Reclaiming Hysteria: One Podcast’s Mission to Challenge Bias in Medicine

Host Rachael Woodard amplifies stories of medical neglect and discrimination to push for systemic change.

Written By: Lydia Schoessling

Minority groups have historically been impacted by medical biases. In current-day America, these problems are more prevalent than others.

A study published by the National Library of Medicine titled “Broken Down by Bias: Healthcare Biases Experienced by BIPOC and LGBTQ+ Patients” found that 42% of participants noted they were “treated with less courtesy than other people are” and 54% encountered people who “have acted as if they're better than [you] are.”

Lydia’s Newsroom spoke with Rachael Woodard, host of the Abiding Hysteria Podcast, about medical biases. Woodard, 39, began her podcast due to her own struggles navigating the medical system while having a chronic illness as a woman.

“It was a lot of fighting to get treated the way that somebody like my husband, who's an older white man, gets treated by doctors, which is being taken seriously the first time,” said Woodard. “I realized in talking to other people about these situations that it's not just me who's going through all of this, not only in the chronic illness and everything that was happening, but they're not being listened to.”

Woodard hopes these stories prompt providers and policymakers to hear and understand their decisions and their weight, both in policy and procedure.

She previously was involved in a group promoting secular feminism called the Hickory Humanist Alliance, where she put out podcast episodes with a co-host. Eventually, the co-host had other obligations to attend to and the project came to a halt, but Woodard’s passion for podcasting did not. Her experience carried into her current podcast, which her husband encouraged her to start, along with working on a book.

“I'm hoping that by telling each story, by giving people the space to tell their own story, that it will have the most impact,” said Woodard. “Data doesn't really change minds. Even the people who are purporting to be the ones who base their decisions solely on the data and journals are moved by stories because we're all human.”

Woodard explained that she is reaching out to creators who aren’t white in an attempt to decenter whiteness.

A study called “When Race Matters: Disagreement in Pain Perception Between Patients and Their Physicians in Primary Care,” published in the National Library of Medicine, found that relative to other racial groups, physicians are twice as likely to underestimate Black patients’ pain.

“There are so many moments that have made me take stock of my own privilege as a cisgendered white woman, and many of these moments still have not yet been published,” said Woodard. “Every guest has such a different perspective on how they have been treated or treated others in medicine that it's difficult to narrow down which exactly have weighed on me the most.”

Woodard went on to share some moments that really changed her perspective. One was how her friend, who was undergoing chemotherapy, had a scan delayed by insurance, and further delays could have resulted in her passing. Another guest had multiple doctors disbelieving she had appendicitis, and ignoring that could have also resulted in her death.

A recent guest went through a lot at a young age but has gotten to a place where she is in the least pain she has felt since she was fourteen years old.

“I am so happy for her that she got the care she needed and that she is able to live the way she wants to, but I found myself grieving for my younger years during which I was not able to do so,” said Woodard. “But every person is their own symphony of pain and delight, anxiety and joy, making each story just as unique as they are.”

Woodard’s biggest concern is how many of these stories share similarities in the way these people were treated. There was a notable trend of being treated poorly because of being perceived as a woman, a person of color, poor, disabled, gender diverse, and more.

“Our culture is behind on so many things, and the culture in medicine, it seems, even more so,” said Woodard. “Unless we actively work to dismantle damaging systems like late-stage capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and more, then we are actively upholding these systems and the harm they cause to each other. To me, allowing these systems to cause my fellow people harm is unthinkable. I just hope that however this podcast grows and transforms, it will fight the good fight in some small way, so that the medical field will finally take all of us seriously the first time.”

On the name “Abiding with Hysteria,” Woodard noted that “the whole idea was that hysteria has abided through the ages… it's sort of transformed into this amorphous thing of it's all in your head. The whole ‘it's in your head’ thing has been going on since Ancient Egypt, and our culture is shaping how these things are treated, and it hasn't gotten better.”

