GROUP THERAPY

WhatsApp communities form sanctuaries for women's health through solidarity and the strength of shared experiences.

- VASUDHA RAI

I WAS DIAGNOSED with grade four endometriosis at 28 and had a hysterectomy at 39. Though the years passed quickly in a haze of IVF, surgeries and hospitalisations, I remember the nights I spent in pain, scouring the internet for new information, hungry for a shared experience. Looking back, I'm convinced that if I'd had a support group, I may have found more accurate information or the right surgeon, which could've led to a different outcome. Or, at the very least, I would've known that I wasn't imagining the pain.

"The mistake doctors made and continue to make is imagining that a disease that's in the patient's head must therefore, in some sense, be a fabrication over which the patient has control," writes Elizabeth Comen in her book All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women's Bodies and Why It Matters Today. Because of this, it's common for women to be diagnosed years later than men for the same disease.