diff --git a/changelog/4132.bugfix.rst b/changelog/4132.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1fbb9afad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/4132.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix duplicate printing of internal errors when using ``--pdb``.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/debugging.py b/src/_pytest/debugging.py
index f51dff373..d9a6a8154 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/debugging.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/debugging.py
@@ -109,9 +109,6 @@ class PdbInvoke(object):
         _enter_pdb(node, call.excinfo, report)
 
     def pytest_internalerror(self, excrepr, excinfo):
-        for line in str(excrepr).split("\n"):
-            sys.stderr.write("INTERNALERROR> %s\n" % line)
-            sys.stderr.flush()
         tb = _postmortem_traceback(excinfo)
         post_mortem(tb)
 
diff --git a/testing/test_pdb.py b/testing/test_pdb.py
index f04a2f3a0..cda553c44 100644
--- a/testing/test_pdb.py
+++ b/testing/test_pdb.py
@@ -334,8 +334,12 @@ class TestPDB(object):
         )
         p1 = testdir.makepyfile("def test_func(): pass")
         child = testdir.spawn_pytest("--pdb %s" % p1)
-        # child.expect(".*import pytest.*")
         child.expect("Pdb")
+
+        # INTERNALERROR is only displayed once via terminal reporter.
+        assert len([x for x in child.before.decode().splitlines()
+                    if x.startswith("INTERNALERROR> Traceback")]) == 1
+
         child.sendeof()
         self.flush(child)