But how do minority groups navigate these complex issues?

“One thing that I would definitely tell everybody, especially people who are women, non-binary or trans, is that don't worry about being a people pleaser in a doctor's office," said Woodard. "When it comes to your health, it's okay to be a little bitchy. You're just advocating for yourself.”

Another tip was to dress as if you are showing up for a job interview.

“Socioeconomic status privileges are surreal in doctors’ offices,” said Woodard. “But it can be difficult on the other side of the coin to get taken seriously if you’re in a lot of pain but you’re not showing it on your face. It's a really fine tightrope between looking good so that they'll take you seriously and looking bad so that they'll take you seriously.”

Woodard added that bringing a white man along with you, as they have been historically taken more seriously, might help. “You're more likely to be listened to when they're in the room,” she said.

Additionally, writing notes on all symptoms and keeping copies of medical records can help when feeling overwhelmed. That way, you won’t forget any details when caught up in the moment. Keeping a “pain journal” that tracks your symptoms throughout time might help the doctor see a pattern.

Woodard criticized the lack of inclusion many forms have in medical offices. She explained that being forced to disclose your gender in the two-option binary leaves out “whole parts of our population that are not fitting within the gender binary.”

“I think it’s super unfortunate that our government is trying to put these people into boxes that [they] don't belong, never have belonged in or shouldn't have to be stuck into,” said Woodard.

How can the medical system change to be more inclusive?

In an episode of the Abiding Hysteria Podcast, Woodard interviewed Ashley Bell, North Carolina's 10th District in the United States House of Representatives candidate. Bell, who is also a physician associate, educator and telemedicine practice owner, explained how difficult it was to get any accessibility.

They discussed how in telemedicine particularly, it is even more difficult to get accommodations because the patients are not being seen in person.

"There needs to be accommodations for people who do [telehealth] because telemedicine is so pushed on everybody," said Woodard. "Now that there's room for people."

To hear more on Bell’s discussion with Woodard, check out the episode titled “Running for Your Health: An Interview with Ashley Bell, Candidate for NC’s 10 District.”

“The institutions themselves need to be addressing bias by working with the practice as a whole and finding effective ways to dismantle these biases before a patient is even seen,” said Woodard. “It's the responsibility of us individually to find ways to fight the biases within ourselves, whether we're medical professionals or not, so that we can work for a more equitable world.”

Woodard brought up Mr. Rogers as a prime example of how to fight biases.

“I'm sure that growing up as a white man that he had biases in his life,” said Woodard. “But through his show and through his work, he was actively working against those [biases] by doing things like putting his feet in a pool of water with a Black police officer on the show. Just finding small ways that we can fight our own biases is super important.”

Woodard went on to say that the system’s precautions, such as watching required videos on sexual harassment, are only “marginally effective in threatening punishment if you don’t do the right thing.” She explained that the punishment is only losing your job, and that threat simply is not as effective in terms of making real change.

“Finding ways to reinforce good behaviors is really important in dealing with things like bias,” said Woodard. “I have a background in behavioral psychology, reinforcement is one of the most effective ways to increase the behavior that you want to see in the future.”

Woodard also emphasized studying the effectiveness of diversity programs, as a lot of these programs fall short.

“Even though they claim to be super effective,” said Woodard. “We need to actually study which ones are effective so that we can implement it across the board.”

For reporters, Woodard explained allowing people to tell their own stories rather than focusing on numbers is most impactful.

“Giving people the platform to tell their own story, instead of telling it for them, in a lot of ways, is a really great way to boost the person and the story rather than their identity, because their identity is just kind of incidental to their own experience,” said Woodard. “They have multiple things about them that might make it difficult for them in one way or another. Having the ability to put it into their own words and spread that to other people is, I think, the most important part because it can be really hard to speak for yourself, and it takes a lot of courage to put your story out there.”

To learn more about The Abiding Hysteria Podcast, it is available on Apple Podcasts, The Podcast App and Spotify.