Couvade.

In a prospective study a number of women and their husbands were interviewed early on in the pregnancy, in the week after delivery and again 4 months later. The couvade syndrome, in which the father-to-be suffers from somatic symptoms of psychogenic origin connected in some way with his wife's pregnancy, was investigated. Sixteen of the 81 men who participated in the study fulfilled the syndrome criteria. The most common symptoms were weight gain, toothache, loss of appetite, and "other aches". The men with the couvade syndrome had more mental symptoms during the pregnancy period. The syndrome had no relation to the somatic or mental symptoms of the women. It is proposed that the couvade syndrome might be a somatic expression of anxiety.