Subjective Pseudocyesis (False Pregnancy) and Elevated Temporal Lobe Signs: An Implication

Twenty-two percent of 106 undergraduate university women reported symptoms of pseudocyesis: cessation of menstruation, abdominal enlargement, morning sickness, and breast changes. These women also displayed significant elevations in temporal lobe signs with particular involvement of putative right hemispheric processes. Women prone to pseudocyesis displayed more memory blanks, nocturnal akinesia, awareness of abdominal sensations, and exotic beliefs such as alien intelligence; the phenomenon was 10 times more frequent in Roman Catholic women than in Protestant women.