Case Study: Neuroscience of Distrust & Women’s Pain

Why are women’s reports of pain so often dismissed?

As it turns out, it’s not just oversight—it’s a failure of trust.

In this case study mini-episode, we're looking at distrust in real-time—examining how bias in medicine isn’t just about misunderstanding symptoms, but about who gets believed and who doesn’t.

Building on our full episode on Trust and our mini-episode on Hatred, Laine dives into research from Harvard Health and neuroscience studies to uncover the real cost of medical distrust—especially for women and women of color.

If you have any topic suggestions for future episodes, don't hesitate to reach out! Send us an email at info@brainblownpodcast.com.

We'd love to hear from you.

References

• The Anatomy of Hatred: Multiple Pathways to the Construction of Human Hatred Randall E. Osborne, Ph.D., Christopher J. Frost, Ph.D. Texas State University-San Marcos

• A Brain Mechanism for Hate Mario F. Mendez, M.D., Ph.D.

• Neuropolitics in the age of extremism: Brain regions involved in hatred Henry A. Nasrallah, MD

• Trust is heritable, whereas distrust is not Martin Reimann, Oliver Schilkeb, and Karen S. Cook

• Medical education and distrust modulate the response of insular-cingulate network and ventral striatum in pain diagnosis Giada Dirupo, Sabrina Totaro, Jeanne Richard, Corrado Corradi-Dell’Acqua

• Understanding Emotions: Origins and Roles of the Amygdala Goran Šimić   Mladenka Tkalčić  Vana Vukić  Damir Mulc Ena Španić Marina Šagud  Francisco E Olucha-Bordonau  Mario Vukšić Patrick R Hof