{"title":"Pregnancy Denial: Toward a New Understanding of the Underlying Mechanisms.","authors":"Natalia Chechko, Elena Losse, Susanne Nehls","doi":"10.1007/s11920-023-01448-2","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong>Pregnancy denial is the lack of awareness of being pregnant. The aim of the review is to understand why the affected women do not recognize the signs of pregnancy.</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>Twelve case reports of pregnancy denial were published in the last ten years. While in five cases the women had an underlying mental disorder, the rest of the cases involved women who either exhibited no physical symptoms or perceived themselves to be not pregnant despite the symptoms (i.e., repression mechanisms). Pregnancy denial is considered to be a pathological issue, a likely consequence of trauma, the wish to not have a child, or a psychiatric problem. However, it appears that the majority of cases cannot be linked to any of the above reasons. We argue, therefore, that, in most cases, pregnancy denial is not associated with mental or physiological problems. Under certain circumstances, it can affect any woman.</p>","PeriodicalId":11057,"journal":{"name":"Current Psychiatry Reports","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10627956/pdf/","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Current Psychiatry Reports","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-023-01448-2","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/8/19 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Purpose of review: Pregnancy denial is the lack of awareness of being pregnant. The aim of the review is to understand why the affected women do not recognize the signs of pregnancy.
Recent findings: Twelve case reports of pregnancy denial were published in the last ten years. While in five cases the women had an underlying mental disorder, the rest of the cases involved women who either exhibited no physical symptoms or perceived themselves to be not pregnant despite the symptoms (i.e., repression mechanisms). Pregnancy denial is considered to be a pathological issue, a likely consequence of trauma, the wish to not have a child, or a psychiatric problem. However, it appears that the majority of cases cannot be linked to any of the above reasons. We argue, therefore, that, in most cases, pregnancy denial is not associated with mental or physiological problems. Under certain circumstances, it can affect any woman.
期刊介绍:
This journal aims to review the most important, recently published research in psychiatry. By providing clear, insightful, balanced contributions by international experts, the journal intends to serve all those involved in the care of those affected by psychiatric disorders.
We accomplish this aim by appointing international authorities to serve as Section Editors in key subject areas, such as anxiety, medicopsychiatric disorders, and schizophrenia and other related psychotic disorders. Section Editors, in turn, select topics for which leading experts contribute comprehensive review articles that emphasize new developments and recently published papers of major importance, highlighted by annotated reference lists. An international Editorial Board reviews the annual table of contents, suggests articles of special interest to their country/region, and ensures that topics are current and include emerging research. Commentaries from well-known figures in the field are also provided.