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Denial of pregnancy: a not so rare disorder
Pregnancy denial occurs when a pregnant woman fails to realize her condition until late in her pregnancy. Denial can sometimes last until the time of childbirth. This is not a hidden pregnancy but of an ignored pregnancy. The rare studies on the subject report one to three cases per thousand births, that is, in France, between 800 and 2 cases each year.
Denial of pregnancy: incredible manifestations
What is most troubling about denial of pregnancy is the very invisibility of that pregnancy. As if the body were complicit in the very powerful psychic mechanism set up by the mother’s unconscious. Women gain very little weight, their belly hardly rounds, they do not perceive the baby’s movements or interpret them differently. Some of them take the pill and continue to have regular bleeding which they think of as a period. Very often, those around them, especially the spouse, do not see anything, which reinforces the woman in her denial. When the pregnancy is revealed, it is very impressive that mother’s womb becomes prominent within days.
Denial of pregnancy: women from all walks of life
There is no typical profile. There are teenagers but also women of 30 or 40 years old, mothers who already have one or more children. The social criteria are not very conclusive either: no environment, no profession escapes denial.
Note: when everything ends well and they give birth in the hospital, most of these women become real mothers and manage to forge a non-pathological bond with their child.
Invisible pregnancy: a wide variety of causes
There are almost as many causes as there are cases. Some denials take place because this pregnancy is experienced as a danger or a shame. This is the case for adolescent girls, young unmarried women of foreign origin or in stories of adultery. Some children are experienced as the extra baby by a hyper fertile mother who can no longer take on a new pregnancy. Women who pay little attention to their bodies, and are very professional in their care, can also miss a pregnancy. The denials occurring at the time of a return of diaper are not uncommon. The young mother does not think she is fertile, she has not lost all of her pregnancy pounds and she does not realize that she is bearing a child again.
Unsuccessful pregnancies: a public health problem
These unsuccessful pregnancies are therefore at very high risk. The mother does not adapt her behavior to her condition and has no reason not to engage in risky behavior. Young women who learn of an advanced pregnancy often worry about the consequences of the few watered evenings that have marked the nine months. Most of the time, babies are born quite healthy and those around them are generally amazed to discover a fully formed newborn, weighing more than 3 kg. However, some women give birth alone at home, often in the toilet bowl, and the outcome can be fatal for them as well as for the baby. Fortunately, these cases only constitute a minority.
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