MEDICAL GASLIGHTING
This month on Breakfast TV saw the 2026 relaunch of the UK government’s Women’s Health Strategy, led by Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
The new strategy directly acknowledges that many women feel dismissed or not believed by healthcare providers. Streeting himself said that the NHS has “too often gaslit women”, treating their pain as an inconvenience rather than a real clinical issue.
While the NHS does some things superbly well, there are specific areas where it fails spectacularly like complex chronic conditions i.e. chronic fatigue syndromes, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), and low-grade infections like Lyme and Long Covid. To find out why women (and men) are being “gaslit” and what can be done about it, please read on …
What is Gaslighting?
The term “gaslighting” originates from the 1938 play Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton, later popularised by the 1944 film Gaslight, in which a husband manipulates his wife into doubting her own sanity so he can secretly search their home for hidden valuables. He does this through a series of calculated deceptions, including turning down the gas lamps in the attic which causes the lights in the rest of the house to dim. Instead of admitting it, he repeatedly insists to his wife that nothing has changed and she is imagining it. That’s what makes it so effective (and disturbing): there is a real, observable change in her environment, but he persistently denies it, leading her to doubt her own sanity.
In the medical context, gaslighting refers to situations where a patient’s reported symptoms are dismissed, trivialised, or attributed to psychological causes without adequate investigation, leading them to question their own experience of their illness. It is increasingly used to describe a breakdown in clinical listening and validation - where symptoms, especially those where there is lack of agreement on diagnostic markers (like Lyme and most of the chronic infections we dealt with), are not taken seriously - potentially resulting in misdiagnosis, delayed or wrong treatment, and the erosion of trust between patient and practitioner.
The Extent of Medical Gaslighting
Recently, a parliamentary committee concluded that women’s health has been under-prioritised. This initiative follows mounting evidence and public pressure, with around 50% of women report feeling dismissed or not believed by healthcare professions. Many report being told that symptoms are “normal” or “in their head.”
While the renewed focus on women’s health and the acknowledgement of “gaslighting” in clinical settings is a major step forward, this initiative arguably does not go far enough. It largely overlooks complex, poorly understood conditions such as chronic fatigue syndromes, persistent low-grade infections, Lyme disease and co-infections, immune dysfunction and Long Covid - areas where patients most frequently report being dismissed or redirected towards the wastepaper basket for unexplained clinical symptoms - psychological services and antidepressants. It also avoids concerns about ongoing symptoms following Covid-19 injectables. Considering how many people were pressurised into taking the said injectables for fear of losing their livlihoods, this is a gross betrayal of patients.
Gaslighting Chronic Complex Conditions
Many of my patients report seeing an average of 10 different practitioners/doctors before reaching the point where their symptoms are explored in a more integrative way. This reflects how fragmented care pathways have become for increasingly complex conditions. One patient had to make a new GP appointment for each new symptom she brought up! Not surprisingly, her GP was totally baffled, concluding that no one could have that many real symptoms, therefore, she must be imagining it and prescribed an antidepressant!
In contrast, the Functional Medicine approach focuses on interconnected physiology, recognising how immune, metabolic, neurological, and endocrine systems influence one another - rather than treating them in isolation. This perspective helps avoid the common scenario akin to the Parable of the Elephant and The Blind Elders where patients are passed from one specialist to another, each only only addressing part of the problem, and failing to recognise how all the pieces fit together, thus leaving the bigger problem unresolved. A classic example of this is Long Covid treatments which often neglect to test for the very infections driving Long Covid, instead focusing on pacing and referring on to other specialists.
While tests within the NHS are valuable and essential for ruling out serious disease, they are often not designed to investigate the root causes of chronic, multi-system conditions such as fatigue syndromes and chronic low-grade infections and immune suppression. More advanced testing is called for to detect the real underlying issues causing the symptoms. These tests can include deeper immune panels, tests for the presence of active (not just past) infections, metabolic tests that explore ongoing biological responses to infection exposure.
Real Physical Conditions
With every person in my clinic who has been told there is “nothing physically wrong” with them as their lab results are “normal” I have found a combination of at least one of the following factors:
*Chronic active stealth infections (Lyme, Coxsackievirus, Epstein Barr Virus, strep, shingles, herpes viruses, Mycoplasma, Chamydia pneumoniae, Toxoplasma, Cytomegalovirus, Bartonella, Babesia, Rickettsia, H.pylori and more.
*Fungal/ yeast/ mould infections.
*Parasite infections.
*Hidden dental infections (cavitations, gums etc.)
*Chronically infected/inflamed tonsils.
*Food allergies/sensitivities.
*Chronic immune suppression/immune system in a “stuck” position i.e. promoting ongoing infection.
*Autoimmunity (immune system attacking its own tissues).
*Malabsorption/nutrient deficiencies.
*Digestive dysfunctions/ abnormal gut bacteria.
*Toxic overload (heavy metals, pesticides, chemicals, spike protein etc.)
*Inflammation in many body systems, including the brain.
