Endometriosis and Medical Trauma: When the System That Should Help You Causes Harm

Written By Sarah Stasica

A companion post to Episode 45 of the Medical Trauma Support Podcast with Casey Berna, LCSW, author of Endometriosis: From Harm to Hope

If you have endometriosis, there is a good chance that before you had a name for what was happening in your body, you had a long list of medical appointments that left you feeling dismissed, confused, and alone. The pain was real. The exhaustion was real. And yet, somewhere along the way, you may have been told it was anxiety, that you needed to relax, or that what you were feeling simply should not hurt that much.

That experience has a name: medical trauma. And for people with endometriosis, it is extraordinarily common.

In this episode of the Medical Trauma Support Podcast, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Casey Berna, a licensed clinical social worker, endometriosis advocate, and author of Endometriosis: From Harm to Hope. Casey has spent her career advocating for people with endometriosis and offering a supportive space for them as a therapist. She shares that she has had her own journey with endometriosis and she shares so much hard earned wisdom in this episode.

What Is Medical Trauma? And Why Is It So Common in Endometriosis?

Medical trauma is what can happen when your experiences in healthcare settings overwhelm your nervous system's ability to cope. It is not limited to dramatic, single events. For many people with endometriosis, it builds slowly, over years, across dozens of appointments where pain was minimized, symptoms were attributed to stress, and the person in front of them simply was not believed.

Endometriosis takes an average of seven to ten years to diagnose. That is seven to ten years during which the nervous system is signaling danger, and the very people meant to help keep responding with doubt. Over time, this pattern can create a deep mistrust of medical care, a fear of speaking up, and a body that braces before every appointment.

Casey describes this as layered medical trauma, because each dismissal adds a new layer on top of the last. By the time a person finally receives a diagnosis, they may already be carrying significant wounds from the diagnostic journey itself.

Medical Gaslighting Is a Form of Emotional Abuse

An important moment in our conversation was when Casey named medical gaslighting for what it is: a form of emotional abuse.

When a provider repeatedly questions your reality, minimizes your pain, or suggests that what you are experiencing is imagined or exaggerated, your nervous system registers this as a threat. Your body learns that the healthcare environment is not safe. And when that happens across multiple providers over many years, the impact goes far beyond frustration. It begins to shape how you see yourself and whether you trust your own experience.

This is why so many people with endometriosis struggle to speak up in appointments, minimize their own symptoms, or avoid seeking care altogether. It is not a personal failing. It is a protective response from a nervous system that has been conditioned to expect harm.

The Grief That Comes With Chronic Illness

Endometriosis does not only affect the body. It touches relationships, career plans, fertility hopes, and the vision of what your life was supposed to look like. Casey speaks about this as chronic illness grief, and it is one of the most underacknowledged dimensions of living with endometriosis.

This grief is not linear. It can resurface with each new symptom, each failed treatment, or each milestone that felt out of reach. Casey gently normalizes this grief as a real and valid part of the experience, and not something to rush through or push past.

Your Nervous System Has Been Responding to Real Harm

A core message of our conversation, and one I return to again and again in my own work, is this: your nervous system is not broken. It is doing exactly what it was designed to do.

When the healthcare system repeatedly signals danger, whether through dismissal, painful procedures, or being told that your pain is not real, your body adapts. Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses are not signs of weakness or anxiety. They are signs of a nervous system that has been working hard to keep you safe.

Casey also shared a breathing technique she developed specifically for people with endometriosis and neurodivergent individuals who may find traditional breathwork difficult due to thoracic endometriosis or other physical limitations. It is a gentle, accessible practice that meets you where you are.

What Casey Wishes Every Provider Knew

Casey's background as a clinical social worker gives her a unique lens on what trauma-informed care actually looks like in practice. She shared several things she wishes every doctor, therapist, and even front desk staff member understood:

  • Listening without interrupting is one of the most powerful tools a provider has.

  • Believing a patient's reported experience, rather than requiring proof, changes the therapeutic relationship completely.

  • Acknowledging the diagnostic delay and the difficulty of the journey a patient has been through is not about assigning blame. It is about recognition.

  • Referring patients to mental health support is not dismissal. Done with care, it is an act of integrated, whole-person care.

These are not complex clinical interventions. Many of them cost nothing. And for someone who has been living with unrecognized pain, they can be profoundly healing.

Believe Yourself

Casey ended our conversation with words that are so simple and so powerful: believe yourself. Believe your lived experience. Believe that what you feel is real. You will find providers and communities that believe you too, but it starts with you.

If you have spent years being told that your pain was not real, learning to trust your own body again is not small work. It is some of the most important work you will ever do. And you do not have to do it alone.

About Casey Berna

Casey Berna is a licensed clinical social worker, author, and endometriosis advocate. Her book, Endometriosis: From Harm to Hope, A Chronic Illness Guide, is available wherever books are sold. She recommends bookshop.org to support local bookstores. Casey has also been involved in two endometriosis documentaries, including Below the Belt, which was executive produced by Hillary Clinton and is now part of the curriculum at Yale Medical School.

Ready to heal from medical trauma in community?

The Medical Trauma Support Circle is a peer support community grounded in somatic and nervous system practices, built for people who know exactly what it feels like to be dismissed by the healthcare system. You are not broken. Your experience deserves recognition. [Join the Medical Trauma Support Circle here]

Listen to the full episode with Casey Berna on the Medical Trauma Support Podcast. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and wherever you listen.

Sarah Stasica
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