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Can Compulsive or Pathological Liars Change? In Ekman’s experience, most liars who are compulsive or pathological don’t want to change enough to enter treatment. Usually they only do so when directed by court order, after they’ve gotten into trouble, he says.
Compulsive lying is usually thought to develop in early childhood, due to being placed in an environment where lying was necessary and routine. A lot of them find it easy to avoid confrontations with truth, hence they stick to lying. Compulsive liars may or may not experience a mental disorder.
Pathological lying, also known as mythomania and pseudologia fantastica, is a mental disorder in which the person habitually or compulsively lies.
It follows that narcissists may overestimate their lie-telling ability and report frequent lying merely because they tend to self-enhance desirable abilities. Specifically, narcissists’ self-assessments of their lying abilities and self-reports of lying may not be valid indicators of their actual lying behavior.
Liars smile, nod, lean forward and make eye contact while listening — characteristics that are often associated with honest and friendly people. Don’t be fooled by this; their charm is just a cover. “Ums” and “uhs” are dead giveaways of a lie, so frequent liars have learned how to think fast.
When you live with a mental illness like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), telling little lies may be a reality of your life just to make it through. Maybe you say, “I have a headache,” instead of telling people you’re experiencing an intense flashback.
Pathological lying is a symptom of various personality disorders, including antisocial, narcissistic, and histrionic personality disorders. Other conditions, such as borderline personality disorder, may also lead to frequent lies, but the lies themselves are not considered pathological.
Passages in the Bible deal with God’s concern about lying as found in Proverbs 12:22 — “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy” — and in Proverbs 25:1: “Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow …
Can you lie to someone you love? Everyone tells lies during their lifetime, so it is definitely possible to lie to someone you love. However, when most people tell a lie, they’ll normally feel guilty about it after. This is especially true when it’s a person they love.
Liars tend to increase the duration of their pauses and they do tend to increase latency (speak more slowly). Also, contrary to common belief, liars do not necessarily look nervous. Some skilled liars can even appear to be very calm and collected. Sociopaths may also not appear anxious.
In the eyes of a narcissist, they dont. However, when it is to their advantage, a narcissist can demonstrate limited amounts of remorse, empathy or forgiveness. Here is what that looks like: Remorse.
“Research has linked telling lies to an increased risk of cancer, increased risk of obesity, anxiety, depression, addiction, gambling, poor work satisfaction, and poor relationships,” says Deirdre Lee Fitzgerald, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic.
There is a type of extreme lying that does indeed appear to have a strong genetic component. Officially known as “pseudologia fantastica,” this condition is characterized by a chronic tendency to spin out outrageous lies, even when no clear benefit to the lying is apparent.
“If someone you are dating or involved in a long-term relationship with has betrayed you in a way that you cannot get past — cheating, lying, addiction — then it is time to end the relationship for your own emotional health,” executive editor and founder of Cupid’s Pulse Lori Bizzoco, tells Bustle.
The reasons we have for lying are of no surprise, and they range from innocent to sinister: We don’t want to hurt the people we care about, we want to control the perception other people have of us, we want to maintain or raise our status, we lie to protect our own selfish interests, and we want to control others.
Lying quickly erodes that trust, hurting both parties in the process. … But lies do hurt. By telling a loved one a lie, they will feel betrayed by you and it is this feeling of betrayal that can lead to a breakdown in communication, making them feel even more vulnerable than they already are!
While psychopathic individuals are often portrayed as naturally born liars, there is only weak and inconsistent empirical evidence that psychopathic individuals would lie frequently, easily, and compulsively.