Twenty-one Balck women with pseudocyesis were seen over a 4-month period at the Baragwanath Hospital antenatal clinic. The psychological backgrounds of 9 of the 21 women were assessed in detail. That Blacks are unable to cope with and sublimate a stressful "infertility" adequately is suggested as the aetiological factor which leads to the high incidence of this psychosomatic disorder in Blacks.