Symposia
Women's Issues
Emma Getty, B.S. (she/her/hers)
Yorkville University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Chloe Curran, BSC (she/her/hers)
Undergraduate Student
University of Windsor
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Kendall Soucie, PhD (she/her/hers)
Assistant Professor
University of Windsor
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Medical gaslighting is a phenomenon characterized by the dismissal, downplay, or ignoring of a patient’s symptoms and lived experience with illness. To explore this phenomenon in greater detail, we collected 57 written open narratives of medical gaslighting from Canadian women (18 to 47 years old, M=23.38; with 51% seeking care for an acute concern, 40% for a chronic concern, with the vast majority of concerns being endocrinological/gynecological issues). Narratives were thematically analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s (2019) reflexive thematic analysis guidelines. Two overarching themes were constructed from participants' lived experiences that centered on the juxtaposition of power and resistance: 1. abuse of power and the denial of embodied experience, 2. maintaining power through gatekeeping practices, and 3. expressions of power: dismissals, betrayals, and poor bedside conduct. These experiences led to an array of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral impacts, including significant distress, loss of trust in the medical community, self-doubt of one's own embodied reality, and medical avoidance of routine procedures (e.g., regular screenings). Redistributing, and in some cases, reclaiming power were actively harnessed through 1. becoming advocates, 2. challenging of physicians’ opinions through acts of resistance, 3. seeking a second opinion, and 4. engaging in alternative care practices. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to institutional power and education as a route to women's health equity.