What is pseudocyesis?
Pseudocyesis is a rare somatic symptom disorder where a non-pregnant and non-psychotic woman thinks she is pregnant. Women with this condition experience all the typical symptoms of pregnancy, such as weight gain, morning sickness, a growing belly, irritability, urinary frequency, breast changes, and breast tenderness, without actually carrying a baby.
How common is phantom pregnancy?
The concept of pseudocyesis isn’t new. The first written account of a false pregnancy was given by Hippocrates in 300 BC. A famous example of a woman from history with pseudocyesis is Mary Tudor. However, instances of phantom pregnancy have reduced significantly in the United States over the past century.
In the 1940s, 1 out of every 250 pregnant women reported a false pregnancy. This number has reduced to between 1 and 6 out of 22,000 pregnant women reporting pseudocyesis.