Is your wife pregnant? Can you feel the same symptoms that she claims to feel? Relax, drop the pregnancy test because you are not. Perhaps you are just experiencing what is known as Couvade syndrome or empathic pregnancy. In this Psychology-Online article you will find what is the Couvade syndrome: its symptoms, causes and treatment.
Index
- What is Couvade syndrome in psychology
- Couvade syndrome: symptoms
- Couvade syndrome: causes
- Couvade syndrome: treatment
What is Couvade syndrome in psychology.
As defined in 1965 by the psychiatrist Trethowan, the Couvade syndrome is characterized by the appearance, in the father of the baby, from a set of physical symptoms. Which have their beginning during the woman's pregnancy and they usually disappear once it has given birth.
It must be borne in mind that it is not a mental disorder, since the man at no time tends to believe that he is pregnant. His name, Couvade, derives from the French word "couver", which in our language means to incubate or to breed.
Serra (2007) explained in his study that Couvade syndrome has its etiological basis, that is, its beginnings in antiquity. The man, while the woman was in labor, imitated his pains and received the same attention as her to later lie in bed with the baby and receive the congratulations of the relatives and neighbours.
Couvade syndrome: symptoms.
If it weren't for the fact that the syndrome only occurs in men, the symptoms could easily be misinterpreted as a possible pregnancy. These symptoms usually appear in the third month of pregnancy.
Man unconsciously and involuntarily develops a series of symptoms. Therefore, first of all, we must eradicate any belief that men act in this way to attract attention. But it is a way of expressing stress. In the following article you will find how to manage stress.
Symptoms can be classified:
Physical symptoms of Couvade syndrome
- Sickness
- Vomiting
- Loss of appetite
- Appearance of certain cravings
- Headaches
- Toothache
- Back pain
- Notable weight gain
Psychological symptoms of Couvade syndrome
- Sleep disturbances
- Increase in anxiety
- Exhausted
- Emotional lability
- Irritability
Due to these similarities to a woman's pregnancy, Couvade syndrome is also known as male empathic pregnancy.
Couvade syndrome: causes.
To explain the causes of this syndrome, mention must be made of Brennan et al (2007) who establishes three possible theories for its development by way of explanation:
- The first one resides in a psychosocial basis where this syndrome arises from the social marginalization that the father feels while the woman is pregnant, feeling excluded during this process.
- The second theory used to explain its causes is based on parenting, where the appearance of Couvade syndrome is explained as a preparation for the role of father.
- Finally, Brennan uses a psychoanalytic theory starting from Freud's Oedipus complex, where he emphasizes how this syndrome appears as a consequence of a unconscious envy on the part of the man for the procreation capacity of the woman and also for a possible future rivalry with the baby.
However, currently there is another one, it is the neuronal, which is explained by Perera (2019). It shows how the brain of men changes as a result of the experience of fatherhood. For this, the future father undergoes a series of transformations at the biological, cerebral, psychological and social level which are completely normal, since they derive from the vital change that he is about to experience.
In addition, it must be taken into account as indicated by Ferreira (2012) that the possibility of developing Couvade Syndrome increases according to the number of previous children that the man has, that is, the greater the number of children, the greater the probability of suffering the characteristic symptoms of the pregnancy.
Couvade syndrome: treatment.
Since it is neither a mental disorder nor a physical disorder (even if it has physiological symptoms), a pharmacological treatment cannot be used to eradicate this syndrome. However, if you can reduce your symptoms by expressing on the part of the man of the worries that he has.
For this, future parents should go to a professional to help them understand this syndrome and to offer them a prenatal education in order to eradicate any experiences and feelings negative. The fact that they teach understand and plan everything that parenthood entails favors the reduction of anxiety and stress, which in turn reduces physical symptoms.
On the other hand, as indicated by Martini et al (2010), it is vitally important that the father of the baby is completely active and participatory during the time of pregnancyIn other words, accompany the woman to gynecological and prenatal consultations, to all ultrasounds, so that they do not feel left out.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Couvade syndrome: symptoms, causes and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.
Bibliography
- Brennan, A., Ayers, A., Marshall-Lhafez, S., & Ahmed, H. (2007). A critical review of the Couvade syndrome: the pregnant male. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 25(3), 173-189.
- El Pais, S. D. TO. AND. PSYCHIATRIC SYNDROMES. SYNDROMES, 525.
- Ferreira, L. S., Leal, I., & Maroco, J. (2010). Couvade symptoms and paternal involvement experienced during pregnancy. Psychology, Health & Doenças, 11(2), 251-269.
- Martini, T. TO. D., Piccinini, C. A., & Gonçalves, T. R. (2010). Indicators of couvade syndrome in primiparous countries during pregnancy. Aletheia, (31).
- Serra, C., & Serra, C. (2007). Couvade syndrome. Balearic medicine, 22(2), 45-46.
- Perera, A. M. (2019). Fatherhood, view from a biopsychosocial perspective. Cuban Journal of Community Genetics, 12(1).
