the most fluent in their practices; this is expected, but with great power comes great responsibility.

Neglecting symptoms can result in exacerbated health problems that could have been easily avoided with greater scrutiny. It is counterproductive to have a patient with access to healthcare be affected by bad decision-making when healthcare is so sought after in other places. Healthcare professionals are aware of the weight of their occupation, but not all of them might empathize with patients.

It is easy for a doctor or nurse to invalidate a patient's symptoms, but what is important to understand is that not only does undermining symptoms put the patient's health at risk in the moment, but it can also affect the way the patient thinks about symptoms in the future.

Patients may feel as if they are overreacting, which can make them less likely to even seek medical attention when something goes wrong later on. Medical gaslighting can also discourage them from learning more about their illnesses, which keeps advocative power strictly in the doctors' hands.

These overreactions can also lead to worsened anxiety and depression (I know, right?), giving the youth more problems and fewer means to defend themselves against medical gaslighting. Medical gaslighting might turn misdiagnosis into the right diagnosis, but for the wrong problem.

What Needs to Change?

Medical education is a good place to start. Doctors should learn how to recognize and deflect implicit medical biases. This alone could stop most Medical gaslighting, because a lot of it happens subconsciously rather than intentionally.

Another way to end medical gaslighting is to dismantle systemic beliefs rooted in misogyny and racism, while also shutting down mental health generalizations of young adults and teens. Eliminating the root cause is always the more difficult option, but it is also the more effective option, because of its effects outside of the medical realm that influence doctors.

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Conclusion

Issues with medical gaslighting are not just about patients' and healthcare workers' egos; it's about saving lives. The issue isn't about being taken seriously— It's about patients having their physical and mental wellness put at risk.

Next time you go to a doctor's office for an appointment, remind yourself: Doctors are not there to make your symptoms feel invalidated. They are here to be compassionate members of the healthcare system who respond to problems and come up with effective solutions. If you aren't getting this, do not be afraid to stand up for yourself and advocate for how you feel. Sometimes, it doesn't hurt to be your own doctor.

After all, we are the next generation of healthcare— hopefully the most responsive ones yet.