Delusion Of Pregnancy (DP)

INTRODUCTION: Delusion of pregnancy (DP) is a firm, fixed and false belief of being pregnant despite factual evidence to the contrary. It is a type of somatic delusion which could occur in schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, mood disorder, epilepsy, dementia, frontotemporal lobar degeneration or other organic brain disorders and may also present with drug induced lactation, hyponatremia, polydipsia and urinary tract infection . Although more common in the females, multiple cases of delusional pregnancy in men have also been reported . It is very important to distinguish DP from other conditions imitating pregnancy:

1. Pseudocyesis: Pseudocyesis is defined as a false belief of being pregnant, associated with signs

She is married but had been separated from her husband 5 years ago. Her husband physically and verbally abused her and abandoned her after 8 months of marriage. She has never been pregnant, as stated by her mother.

She presented to the psychiatry ER department with complains of abdominal pain and aggressive behavior. She was also endorsing visual and auditory hallucinations. The patient was subsequently admitted, this being her 7th admission in a psychiatric unit. Total duration of illness was reported to be 5 years, which started around the same time that her husband left her, when the patient was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The course of the disease has been insidious with occasional exacerbations. The patient was receiving olanzapine 10 mg for the last one year. Prior drug history could not be

Initially she thought she had 3 babies growing in her abdominal cavity and claims that the abdominal pain is the result of quickening and kicking movements of the babies. When family members tried to reason with her, she exhibited aggressive behavior during which she physically assaulted her mother and brothers. However, during most of the recent hospitalization, “U” was convinced that there are a total of 22 fetuses of different sizes growing in different parts of her body, including her head, arms and legs, all of which are producing physical symptoms of pain. She also states that she can see them and hear their voices that are telling her to “take them out” and asking her to feed them. According to “U”, she has given birth twice prior to this, to a girl and a boy and her husband took away both the babies immediately after delivery to keep them away from the evil eye. She reported second person visual and auditory hallucinations, of her husband and a religious (Hindu) figure both of whom were calling her. Recently, she developed the delusion that she saw herself on television acting in tv serials as well as in fairness cream