THE COUVADE SYNDROME

The couvade syndrome can be considered to be the psychosomatic equival ent of primitive rituals of initiation into paternity. Various symptom s have been described in the husbands of pregnant women with an incide nce from 11% to 65%. The most common of these are: variations in appet ite, nausea, insomnia and weight gain. Seventy-three couples with the women in the last month of pregnancy were given a questionnaire; as a reference group, 73 men without pregnant wives or children under 1 yea r of age were taken. An emotional involvement connected with pregnancy was reported in 91.78% of the men. This involvement was expressed as changes in sexual habits in 87.67% of cases, fear and anxiety in 36.98 % and curiosity in 47.94%. With the exception of nausea, physical symp toms were less frequent in the men with pregnant wives than in those w ithout pregnant wives. These data cannot confirm the existence of the couvade syndrome with its own physical symptoms but we think that some male experiences, which constitute a peculiar imaginary and behaviora l reality of the father-to-be, do exist.