women, compared to men, received less and less effective pain relief, less pain medication with opioids, and more antidepressants and got more mental health referrals….A major finding is that women’s pain in the reviewed studies was psychologized….Women’s pain reports are taken less seriously, their pain is discounted as being psychic or nonexistent, and their medication is less adequate than treatment given to men.17 So, overall, the authors concluded: “the reviewed studies showed gender bias in the [medical] encounter, along with gender bias in prescribed medication. Differences in the
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