Medical Shaming in Healthcare: Why It Happens, Why It’s Harmful, and What Patients Deserve

By Dr. Jennifer Hopkins, DNP, MHA, AGPCNP-BC
Integrative Medicine Specialist | Certified in Hormone Health
Medical Director of Mindful Medicine

When Patients Leave Appointments Feeling Unheard

Over and over again, patients share the same experiences with me.

They walk out of appointments feeling judged, blamed, or dismissed. Some feel angry. Others feel embarrassed. Many quietly begin to wonder if their symptoms are somehow their fault or all in their head.

If this sounds familiar, I want you to know something important. You are not imagining it.

Medical shaming is real, and it affects far more people than we often acknowledge. This conversation is not about attacking healthcare providers. It is about recognizing what patients experience and creating space for more compassionate, healing centered care.

What Medical Shaming Can Look Like

Medical shaming happens when patients feel minimized, judged, or unheard during healthcare visits. Sometimes it shows up in words like “You just need to lose weight,” “Your labs are normal,” “That’s just anxiety,” or “That’s part of aging.”

Other times, it is more subtle. A rushed appointment. Little eye contact. The feeling that your questions are inconvenient.

Many patients describe these experiences as gaslighting in healthcare. Over time, this can lead people to doubt their own bodies, instincts, and lived experiences. If you have ever left an appointment feeling smaller than when you arrived, that experience matters.

Why Medical Shaming Is Harmful To Your Health

Feeling judged does not just affect emotions, it affects the body.

When someone feels shamed or dismissed, the nervous system shifts into a stress response. Cortisol levels rise, inflammation increases, immune function can decrease, and healing pathways begin to shut down. This is why trauma informed medical care is so important.

Healing cannot happen when the body feels unsafe.

Patients who feel judged are more likely to avoid appointments, delay follow ups, or stop treatment altogether. Not because they do not care about their health, but because healthcare no longer feels like a safe place.

Why Medical Shaming Happens

Most providers enter medicine because they want to help people. However, the modern healthcare system creates enormous strain.

Short appointment times, insurance driven protocols, administrative pressure, and limited training in hormone health, nervous system regulation, and root cause medicine all play a role. Burnout is real, and it affects how care is delivered.

Understanding the system offers context, but it does not mean harmful experiences should be accepted as normal.

Medical Gaslighting And Women’s Health

Women are disproportionately affected by medical dismissal.

Pain is often minimized. Hormonal symptoms are brushed aside. Perimenopause and menopause are frequently framed as something to simply endure. Autoimmune symptoms, chronic fatigue, and unexplained changes are commonly overlooked.

Many women are taught to distrust their own bodies. Yet symptoms are not failure, they are communication. Your body is not lying to you.

The Mind Body Connection In Healing

Holistic and integrative medicine recognizes that emotional health and physical health are deeply connected.

Chronic stress and unprocessed trauma can become stored in the body, showing up as pain, inflammation, hormone imbalance, immune dysfunction, or chronic illness. Healing requires addressing the whole picture, including physical health, emotional wellbeing, nervous system regulation, lifestyle, and environment.

This is why compassionate healthcare matters. People heal best when they feel seen, heard, and supported.

What Patients Deserve From Healthcare

Every patient deserves to be listened to without interruption, believed when something feels wrong, given clear explanations rather than lectures, and treated as a partner in their care rather than a subordinate.

You are the expert on your lived experience. Your provider’s role is to guide and support you, not speak over you.

Patient Advocacy Without Confrontation

Advocating for yourself does not need to feel confrontational. Simple phrases can open meaningful conversations, such as asking for clarification, expressing that you do not feel fully heard, or exploring what else could be contributing to your symptoms.

If a provider consistently makes you feel dismissed or shamed, it is okay to seek a different approach. Different care can lead to different outcomes.

Healing Centered, Trauma Informed Care

True healing occurs through partnership, curiosity, and compassion, not shame.

At Mindful Medicine, care is centered on empowering patients, addressing root causes, and creating a safe space where healing can happen. Accountability and compassion can coexist, and healing does not happen through fear or blame.

I recently shared more on this topic during a podcast conversation focused on Transforming Care: Ending Shaming and Blaming in the Exam Room and creating safer, more compassionate healthcare experiences. In that episode, I talk about how medical shaming affects healing, why it happens, and what patients deserve from their care. If you prefer listening or would like to explore this conversation further, you can find that discussion on my podcast.

Moving Toward A More Compassionate Healthcare Experience

You are not too much.
Your body is not broken.
Your symptoms matter.
Shame was never yours to carry.

Compassion is medicine. Empathy is medicine. This is the future of healthcare we are working toward, one patient and one conversation at a time.

Wishing you love, light, and continued healing,
Dr. Hopkins