Doctors often gaslight women with pelvic disorders and pain, study finds

In a new survey, women with pelvic disorders reported doctors made dismissive comments and they were told to lose weight, get therapy or drink alcohol to cope with pain.

Women seeking help for certain gynecological disorders may have their symptoms gaslighted by their doctors or nurses, a new study suggests.

The flood of dismissive and invalidating remarks by health care providers about disorders affecting the vulva and vagina can be devastating for women, sometimes leading them to abandon their search for help with their pain, researchers reported Thursday in JAMA Network Open.

The study focused on patients at a vulvovaginal clinic who were seeking medical care for a variety of disorders that may cause pain, sexual dysfunction, and bowel or bladder dysfunction.

OB-GYN Dr. Chailee Moss, lead author and an adjunct professor at George Washington University, said the roots of the research lay in “the years and years of hearing such experiences from patients and feeling like the broader medical community didn’t know how distressing the comments were to patients.”

Moss and her colleagues devised a survey that included dismissive comments and behaviors patients regularly encounter, such as doctors telling women to lose weight, go to therapy or drink more alcohol to cope with pain.