Written by Luiza Ghazaryan

How many times have you seen a woman be called dramatic or overly emotional? These adjectives were often used to describe a female patient with hysteria, which was a defined psychological disorder by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders until 1980. Over the decades, women’s pain has been neglected and taken unseriously due to the assumption that their bodies were governed by their emotions. One would assume that these stereotypes are in the past now, yet, the modern female experience proves the opposite.

After receiving the same dental procedure as her husband, a woman said that she couldn’t realize why she was in pain and he wasn’t. It turned out that she was prescribed ibuprofen for pain relief, while her husband received a much stronger pain medication.

Another woman says that there is a constant pressure from the doctors: “You are a woman, you need to be strong and to endure pain,” or “One day, you are going to have a child, how will you resist the pain?” One woman told about her childbirth experience (almost 20 years ago), when she didn’t receive proper pain control during the episiotomy procedure; she said, “I could hear the sound of the cut and needles stitching my skin.”

 A physician explains that a potential reason is the lack of studies of female anatomy in medical textbooks. Up until the 1990s, white male body illustrations were used to represent anatomy. Hence, for a long time, doctors weren’t trained to diagnose women according to their concerns. Medical care cannot be efficient if the patient is treated based on a different biological concept. Thus, if a concern isn’t considered to be painful for men, women’s request for help is deemed invalid. Furthermore, Black women’s pain is even more often neglected as one study found that “physicians are twice as likely to underestimate black patients’ pain.” Medical students are taught false beliefs about the racial disparities of pain, resulting in inadequate treatment.

Women’s health concerns are often psychologised, with serious concerns like chest pain being a commonly dismissed symptom. In a study conducted by American Psychological Association (APA), two case descriptions were given to medical students, for a woman and man, but both had the same symptoms for heart attack: irregular heartbeat, chest pain, shortness of breath. In the second case, they still described the same symptoms, only with the feeling of stress  added to the list. For the first scenario, the majority of medical students provided the correct diagnosis. However, in the second case where stress was also mentioned, only 17% of the students suggested a heart attack for the female patient. Even among educated professionals, if women’s emotions are mentioned, their physical pain is less likely to be believed. The shadow of the history of hysteria is still being carried in the 21st century. Perhaps this is why the leading cause of death in women is heart disease.

In response to unfair medical treatment, women recommend having a trusted person with them in the medical examination room. They say, “Express your pain, take care of yourself and don’t settle for only one doctor’s words.” One of the interviewees told us, “Women suffer a lot more in their personal lives and feel like their physical pain is insignificant to anyone around…This is why we need more emotional support from the healthcare team. We need them to believe us.” These personal stories can help future – and present – physicians to review their practices and dedicate time to taking care of patients individually, not based on textbook illustrations or the false beliefs of the past.

Edited by Anna Boyarinova