Pseudocyesis is a psychosomatic state in which a person exhibits all the symptoms of pregnancy without being pregnant. This condition is more commonly known as pseudo-pregnancy. Pseudocyesis has been known for centuries. Hippocrates (460-377), the ancient Greek physician, mentioned several cases of it. The Tipitaka mentions a young princess name Suppavasa who had the symptoms of pregnancy for seven years and only then became pregnant and gave birth (Ud.15).
Women with pseudocyesis will stop menstruating and have abdominal swelling at a rate similar to that of real pregnancy. Their breasts become larger and more tender, the nipples swell and sometimes even secrete milk. If the condition continues long enough they may a
t the expected time begin to have labor pains. Pseudocyesis is caused by fear of becoming pregnant, strong empathy with someone who is pregnant or the intense desire to become pregnant. Suppavasa's pseudocyesis was probably due to pressure from the royal family to produce an heir at a time when her husband was either impotent or temporally sterile.
If psychological states like expectation, desire or empathy can cause changes to the body as complex and dramatic as that which occur in pseudocyesis, a Buddhist would say that there is good reason to think that supposed miraculous healings and experiences are likewise due to the mind rather than to divine intervention. If one's psychological state can stop the natural cycle of menstruation then surely it can assist in the recovery from an illness. If the mind can cause the abdomen to swell in imitation to pregnancy then no doubt it make the eye see things that are not there. If simply believing that one is pregnant can make the breasts swell and secrete milk then it can just as easily conjure up the feeling of God's presence. Positing a psychological cause for unusual experiences is more rational and evidence-based than believing in a divine one. This is what we mean when we say that what God is to some religions, the mind is to Buddhism.
If you would like to read more about pseudocyesis have a look at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/05/health/05pseud.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Women with pseudocyesis will stop menstruating and have abdominal swelling at a rate similar to that of real pregnancy. Their breasts become larger and more tender, the nipples swell and sometimes even secrete milk. If the condition continues long enough they may a
t the expected time begin to have labor pains. Pseudocyesis is caused by fear of becoming pregnant, strong empathy with someone who is pregnant or the intense desire to become pregnant. Suppavasa's pseudocyesis was probably due to pressure from the royal family to produce an heir at a time when her husband was either impotent or temporally sterile.If psychological states like expectation, desire or empathy can cause changes to the body as complex and dramatic as that which occur in pseudocyesis, a Buddhist would say that there is good reason to think that supposed miraculous healings and experiences are likewise due to the mind rather than to divine intervention. If one's psychological state can stop the natural cycle of menstruation then surely it can assist in the recovery from an illness. If the mind can cause the abdomen to swell in imitation to pregnancy then no doubt it make the eye see things that are not there. If simply believing that one is pregnant can make the breasts swell and secrete milk then it can just as easily conjure up the feeling of God's presence. Positing a psychological cause for unusual experiences is more rational and evidence-based than believing in a divine one. This is what we mean when we say that what God is to some religions, the mind is to Buddhism.
If you would like to read more about pseudocyesis have a look at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/05/health/05pseud.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
For reasons I cannot understand, yesterdays post has dissapeared. Please bare with me until I iron out the difficulities I am having.
This series on medicine is interesting. articles like this make it seem like the mind/body connection is far more important to health and well being then a lot of western science had ever given it much credit for. It's funny how the Buddha knew a lot of this stuff thousands of years before the psychologists and medical doctors. I wish you well.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I just read that story in the
ReplyDeleteUdana that you mentioned(John Ireland translation) and the commentary in the back of the book regarding the seven year preganancy lists a series of miscarriages as the "7 year" thing but this pseudocyesis could be what it was talking about. The only thing in that Udana story that defies modern thinking is the idea that the baby talks shortly after birth. It's either a tall tale or a strange miracle of some sort based on kamma or whatever.
Hi Bhante,
ReplyDeleteThere is a cache in Google that you can use to quickly recover you web page if you accidentally lost it.
It should be in Google's cache for a few days. You can get yours at:
http://209.85.175.104/search?q=cache:8-TLYaPSqVMJ:sdhammika.blogspot.com/+dhammika+blog&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=sg&client=firefox-a
Hope this helps!
Dear Terrance,
ReplyDeleteThanks. Ill try it.
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