The tendency to say some lie, or to adapt reality in some aspects, belongs to all of us. In some cases, it may also prove to be effective help in overcoming daily difficulties.
However, in many other situations, the tendency to distort reality can take extreme characteristics, up to being structured in real clinically significant paintings.
This is what happens in the case of the so -called pathological liara definition that often contains different characteristics which, however, have in common an attitude tending to the manipulation of reality, which can lead up to a progressive detachment from objectivity.
Pathological lie or mythomania
The first to talk about pathological liar or, more precisely, of mythomania, It was Dr. Ernest Dupré in the early 1900s.
According to the scholar, ithe pathological liar Use lies, usually very credible, to look more interesting in the eyes of others. The main objective is not to cheat others, but rather to deform reality to their own.
For this, i pathological liars they tend to lie compulsively, To show others to have an exciting life, to have lived incredible and adventurous experiences or, in any case, to have a better life than what they have and who, at the same time, make the other jealous.
Definition of myomania
The definition of mythomaniac Historically it is in fact precisely this: to create a fictitious reality, a myth, a story, giving rise to its lies and trying to impose this vision to others too, convincing them of its meritness.
However, if most of us when mind is aware of our lie, for whom suffers from mythomania The border between lie and reality It becomes quite labile: often, these people believe in the invented stories that tell and cannot face reality.
For this, they continue to carry on their lies and never return back on their steps, thus creating a vicious circle, a kind of real dependence on lies that self -birds.
The effect on the others of the recurring lie
The tendency to lie However, it does not create difficulties or damage only al pathological liar, But also to those close to him.
The main victims of this pathology are in fact very often familiar, colleagues and friends.
If it is “discovered”, in fact, the liar is not able to admit to being lying and for this reason it can live a great inner crisis. He will tend to continue to say that his stories are totally real and could react, in the worst case, even aggressively.
Compulsive lie
To try to provide an adequate overview of the topic, it is necessary to distinguish between compulsive lie And pathological lie.
The first is typical of a person who tends to alter reality not to obtain specific benefits, but for an internal tendency in response to certain external stimuli.
This habit, usually learned in childhood and First experiences in your family systemrepresents an automatic and instinctive response for the person.
Its main feature therefore seems to be enclosed in the compulsive nature of the lie, which is implemented in response to a subjective difficulty in facing and telling the perceived reality.
Pathological lie
There pathological lieon the other hand, is the result of a tendentially more aware and manipulative attitude. In fact, while in the first case the person is sensitive to the effects that the lie can exercise on those who surround it, the pathological liar does not affect the consequences of one’s actions.
The pathological lie is therefore lived by people in a egosintonic way, because it has its roots in the person’s personality. It is therefore clear how difficult it is for the pathological liar to perceive this attitude as a problematic or dysfunctional.
The characteristics of the mythomaniac
From a psychological point of view, this tendency can be associated at times such as theself -centeredness and the poor empathycharacteristics that often lead to serious difficulties in interpersonal affective tuner and in general relationships.
At the clinical level, this tendency to lie can emerge frequently in those who present paintings of antisocial, narcissistic, histrionic and borderline personality.
It is important, for the clinician, to be able to make a differential diagnosis compared to psychotic delusions (also often characterized by a distorted vision of reality and above all by Egosintonia): in fact, the tendency is to consider the pathological lie within the category of neuroses and to treat it as a disorder in the adaptation to the surrounding environment and social relationships.
Often this attitude hides a strong intolerance to external criticismswhich hardly opens the possibility of peer comparison, or the construction of a cooperative climate, rather using the lie as a sort of shield that can protect the identity of the subject but that, in fact, prevents him from building mature and genuine emotional relationships.
When the pathological liar comes to ask for psychological help
The greatest discomfort that can bring a pathological liar To request psychological help, it is not represented so much by the questioning of the lie told, which can be skillfully defended even years later, but rather from the risk of self -revolution, or having to get in touch with your identity essence.
This happens because of a Excessive investment in your imageconveyed by the lies which, in fact, is in contrast with the true self.
Although the entire gear can collapse, encouraging the person to request the help of a professional, it happens much more often that the desire to start a psychotherapy starts from the people surrounding the pathological liar and from their will to overcome the devastating Long -term relational effects.
The conditions for a therapeutic work
It is always necessary to keep in mind that, to start an effective psychological path, the person must be able to recognize his problem. Self -awareness in these cases can be threatened by tendency repeated over time to deny reality And the presence of a problem. As well as from the attempt to defend one’s identity nucleus, an element that hardly leads the individual to request help and which strongly limits the establishment of a good therapeutic alliance.
In addition, in some cases, the individual can reach the clinician due to the side effects derived from the lies produced, thus fueling a request for help primarily limited to the resolution of specific problems caused in circumscribed areas and of personal interest such as, for example, the working ones.
It is therefore always a good practice to contact professionals appropriately prepared on the subject, capable of recognizing the problem and its origins, as well as its function and establishing a good and healthy therapeutic relationship, without which there is only a risk of strengthening what are the already very rigid operating dynamics of the pathological liar.
Bibliography
- Vazire, S. & Gosling, SD (2004). E-special: Personality Impression Based on Personal Websites. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 123-132.
- Vazire, S., Naumann, LP, Rentfrow, PJ, & Gosling, SD (2008). Portrait of a Narcissist: Manifestations of Narcissism in Physical Appearance. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1439-1447.
