Medical Gaslighting: How Therapy Helps When Doctors Don’t Believe You

You know your body. You know when something is wrong. But what happens when you go to the doctor—and you’re told it’s “just stress,” or “all in your head,” or dismissed with a shrug?

That experience has a name: medical gaslighting. And for women in Georgia, it’s alarmingly common.

Whether it’s a misdiagnosed heart attack, years of being dismissed before finally getting answers about endometriosis, or hearing “your labs look fine” while your symptoms rage on—medical gaslighting isn’t just frustrating. It’s traumatic.

What is medical gaslighting?

Medical gaslighting happens when providers minimize, dismiss, or outright ignore your symptoms. Instead of being listened to, you’re made to doubt your own reality.

For women, especially, this dismissal is often gendered. Research shows women’s pain is more likely to be underestimated, misdiagnosed, or attributed to anxiety. For women of color, the disparities are even greater.

The result? You leave the office not only without answers, but carrying the added weight of self-doubt, shame, and fear that you can’t trust your own body.

The nervous system impact of dismissal

Being dismissed by a doctor isn’t just insulting—it’s traumatizing to the nervous system. When you’re in a vulnerable position, seeking care, and the person you trust to help instead invalidates you, your body goes into survival mode.

• Hypervigilance: You may start scanning your body constantly, unsure what’s “real” or what’s “serious.”

• Avoidance: Many women stop seeking medical care altogether, terrified of being dismissed again.

• Loss of self-trust: Over time, you may wonder if you’re exaggerating or “making it up.”

This is medical trauma. And just like any trauma, it requires care and repair.

How therapy helps women dismissed by doctors

Therapy can’t undo the harm, but it can help you reclaim your voice, your self-trust, and your safety.

In my work with women in Georgia, therapy often includes:

• Validation. The simple but powerful truth: you are not crazy, weak, or “too sensitive.” Your body’s signals are real and worthy of respect.

• Nervous system regulation. Somatic and psychosensory tools (like Havening Techniques©) calm the fight-or-flight response that flares during and after dismissive encounters.

• Rebuilding self-trust. Learning to listen to your body again—without shame—so you can advocate for your care with confidence.

• Identity repair. Moving from feeling invisible and silenced to rooted in your own authority and wholeness.

This work is not about “getting over it.” It’s about healing the rupture so you can move forward with both strength and steadiness.

Reclaiming your place in the healthcare system

For women who have been dismissed, returning to the doctor can feel terrifying. Therapy equips you to step back into care—not as a powerless patient, but as an informed, supported advocate for your own health.

You deserve providers who listen. You deserve to feel safe in your body. And you deserve care that honors your whole experience, not just the parts that fit neatly on a lab report.

Online therapy in Georgia

If you’ve experienced medical gaslighting, you’re not alone. And you don’t have to carry the trauma in silence. Online therapy in Georgia provides accessible, compassionate support for women dismissed by doctors.

Together, we can validate your truth, calm your nervous system, and rebuild the trust and confidence that medical trauma tried to take away.

Because your body deserves to be heard—and so do you.