Psychological pregnancy: understand why it happens and how to avoid it

Absence of menstruation, nausea, weight gain, breast and abdomen volume… These are the main signs that indicate that a woman is pregnant. But they are also the symptoms of psychological pregnancy.

Pseudocyesis (pseudo = false / kyesis = pregnancy), better known as psychological pregnancy, occurs when the woman, for different psychophysiological reasons, presents the same symptoms of pregnancy. “However, the uterus is empty”, highlights clinical psychologist Andrea Lorena.

Mariane Corbetta, gynecologist at the Hospital e Maternidade Santa Brígida, in Curitiba (PR), emphasizes that pseudocyesis is a pregnancy that happens without a physiological basis in a real fertilization and conception. “There is no concept, no fetus. There was no fertilization,” she says.

The gynecologist adds that pseudocyesis (psychological pregnancy) is very rare, especially nowadays. “It’s roughly like 1 for every 22,000 pregnant women,” she points out.

Causes of psychological pregnancy

Mariane explains that, most of the time, pseudocyesis is related to a woman with difficulty getting pregnant and great social or psychological pressure (“desire”) to do so. “In addition to a sensitive psychological constitution and struggling to deal with setbacks,” she says.

Psychologist Andrea emphasizes that pseudocyesis is caused by a deep internal conflict between the desire to become pregnant and some internal impediment to achieving it or the intense fear of pregnancy. “In other situations, it occurs when a woman faces successive attempts to conceive, but without success,” she adds.

Who can develop pseudocyesis?

Mariane explains that any woman in a psychological or life situation with a pressure greater than what her psyche can handle and handle can develop psychological pregnancy. “Some already have an incipient psychic issue. A sensitive nucleus with a tendency to psychic lack of control”, explains the gynecologist.

Andrea adds that the condition is associated in most cases with psychological, sexual and/or psychological problems.

Symptoms of psychological pregnancy

Mariane explains that the symptoms of pseudocyesis are the symptoms of a normal pregnancy, but without the fetus.

• Absence of menstruation;
• nausea;
• vomiting;
• Dizziness;
• Weight gain;
• Increase in the volume of the breasts;
• Increase in the volume of the abdomen;
• Milk may appear in the breasts.

Is there treatment?

Mariane explains that with the methods and diagnoses of pregnancy today, which are more accurate and immediate, it is possible to demonstrate to women the absence of an intrauterine pregnancy image.

However, this is not always enough to convince the woman, because her body “shows” that she is pregnant. Therefore, as gynecologist Mariane adds, psychiatric psychological support is necessary to support the issue of this woman’s psychic fragility.

Andrea points out that psychotherapy is the most suitable treatment in this case because it is a psychological manifestation.

How to avoid psychological pregnancy

Andrea explains that it is important for a woman to seek psychological support when planning a pregnancy or unsuccessful attempts, or if she is afraid of pregnancy. “So that, in this way, the insecurities and doubts about the role of mother are worked out during the psychotherapeutic process”, she says.

Mariane emphasizes that, in order to avoid psychological pregnancy, more careful attention to the women’s health is needed. “Women today do not have the issue of motherhood as their only life function. In addition, medicine has many ways to help those who really want to get pregnant and can’t, with sterility treatments. Good psychosocial support is the best way to prevent a woman from reaching this extreme psychological imbalance”, explains the gynecologist.

In summary, here are the main guidelines on how to avoid psychological pregnancy:

• Seek psychological support during pregnancy planning;
• Seek psychological support after unsuccessful attempts to conceive;
• Seek psychological support if you are afraid of becoming pregnant, to clarify all doubts about being a mother;
• Recognize that women do not have motherhood as their only function;
• Look for specific treatments to get pregnant if you are finding it difficult to do so.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that psychological pregnancy is a situation that requires patience and support from all the woman’s family and friends so that she recovers in the best possible way.