KOZHIKODE: Lili Elbe, the character portrayed by Eddie Redmayne in Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl, believed that he was a woman. His wife too was convinced he was one.

But, in the case of a Kozhikode man, it spooked his family so much that they dragged the 52-year-old to a psychiatrist after he kept on insisting that he was pregnant! The unemployed father of two children, who has a postgraduate degree, cited abnormal sensations in his abdomen and believed that he was carrying a child. He refused to believe that men do not get pregnant and claimed that he could feel the baby moving inside.

He insisted on bed rest and skipped labour-intensive work. His worried brother brought the patient after he developed nausea and curbed his food intake. During counselling, the man admitted that he “conceived“ after being in a homosexual relationship.

The team of doctors, headed by Dr P N Suresh Kumar, at KMCT--who were taken aback--opted for a battery of tests and examinations and concluded that the patient was nursing a delusion, which was a rare phenomenon in itself. His brother told mystified doctors that the strange delusion started around six months ago.

Referring to the unusual case, Dr Kumar said delusion is a fixed abnormal belief about something.

“We never came across this sort of case before. He was an active homosexual in his adolescent years which may contributed to his beliefs. But, his homosexuality did not affect his marriage.Usually , we see couvade syndrome in some dads-to-be who show certain symptoms of pregnancy (like nausea, weight gain or sleep problems) when their partners get pregnant,“ he said.

Doctors couldn't detect any gender identity disorders, gender dysphoria, hallucinations, depression or anxiety during treatment and the various test results showed that he was normal.

“The patient went for counselling and took risperidone. This delusion was cured due to the medical intervention. After a series of counselling sessions, he stopped indulging in homosexual activities. Now, the patient is recovering and we are measuring his progress during periodic check-ups,“ he said.

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