What Is A Pathological Liar?
Those who have suffered significant childhood trauma are more likely to become pathological liars / compulsive liars in adulthood than those who were lucky enough to experience a relatively stable upbringing (all else being equal).
A pathological liar is an individual who:
– does not give proper thought to the consequences of his/her lying
– lies spontaneously/impulsively
– lies even though he may receive no benefit whatsoever from the lie (indeed, many lies s/he tells will be self-damaging)
– has little or no control over his/her lying behaviour
Roots Of Pathological Lying In Childhood:
Research has demonstrated that an individual is more likely to become a pathological liar in adulthood if that individual:
– grew up in a dysfunctional family
– suffered abuse as a child
– grew up in a family in which there was substance abuse
– lived in constant fear as a child and lying developed as a form of self-protection (e.g .to avoid severe punishment)
– grew up in a household in which dishonesty was common-place (eg hypocrisy, false promises, parents lying to child, family secrets)
The Link Between Pathological Lying And Personality
Disorders:
We have seen in other articles on this site that several personality disorders are more likely to develop in adulthood if we have experienced significant childhood trauma. These include:
Sociopathic personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder. Individuals suffering from such personality disorders stand a greater chance than average developing pathological lying behaviour.
Other Factors That May Contribute To The Development
Of Pathological Lying Behavior:
These include: neuropsychological problems and impulse control disorders such as kleptomania and pathological gambling.
Reasons To Lie:
Although pathological liars often lie for no rational or discernible reason (indeed, this is one of the most often cited definitions of pathological liars) research suggests that, when they do have reason, these reasons include the following:
– to gain admiration eg they may claim they were a bomb disposal expert in the army and saved dozens of lives, whereas, in reality, they were the cook, expert only on beans on toast
– to manipulate and control others : sociopathic pathological liar are particularly likely to lie for this reason
– due to low self-esteem eg by vastly exaggerating their qualities and achievements whilst denying or minimising their faults and failures
– they may lie to facilitate use of the has gaslighting technique
– to disguise failure e.g .claiming to have a first class degree from Oxford University when, in reality, failing to get into any university whatsoever
– to avoid punishment
– to disguise lack of knowledge (eg claiming to have read Complete Works Of Shakespeare and written a dissertation based on these, when, in reality, has only read Act One, Scene One of Hamlet, failing to make any sense of it)
– to avoid embarrassment
– to entertain others and gain popularity (eg telling people stories about being a lion- tamer when really an insurance salesman)
– one leading theory suggests that the main, underlying cause of pathological lying is to try to avoid feelings of shame
NB Many people tell white lies connected to the type of lies above, but the pathogical liar is differentiated from such people by his/her compulsion to lie, together with the extent and frequency of these lies; also, the pathological liar cannot control his/her lying behaviour
Signs Of Lying:
Signs of dishonesty may be hard to detect in practised, pathological liars as they do not experience lying to be very stressful (indeed, they may well enjoy it). However, non-pathological liars do find lying stressful and are therefore more apt to show the following signs:
Psychological research has shown the following to be signs that a person is lying:
– false smiling
– slowed rate of speech (as having to think carefully about what s/he says)
– heightened pitch of voice
– more pauses than usual (punctured by erms, ahs etc)
– a mismatch between what is said and the person’s body language
– less head movement than usual
– incongruity between what is said and tone of voice
– unconscious slight shake of head (expressing ‘no’) whilst telling lie
– less eye contact than usual
– clearing of throat
– frequent glances to room exit (unconsciously motivated by wish to avoid stressful situation)
– feet pointing towards room exit (see explanation above)
– leaning back from person s/he is lying to (again, unconsciously motivated by wish to distance self from stressful situation)
– less blinking than normal {infrequent blinking is a sign of deep concentration and such concentration is needed to avoid contradicting self)
– frequent swallowing
– less use of terms referring to self, such as me, my, mine, I, in order to try to distance self from the lie (again, unconsciously motivated)
Lying, Intelligence and Creativity:
Good liars, on average, tend to have higher intelligence and creative ability than people not adept at lying. Indeed, children who learn to lie very early in life tend to be of higher than average intelligence, research suggests.
Implications For Polygraph Tests:
Polygraph (lie detector) tests do not directly measure lying but the stress presumed to be caused by lying (eg elevated pulse rate, sweating etc). This means someone who is telling the truth but is very nervous may fail a lie detector test, whereas, on the other hand, a skilled and practised pathological liar who does not find lying stressful may pass the test even though s/he is lying.
Treatment And Therapies:
If there is an underlying disorder, such as personality disorder (see above) or substance misuse/adduction then this usually needs to be addressed first. If the treatment is successful, the pathological lying behaviour may disappear.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) may be helpful, as may medications such as anti-depressants and anti- psychotics. N.B. Disclaimer : Always consult a relevantly qualified and experienced professional when considering taking psychiatric medication.
Resources:
How To Stop Compulsive Lying Download : click here.
David Hosier BSc Hons; MSc; PGDE(FAHE).