Why Conditions Go Undetected
*The NHS operates on an acute disease model. NHS guidelines (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) doesn’t recommend routine testing for chronic infections in Long Covid. This is despite the mounting research and clinical evidence suggesting viral persistence (especially Sars Cov-2), reactivation of previously dormant viral and bacterial infections, and immune imbalance as the drivers of Long Covid.
*Specialised lab tests designed to detect currently active chronic infections are not available on the NHS. Please see my blog Falling Through the Cracks with Standard NHS Infection Tests. Even if these were available on the NHS, there are no agreed-upon NHS treatment protocols to deal with them. So testing is often considered a waste of time, as it is ‘non-actionable.’ The fully accredited cutting-edge private tests that can detect active Lyme, Epstein Barr Virus, Coxsackievirus, Sars Cov-2 et al. are routinely dismissed by NHS practitioners who have no training in this area.
*It is erroneously assumed that if standard NHS tests are “normal” that nothing else can be wrong. Women in particular, may be steered towards the wastebasket of medical conditions - the antidepressant, menopause or psychiatric routes.
*GPs in the UK are largely required to follow standardised clinical algorithms and guidelines (e.g. from National Institute for Health and care Excellence) which are designed for population-level care rather than complex individual cases. This often results in a “one-size-fits-all” approach, where treatment is based on typical presentations, rather than deeper, personalised investigation. A good example of this is acid reflux which is routinely treated by acid blocking medications like Omeprazole, even though the actual underlying causes commonly include not having enough stomach acid for proper digestion, H. pylori stomach infection, poor food choices, and mast cell activation.
*GP appointment times (10-15 minutes) mean there is no opportunity to take the kind of thorough case history that chronic complex conditions like Long Covid require. As a result, GPs focus on squashing symptoms with drugs, rather than exploring underling causes like immune dysregulation and chronic infections.
A Plea To Really Reduce Gaslighting
Right now, if people want to get to the bottom of their Long Covid or chronic unexplained fatigue, they need to visit a private clinic run by an experienced Functional Medicine practitioner/doctor/naturopath and pay for private tests. If the “powers that be” had the intention of extending these benefits to the whole population, here are some recommendations which they might consider:
*Expand training in medical schools to include integrative and functional medicine modules - Not just for doctors but also a wider range of NHS practitioners. That way, patients might her less of “there’s nothing wrong” and more of “we haven’t found the cause yet - let’s keep investigating.”
*Respect and review privately obtained test results - Patients who invest in private testing should have their results considered thoughtfully, not dismissed, even if interpretation differs within NHS frameworks.
*Encourage collaboration across care models - Greater openness to working alongside qualified private and integrative practitioners could improve outcomes in complex, chronic conditions.Over the years, I have written to GPs about patient concerns, sometimes at the behest of the patient, but have only ever received one reply.
*Reinforce medical ethics and professional independence - A renewed emphasis on principles rooted in the Hippocratic Oath could support patient-centred care and reduce perceived conflicts of interest.
*Protect clinical decision-making free from commercial influence - Safeguards should ensure prescribing and treatment decisions remain independent of undue influence from the pharmaceutical industry.
*Call for transparency and accountability in mental health care - A formal, independent review into damaging psychiatric practices and patient experiences to clean up thew hole field of mental health.
*Strengthen links between dentistry and medicine - Closer collaboration between dental and medical professionals with greater recognition of the science linking dental issues to systemic disease. This is already partially recognised in cardiology.
*Strengthen informed consent for medications and dental procedures - All drugs have potential side effects and patients should be given clear, unbiased information about the risks and benefits before agreeing to a treatment. This should also apply to dental procedures like root canal therapy which have a high risk profile for general health. Please see my blog Root Canals - A Root Cause of Many Illnesses?
Conclusion
*Without better NHS testing, and a willingness to acknowledge cutting-edge specialist tests in the patient’s best interests, people will continue to be “gaslit.”
*Insist on Informed Consent if your GP informs you your test results are “normal” and therefore, there is nothing physically wrong.
*To avoid falling through the cracks of the healthcare system, or, even worse, being damaged by toxic drugs that you didn’t need in the first place, take charge of your own health by getting better informed, so you can make informed decisions.
If you are suffering from chronic unexplained symptoms and would like to find out why, please get in touch with the Good Health Clinic on goodhealthclinic@outlook.com to request a free 30 minute Enquiry Call or book an appointment. Please note that an Enquiry call is not a consultation but an exploratory call to see if this is a clinical approach you wish to pursue.To your very good health,
Suzanne Jeffery (Nutritional Medicine Consultant)
M.A.(Oxon), BSc.(NMed), PGCE, GNC, BSEM, MNNA, CNHC
The Good Health Clinic at The Business Centre, 2, Cattedown Road, Plymouth PL4 0EG
Tel no: 07836 552936/ Answer phone: 01752 774755
Disclaimer:
All advice given out by Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic is for general guidance and informational purposes only. All advice relating to other health professionals’ advice is for general guidance and information purposes only. Readers are encouraged to confirm the information provided with other sources. Patients and consumers should review the information carefully with their professional health care provider. The information is not intended to replace medical advice offered by other practitioners and physicians. Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages arising therefrom.