Seattle Chronic Illness Symposium 2026: The Impact of Medical Gaslighting and Trauma on Chronic Illness
I was honored to be part of a panel at this year’s Chronic Illness Symposium put on by the Center for Chronic Illness in Seattle. The panel and I spoke about the impacts of medical gaslighting and trauma on chronic illness. I’ve taken some of the key ideas discussed and put them into this blog post for you to consider. This panel was geared towards providers, but it can have helpful information for patients as well.
Definition of Medical Gaslighting
Medical gaslighting can be considered any implicit or explicit communication or action that denies your own reality, often leaving you feeling misunderstood, unheard, confused, insecure or unsafe. These experiences are typically accompanied by a significant power dynamic between patient and provider. This makes any interaction inherently more vulnerable. Common ways you might experience this, especially when dealing with chronic illness, is through a minimization of your symptoms. This can be through minimization of the frequency, severity, or impact of your symptoms. The provider may flat out not believe you. You might be labeled as ‘lying’ or ‘being dramatic.’ Racism, sexism, anti-fatness, homophobia, transphobia or ablism might be implicitly or explicitly expressed by office staff, the medical provider, or through the paperwork. You might feel gaslit due to a provider’s lack of education on a specific subject regarding your health.
The Impacts of Medical Gaslighting on Patients
Image from Unsplash by Brian Patrick 4/17/26
Gaslighting and medical trauma might be unintentional, but still impactful. Systemically, there is a lack of research and training regarding many patient populations including conditions that disproportionately effect women, people of color, gender non-conforming folks and the chronically ill populations. Other systemic constraints that can cause significant harm include budget constraints, time limits, leaderships decisions, lack of inclusion in multiple areas including medical equipment and more. This leaves providers and patients with a lack of options and restrictive care.
The impacts of intentional or unintentional medical gaslighting and trauma can be significant, with the most impactful being death. There are high stakes when people aren’t believed and can lead to such neglect that people die. Harm might cause you to internalize self-doubt, isolation, disempowerment, avoidance or anger. Over time, you might not want to interact with the medical system and give up on finding competent, caring providers, leading to poor health outcomes because of under treatment. You might experience a mistrust of systems of power, which can impact other parts of your life too.
Trauma is subjective to each individual. However, symptoms of trauma have commonalities. Repeated, negative interactions with the medical system and/or providers can lead to some or all the following symptoms. You might experience an avoidance of medical facilities both within your mind and physically. You might experience intrusive thoughts, memories, or images of past experiences. Feelings of isolation, detachment, fear, guilt, shame, irritability, trouble focusing, hypervigilance, or increased physical pain can occur. Your relationships with providers and possibly loved ones might feel tainted. You might begin to believe that you deserve sub-optimal care or not know what quality care even feels like. People who’ve experienced medical trauma might be at an increased risk of being taken advantage of in a variety of different settings.
Practical Changes for Trauma Informed Care
Obviously, the medical system in the United States is broken and needs an overall. Even within this system, providers and medical facilities can be mindful of small changes that create big impact. Taking a trauma informed approach towards patients is critical in providing competent care. Providers can practice putting themselves in the patient’s shoes to more fully understand the complete experience of receiving care. Collaboration between providers and care teams could increase competency. Advocacy both on the wider level and the individual level can increase safety. Here are some additional big and small changes that can help:
Actions for Providers and Medical Facilities
Increase communication with patients: Ask permission before any action, provide information, clarify expectations, check-in.
Increase collaboration amongst providers treating the same patient.
Invest in inclusive medical equipment and physical access to clinics.
Invest in inclusive practices (questioning/screening, language) with providers and staff.
Create trauma informed, inclusive language in paperwork.
Increase sense of agency and choice with patients.
Provide trauma informed care continuing education for providers and staff.
Provide trauma informed mental healthcare for providers and staff to deal with secondary/vicarious trauma.
Build intentionality in how results are communicated, including follow up.
Provide clear instructions for before, during, and after medical interactions/events.
Image from Unsplash by Anton 4/17/26
Actions for Patients:
Check out this entire blog post addressing what you can do as a patient.
Check out my fellow panelists book ‘Medical Gaslighting: How to Get the Care You Deserve in a System That Makes You Fight For Your Life’ by Ilana Jacqueline
I also encourage folks to create a care plan that outlines a plan to build safety, agency and choice, before, during and after interactions with the medical system. Look for this in a future blog post to come!
Moving Forward with Physical, Emotional, and Mental Safety
Trauma informed care start with providers believing their patients. The focus can be around building solid relational foundations with patients, so they know you’re on the same team. Providers can be open to learning and collaborating with other providers. It’s important to ask patients about their previous medical experiences, what went well, what didn’t and focus on building safety, consistency and agency.
You can’t face medical gaslighting or trauma alone. Feelings of isolation during a time like this as well as dealing with a chronic illness can be super intense. Go to therapy, get support from family and friends, join a support group or organization, mobilize existing trusted providers, speak up, make a plan. Humans often create trauma, but connection can also heal. If you need more one on one support, reach out and schedule a free consultation today through the link below.
About the Author: Seattle Washington Therapist, Chelsea Kramer LMFT PMH-C
Chelsea Kramer is a Seattle Therapist who works with individual and families facing grief, anxiety, reproductive and medical mental health concerns.
Learn more about Chelsea’s specialties: grief, anxiety, infertility, pregnancy loss, chronic illness, menopause, medical trauma
Learn more about Chelsea
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