Pseudocyesis: The trolling false alarm

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Jocelyn appears at a hospital’s emergency room one day, claiming she is 28 weeks pregnant. Her belly’s already swollen rotund, and she’s been experiencing symptoms of morning sickness and all that pregnancy jazz. She asserts that she has had sonograms for the past weeks and that, according to her accounts, her baby has been doing fine. Upon obstetric assessment, however, the nurses aren’t able to find fetal heart tones even with the assistance of Doppler ultrasound stethoscope. Further radiological examination will show that there isn’t really any pregnancy present—thus nullifying the patient’s entire claim to pregnancy.

The ‘pregnant’ woman, it appears, has developed a condition called “pseudocyesis,” the medical term for “false pregnancy.” It is one of those rare moments that she believes she is pregnant because she is experiencing all symptoms of pregnancy, yet all of these have been caused by an entirely different thing.

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False pregnancies have confounded medical practitioners for centuries, and it’s only recently that they began to understand the many physical and psychological issues that are behind pseudocyesis. Although the physiological mechanisms remain unknown, research has shown that psychological factors are more at fault into tricking the body into thinking it’s pregnant.

There are many cases when women begin to develop an intense desire to become pregnant; infertility, history of miscarriages, and impending menopause—all of these trigger the brain to release pregnancy hormones (e.g., prolactin for lactation stimulation) and ultimately leading to actual pregnancy symptoms. Women with pseudocyesis all exhibit believable symptoms, like cessation of menstrual flow, claims of fetal movement, and even labor pains, hence leading even the most seasoned of healthcare professionals to believe the presence of pregnancy.

It is to be noted, however, that pseudocyesis should be differentiated from delusions of pregnancy (i.e., if the patient has schizophrenia) and claiming to be pregnant for self-benefit.

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