KOLKATA: There was nothing unusual or abnormal about this young girl from the northern fringes of the city. But a sudden twist changed everything for this happy-go-lucky college student and her family few weeks after her elder sister got married. Srijita (name changed) started to believe, and the claimed, that her brother-in-law was her husband.

When no amount of reasoning and explanation worked, her parents started to reprimand her. Her sister, too, confronted her on several occasions and tried convincing her that her claim was causing marital discord between the couple. But the more the family tried to convince Srijita the more she would get aggressive and violent.

The family finally sensed that Srjita was suffering from some psychological disorder and took her to several doctors in Kolkata.

When city doctors failed to provide help, the businessman father took the girl to Bangalore to a top mental hospital. But no treatment could break the false belief that Srijita was suffering from. Back to the city, they finally took Srijita to the Institute of Psychiatry (IOP) at IPGMER (SSKM).

Here the doctors diagnosed Srjita to be suffering from bizarre delusion (a psychotic disorder). A twin therapy of medication and counselling over more than two months broke the girl’s belief. Srijita is now back home from the hospital and has started attending college once again.

“The family was so frustrated with the patient that they wanted to dump her in the hospital for as long as possible to save themselves from social embarrassment. It seemed they had given up,” said Dr Pradeep Saha, head of IOP.

But Saha and his team was not ready to give up. Even at the hospital, Sirijita got violent saying that the family was conspiring with the doctors. Saha won her confidence saying that she was admitted so that he could help her with the trouble in her marriage life.

“She initially refused medication and created a ruckus, asking why her husband was not coming to see her. I promised that I would let her husband meet her in two weeks provided she took medication and interact with me as and when required,” said Saha.

People suffering from bizarre delusion suddenly become convinced of something false without any logic. They have irrational belief to such a level of conviction that no amount of reasoning work on them. And unlike other psychotic disorders, people with this condition do not appear odd, weird or abnormal.

After winning Srijita’s confidence, Saha started giving her doses of mood stabiliser, anti-anxiety drugs and anti-antipsychotic medications. And then she was counseled for hours regularly. On the sixth week, doctors were able to break her belief and Srijita came to terms that she was actually holding to a belief that was not true.

Once out of delusion, Srijita apologized to her sister, brother-in-law and the whole family for the embarrassment she had caused. She herself is embarrassed about the entire episode. The young woman now wants to pursue her studies.

