Yesterday we have given false news as a joke for April Fools' Day. He talked about psychological pregnancy, and while the news was not true (although many have hesitated seeing how the yard is), You can have a psychological pregnancy.
It is a rare phenomenon that affects women with an exaggerated desire to be mothers. The excessive dream of becoming a mother can become an obsession and trigger symptoms of a normal pregnancy, such as changes in the breasts, increased belly volume, and even nausea and backaches.
A psychological pregnancy, also called utopian, imaginary, Rapunzel Syndrome or pseudociesis, occurs when the woman thinks she is pregnant but in reality she is not. It is an organic response, because the hormones are put into operation as if it were a normal pregnancy, before an unreal state.
It is one of the so-called somatomorphic disorders ("soma"= body in Greek), in which the body expresses with different manifestations the problems, concerns and obsessions of the mind.
Possible causes of psychological pregnancy
Those women more likely to develop a psychological pregnancy they are women with problems of infertility, infertility or with problems to carry out a pregnancy.
Also women with early menopause, or who believe that pregnancy will be a way to improve relationships with the couple.
Their uncontrollable desire to be mothers leads them to think more and more about pregnancy, so much so that they end up believing that they are really pregnant. Sometimes, pilgrimage by different doctors in search of the desired diagnosis.
Psychological pregnancy can also occur in women with excessive fear of becoming pregnant, especially in young girls who are just beginning to have sex.
Symptoms of psychological pregnancy
The symptoms of psychological pregnancy are similar to the symptoms of a normal pregnancy.
- Lack of ovulation and therefore, lack of menstruation: the brain triggers the decrease in hormones that stimulate female ovulation.
- Increase of the size of the belly: caused by the distension of the abdominal muscles and the position that the woman adopts. The difference with real pregnancy is that there is no navel inversion.
- Changes in the breasts: greater turgor, secretion of colostrum and milk, pigmentation and increase of the breast areola.
- Subjective sensation of movements of the baby in the belly.
- Cervical softening
- Weight gain
- Nausea, heartburn and discomfort typical of pregnancy
How to treat psychological pregnancy
The first thing to do is confirm the pregnancy through homemade pregnancy tests, which are usually negative, and if necessary perform a laboratory test.
It is believed that in some cases there may be an increase in the levels of gonadotropin, the pregnancy hormone, so in that case the blood and urine pregnancy tests can be positive. The most reliable way to make women see that there is really no pregnancy is by performing an ultrasound.
He Psychological pregnancy is clearly a psychological disorder. It is caused by a psychosomatic condition that can hide a basic depressive condition. Therefore, the gynecologist must understand the patient and induce her to another type of professional help, such as a psychologist.
Professional help and understanding of their surroundings, as well as getting in touch with other people who have been through the same, will help the woman to understand the origin of the disorder and overcome the psychological pregnancy.
