The mental health condition where someone believes their own lies is often called Pathological Lying, also known as Mythomania or Pseudologia Fantastica, characterized by compulsive, elaborate, and persistent lying, where the person loses the ability to distinguish between their fabricated stories and reality, sometimes creating an internal fantasy world where their lies become their truth, often linked to personality disorders or trauma.
To truly change pathological lying behavior, it's essential to address the underlying mental health issues catalyzing the lies. Through therapy, people can become more aware of their lying patterns and the reasons they lie.
The best form of treatment for compulsive lying is usually CBT. This is a highly effective therapeutic approach for addressing compulsive lying. It focuses on identifying and challenging the distorted thought patterns and beliefs that contribute to lying behavior.
Intense Emotional Experiencing
This is known as confirmation bias. This can be tremendously frustrating for friends and family members. It's important to understand that the person with BPD isn't consciously lying—they truly believe their viewpoint is correct even when it's, by all other accounts, false.
Key points. Pseudologia fantastica—pathological lying—is when a person lies near-constantly, without any clear benefit. Pseudologia fantastica serves an ego-driven longing for how someone wishes the world would be. Confronting a pathological liar with their deceptions will likely backfire.
Compulsive lying may manifest as a symptom of various underlying conditions, including bipolar disorder, ADHD, impulse control issues, substance dependency, borderline personality, and narcissistic personality.
The DSM‐5 mentions that deception is a symptom of antisocial personality disorder and is used for external incentive (malingering) and to assume a sick role (factitious disorder) (16).
The "3 C's of BPD" typically refer to advice for loved ones of someone with Borderline Personality Disorder, reminding them: "I didn't cause it, I can't cure it, I can't control it," to help set boundaries and avoid taking on undue responsibility for the person's actions or illness. Another set of "C's" describes core BPD traits for individuals: Clinginess (fear of abandonment), Conflict (intense relationships/moods), and Confusion (unstable self-image).
Here are five things psychopaths do:
Psychopathy. Pathological lying is an item of the interpersonal facet of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), alongside superficial charm, grandiosity, and manipulativeness.
Depending on the type of trauma one experienced, they may feel a need to lie to help protect themselves from any potential threats or danger. Typically, these individuals who lie experienced abuse from others who hurt them physically, mentally, or emotionally.
Anyway, compulsive liars will often tell a lie and then say "but don't tell too many people, I don't want it to get around" or some variant of that. Basically they want to impress the person they're talking to and then have them forget the lie.
Another key difference between pathological vs compulsive lying is the emotional response to the lies. Compulsive liars may experience guilt, shame, or embarrassment after telling lies, which can lead them to feel conflicted or regretful. They may eventually recognize that their behavior is problematic and seek help.
Liars fear being caught, leading to consequences like punishment, rejection, or humiliation, but also fear the exposure of their true, often flawed, selves or the shame and guilt associated with deception, especially when lying stems from trauma or low self-worth. They fear losing control, the damage to trust when lies are revealed, and situations where someone remembers details, as inconsistencies unravel their fabrications.
Compulsive lying is a complex psychological issue that stems from several different factors. It can be caused by low self-esteem, insecurity, social anxiety, unresolved childhood trauma or abuse, and even neurological disorders such as brain injury or dementia.
Psychodynamic Therapy: This type of therapy allows you to delve into past experiences and traumas that might be contributing to your lying behaviour. By addressing these underlying issues, you can start to understand your motivations for lying and work towards changing your behavior.
20 Signs of a Psychopath
The Dark Triad refers to three personality-based syndromes or behaviors: (1) narcissism, (2) Machiavellianism, and (3) psychopathy. The syndromes in this triad are considered subclinical, meaning not a clinical disorder but lying right on the edge of legality.
Psychopaths often lack empathy and are manipulative and narcissistic. Not all psychopaths are violent, but many can be linked to criminal behavior. Cognitive behavioral therapy may help reduce some psychopathic traits.
BPD Meltdown
During a meltdown, people may experience extreme mood swings, impulsivity, and difficulty calming down. Understanding how BPD contributes to meltdowns is crucial for developing coping strategies and providing support to manage and navigate these overwhelming emotional experiences.
The 7 key signs of emotional abuse often revolve around Control, Isolation, Verbal Attacks, Gaslighting, Blame-Shifting, Intimidation/Fear, and Invalidation, where the abuser manipulates, belittles, and controls you to undermine your self-worth and reality, making you feel constantly fearful, worthless, and dependent.
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is a key factor that can cause a person to be argumentative, as it involves persistent defiant behaviour and a tendency to engage in frequent conflicts with authority figures.
While not all people with BPD lie, BPD and lying can run the risk of weakening trust and placing a relationship in jeopardy, since it's a mental health condition often marked by emotional volatility, negative self-perception and unhealthy attachment styles, a partner with BPD may not even realize they're behaving this ...
While there's no simple “cure” for pathological lying, there is hope for those willing to undertake the challenging work of self-improvement. The capacity for change varies from person to person, influenced by the complexity of their circumstances and their dedication to therapy and personal growth.
While they may appear insignificant, small lies often reveal deeper emotional and psychological struggles. Understanding why people engage in this behavior requires examining factors such as attachment issues, low self-esteem, social comparison, and childhood experiences.