“How People With Chronic Fatigue Are Gaslit by Healthcare Systems” (States of Mind)

[Dolphin]

Klein, S. (Dec. 2, 2025). statesofmind. How People With Chronic Fatigue Are Gaslit by Healthcare Systems.
https://statesofmind.com/articles/chronic-fatigue-gaslit-by-healthcare/

Health journalist Sarah Klein tells the story of Patrick Ussher, whose extreme thirst and fatigue were dismissed as hysteria by a French GP until a specialist finally diagnosed him with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Drawing on research and commentary from Leonard Jason of DePaul University’s Center for Community Research and Dr. Alba Azola, head of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Associated Disorders Clinic at Johns Hopkins Medicine, she shows how medical gaslighting forces patients to doubt themselves and delays care.

 

[Andy]

The irony being that using "chronic fatigue" in the way that they have contributes to the gaslighting.

 

[rvallee]

she shows how medical gaslighting forces patients to doubt themselves and delays care

I see it so often and I don't know if I'm in a minority but none of what happened to me has ever caused me to doubt myself, how what was happening to me was obviously a serious medical problem. I've always interpreted this as medicine failing me. I'm generally confident in myself but not overly so, although I always listen for alternative explanations and am very open-minded, but it's just too obvious to me how what happened to me was never anything but something medicine does not understand and is failing to treat.

I see it a lot, but I don't know how common it is. I've only ever had a few instances of overt gaslighting, and all I ever concluded out of it was that I thought the person who did it was a jerk and made me ignore anything else they said.

 

[Lou B Lou]

I see it so often and I don't know if I'm in a minority but none of what happened to me has ever caused me to doubt myself, how what was happening to me was obviously a serious medical problem. I've always interpreted this as medicine failing me. I'm generally confident in myself but not overly so, although I always listen for alternative explanations and am very open-minded, but it's just too obvious to me how what happened to me was never anything but something medicine does not understand and is failing to treat.

I see it a lot, but I don't know how common it is. I've only ever had a few instances of overt gaslighting, and all I ever concluded out of it was that I thought the person who did it was a jerk and made me ignore anything else they said.

Yes. Except I've had a lot of times of medical gaslighting before, but mainly since, ME -
but that has never made me doubt that I had a serious medical condition/disease.

The repetitive meme that gaslighting makes the sick people doubt themselves is nonsense.
The gaslighting makes everyone else doubt us !!!!

 

[Sean]

Yes, the gaslighting is not for our benefit.

 

[V.R.T.]

Yes. Except I've had a lot of times of medical gaslighting before, but mainly since, ME -
but that has never made me doubt that I had a serious medical condition/disease.

The repetitive meme that gaslighting makes the sick people doubt themselves is nonsense.
The gaslighting makes everyone else doubt us !!!!

It absolutely is not nonsense. It made me doubt myself so much I did what they said and got much worse. The same happened to many other people I know or have encountered online.

I agree that it making everyone else doubt us is at least an equally big problem, but many people are harmed precicely because the gaslighting works, and by the time you realise it's all bullshit your life and functioning are in ruins.

 

[dratalanta]

What about children? I became sick as a young child and grew up being gaslit by parents, doctors and teachers. It made me depressed and insecure for years as I kept being told that what I was experiencing was a delusion. That has lifelong effects even after you see the truth, like being raised in a cult.

 

[Lou B Lou]

It absolutely is not nonsense. It made me doubt myself so much I did what they said and got much worse. The same happened to many other people I know or have encountered online.

I agree that it making everyone else doubt us is at least an equally big problem, but many people are harmed precicely because the gaslighting works, and by the time you realise it's all bullshit your life and functioning are in ruins.

Yes. Sorry @V.R.T. You are right. It's what the BPS rely on, when people are so sick and desperate to recover.

.

 

[StellariaGraminea]

At the start with GP I didn't doubt myself, I thought they were an idiot (that was before I understood the fault was their training). But not long after when I had a v traumatic experience and was humiliated by a different Dr, I did doubt myself for a short time. But then realised they were a jerk. Haven't doubted myself since. I've had a small amount of gaslighting and just lots of dismissiveness & disinterest since. I believe a large part of that though is because I avoid medical care as much as is possible. It would be worse if I sought it out. My experiences at the start of this has changed how I think of western medicine.