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George Davis Bivin, M.A. and Ph.D., in abnormal psychology, became interested in the subject of pseudocyesis after personal contact with several cases. With the aid of assistants, he began
an exhaustive study of the literature on this subject since the time of Hippocrates. Cognizant of the fact that he would not be able to complete the book himself, he designated his assistant, M. Pauline Klinger, M.A., to continue with the work after his death in 1934. At that time the name of the Medical-Psychology Research Institute, Inc., of which Dr. Bivin had been the founder and president, was changed to the George Davis Bivin Foundation, Inc., which then published this volume in 1937.
The book summarizes the case histories published between 1746 and 1936 of four hundred forty-four women in twenty countries. Of this group, three hundred seven were married, and of the two hundred eighty-four living with their first husbands, one hundred thirty-two had already had children before their phantom pregnancies. Of the remaining one hundred fifty-two, eighty were definitely reported as childless. Pseudocyesis was found to be relatively frequent at the beginning of second marriages. The condition was also reported in fifty-four single women and eight widows. There were eighteen cases of multiple pseudopregnancies.
A comprehensive table at the beginning of the book gives an excellent bird's eye view of the available anamnestic data in each case. As the author, date, and country, as well as the symptomatology, given etiology, diagnosis, and treatment, are all included, this table serves as a condensed factual summary of this painstaking research effort.
A detailed discussion of the physical symptomatology follows, documented by further tabulations. All the outward symptoms and signs of pregnancy, including foetal movements, may be simulated in pseudocyesis except for the protuberant umbilicus, which was never observed. Pelvic examinations were reported in only one hundred thir