Denial of pregnancy
Denial of pregnancy (also called pregnancy denial) is a rare form of denial exhibited by women to either the fact or the implications of their own pregnancy. One study found that women who denied their pregnancy represented 0.26% of all deliveries. [1]
Psychotic denial
This is a form of denial that is so extreme as to fall under the category of delusion. While physical symptoms of pregnancy do usually occur they are sometimes misinterpreted by the woman. Some women interpret the sensation of something growing inside them as cancer, or a blood clot. Some women might believe fetal movements are their organs coming loose inside her body.[2] During the psychotic denial pregnancy women tend to hide their pregnancy from everyone and put their fetus at a high risk. [3]
See also
References
- ↑ Friedman SH, Heneghan A, Rosenthal M "Characteristics of Women Who Deny or Conceal Pregnancy" Psychosomatics 48:117-122, March-April 2007 doi:10.1176/appi.psy.48.2.117 http://psy.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/48/2/117#top
- ↑ Miller LJ. "Denial of Pregnancy" Infanticide: psychosocial and legal perspectives on mothers who kill http://books.google.com/books?id=i4XqOuxjzvIC&lpg=PA81&ots=AFG-nKQDhz&dq=miller%20%22denial%20of%20pregnancy%22&pg=PA81#v=onepage&q=miller%20%22denial%20of%20pregnancy%22&f=false
- ↑ Miller LJ. Department of Psychiatry, University of Chicago, Illinois 60637. US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2249803
