A Pregnancy Phantasy in a Man

In women the phantasy of pregnancy is not rare, as we well know, and in neurotic women the somatic symptoms connected with this phantasy may deceive the most careful observers. In men, on the contrary, the phantasy may be regarded as a rare occurrence; and especially so is that form in which the process is not limited to a mere play of fancy, but is accompanied with the somatic symptoms belonging to the picture of pregnancy. I would like to describe a case of this sort, which I encountered in my practice—a case in which, through conversion hysteria, a remarkable complex of physiological phenomena was produced, while the phantasy belonging to them was not at first present consciously to the patient and was only later brought to light by psychoanalysis. The case was throughout treated by psychoanalysis, being finally cured thereby. For the sake of clearness it is necessary to sketch here the main features of the case and it will then become apparent why, at a certain stage, the phantasy of pregnancy made its appearance and what was its significance to the patient.

The patient, by name, Camillo Monticuli,† is twenty-six years old; robust in appearance; was physically healthy until he began to suffer from the results of a wound received in the war, which interfered with the movements of one arm; at times a slight extra-systole of the heart could be detected; the patient is quick in his