Hey everyone!
Today I'm going to talk to you about a really interesting topic
I've actually had a lot of fun researching this, so thank you for asking for it.
We're talking about compulsive lying.
Or pathological lying.
What is it, and do we diagnose it?
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And the truth be told about pathological lying/compulsive lying
is that it is not diagnosable.
I'm gonna talk to you about some of the traits
that people present with when they have this.
The first being, that a lot of those who struggle with compulsive lying
or pathological lying,
tell... they call them stories instead of calling them lies.
They tell these wondrous and imaginative stories.
They're so wonderful and amazing, but they're always just within the level of probability.
Meaning that, as a person hearing them tell these "stories"
We can always say "well, I mean, it could have happened?"
"it's possible"
therefore leading them to getting away with it for longer periods of time.
The second thing I want you to consider is these stories that they tell are not due to delusions.
And if you remember from the schizophrenia videos I did
ages ago, delusions are firmly held beliefs/delusions.
and no matter how much evidence comes to the contrary,
they will not let go of said beliefs/delusions.
and these stories that pathological liars tell are not due to that;
they'll believe these things are true.
There has been some evidence to show that after they've told this "story"
over and over and over
they start to believe themselves.
But, again, it's not a delusion.
The third thing to consider is that upon confrontation,
So, if I know that someone is telling me a big string of "stories"
and I'm like "I'm so sick of this!"
And I confront them, and I'm like "Listen, I know you're lying"
"I was with you that day and it didn't happen. This is bullshit!"
and I confront them head-on,
They will give in.
And they will admit that they were lying.
And I think that honestly that's what sets it apart from delusions
and why it's not, not a delusion
not based on a delusion
Those with delusions don't believe they're lying,
They "know" in their delusion they're telling the truth,
and so, that's what kind of distinguishes this from that.
The fourth trait, and I...
this is another one of those, like, this was so fascinating
the drive for those who struggle with pathological lying or compulsive lying
isn't external, they don't get the drive to do it from outside sources;
it's not like peer pressure.
Like "oh I need to fit in"
"I've got to keep up with the Jones'"
"I've got to do these things to be the coolest person"
It's not like that. The drive actually comes from themselves.
Internally.
Them thinking that they're not good enough,
that, what they're living, the life they're leading is so boring no one's gonna want to talk to them.
And so, this will lead in; you can already probably see where this is going,
as to how I would treat it.
But we'll get to that in a bit.
The fifth and final thing to consider,
is that the stories these people tell, or that the lies that they tell
always place them in a favourable light.
They will be always playing like the hero role.
or, you know, they overcome something that saves someone or makes something better
or, they know famous people,
err, or anything that would make them look better than they perceive themselves to be.
What made researching this so interesting to me
was that it used to be diagnosable;
And so that...
brings up a lot of questions for myself,
like "why was it diagnosed then, and not now?"
Usually we see an increase of diagnoses - not the opposite.
What happened?
Why is this?
The reason, why they said they took it out of there
because excessive lying, or pathological lying is a symptom of a lot of different diagnoses.
And they didn't feel that having it on its own did it justice
because many people with narcissist personality disorder
and I'm looking at my notes, erm,
anti-social personality disorder
and histrionic personality disorder
also find themselves struggling with pathological lying.
And so they felt that having its own diagnosis
was really limiting to the picture of the whole patient.
what they could really be stuggling with.
The other side, thinking that it should be its own
believe that it should because people who are pathological liars
don't lie
for the reasons that those people with personality disorders lie.
They lie, because they honestly believe their life is just not interesting enough.
That's it, period.
End of story.
it has nothing to do with, you know,
gaining recognition
or getting people to follow us, or anything like that.
It's only because they don't think their life is interesting.
Something that as a clinition I have always interested in finding out is where did it come from?
Where's the root, of the root, of the root?
The seed of the seed; where did this start?
Why do some people have eating disorders, and why...
Why did they start being depressed, did something happen?
Is it genetic?
I always want to figure out as much as I can, based on the information they give me
where it came from.
And they say, and I'm gonna check, I'm looking at my notes,
they say that this can be something you struggle with
because you grew up in a very chaotic environment.
Or, if one of your family members has a mental health issue
which left untreated leads to said chaotic environment
right?
But, overall,
as always, we don't really know why.
Put it in the comments if you yourself struggle with this
or you know someone who does
Do you know where it came from, or when it started?
That would be really fascinating for me to learn from you
and your expereince because in this psychological community we don't know why yet.
And what I usually do with my clients who are really struggling with lying
is some CBT.
I know we talk about CBT a lot
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
and I would use the techniques in this because it helps
change the behaviours; the behaviours being lying
and we need to figure out what thought process is that coming from?
Is it "I'm so boring no one's gonna like me"
then we might need to do some, you know, negative thinking logs
or we talk back to that voice
Or is it, err "I need more attention" or "I need to get away with this so I have to lie"
and then we need to work on those behaviours,
and I honestly think that behavioural therapy,
whether it's cognitive or disbehavioural
could be very beneficial for someone struggling with this.
But, as always there's a zillion ways to treat this,
I just think the sonner we get help, as always
the better!
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