How to recognize pathological lies and identify their causes: 5 ways

What is mitomania

Mitomania is a mental illness also known as pseudology, pathological lying and Delbrück's syndrome. This is a pathological tendency to lie, presenting imaginary stories in which the teller is often shown in a very favorable light, and the truth is also hidden.

The patient cannot separate real life from the vision they have created. The goal of the mythomaniac is to imagine his life happy, without problems and worries.

Who is this Mitomaniac? Pathological lies are the prerogative of people with unstable psyches and changeable moods. In general, mitomaniacs do not want to offend anyone with their lies, but they draw attention to themselves or compensate for some shortcomings. Pathological liars are people with many complexes. By telling false stories, they want to be the center of attention. The exception is mythomaniacs who make false accusations driven by a desire for revenge and jealousy. The lie, in this case, is intended to hurt and humiliate the other person.

Is this phenomenon considered a mental disorder?

The tendency to tell lies can be both a personal characteristic and a sign of illness. Pathological lying in psychiatry is indicated as a manifestation of schizophrenic disorder. Patients with a similar diagnosis are haunted by visions and delusions. As a result, they present fictitious information as truth.

Sometimes a person behaves too emotionally. Such individuals show feelings very violently: they cry loudly, laugh. These are patients with hysterical neurosis. They are also characterized by the desire to constantly lie in order to attract the attention of loved ones and acquaintances. Pathological lying is combined with the diagnosis of hypochondria. Such individuals regularly visit doctors, trying to convince them that they are sick, and they themselves believe it. However, tests indicate no health problems. Others evaluate the complaints of an anxious hypochondriac as deception.

The desire to constantly lie is characteristic of individuals who cannot adapt to society. They often commit illegal actions: they steal, they cheat.

Mitomania - causes

The causes of mitomania are varied. A tendency to it is shown mainly by people who have suffered organic brain diseases, such as meningitis, which can lead to personality changes, after a head injury or brain hypoxia due to loss of consciousness.

Pseudology - as a personality disorder - is inherent in individuals with innate psychopathic properties . People with hysterical character traits often suffer from it. Then mitomania is a way to attract attention to oneself or to give oneself meaning. Pathological liars often have low self-confidence, low self-esteem, and a poor opinion of themselves. They try to establish themselves in the eyes of others through intriguing stories.

The causes of mitomania can be a traumatic childhood and mental trauma. The disease can occur when experiencing a severe accident and in people who have experienced an immediate threat to life. A tendency to pathological lies is often shown by orphans and people who have had a difficult childhood behind them, such as children of alcoholics. Pathological liars can hide from difficult situations in the depths of their consciousness and try to create their own, safe reality.

Mitomania is transient. This is especially noticeable in the case of young children who strive to immerse themselves in the world of fairy tales and experience amazing adventures. However, this behavior is explained by the natural process of growing up.

People suffering from Delbrück's syndrome are often emotionally unstable. They often struggle with anxiety and neurosis. Sometimes mitomania goes hand in hand with ADHD. Continuous telling of false stories becomes the basis for the development of mental dependence.

Who is characterized by a pathological desire to lie?

This unpleasant trait is observed in both children and adults. In children's behavior, deception is an attempt to escape reality or a way to keep some misdeeds or events secret. Writing at this age can cause different reactions in others - from laughter to reproach.

However, pathological lying in adults becomes a real problem. Individuals who fail to achieve important goals or implement any plans tend to distort information. After all, this is how you can convince others that they are significant, successful, and influential. But when the deception is finally revealed, the liar faces condemnation.

How to recognize a pathological liar?

Typical symptoms of mitomania include:

selfishness
high intelligence
Great interpersonal communication skills, rich vocabulary
sociability
average memory level and tendency to make mistakes
penchant for fiction or fabulous memories of the narrator as a hero

A pathological liar can be recognized when a person:

“knows everything best”, as he has extensive knowledge in various fields
she has been everywhere and seen everything, but cannot prove it
presents the most interesting stories
sometimes tells several versions of the same story
quickly establishes new contacts, has a rich social life
claims that he was in a very similar situation, only his story is much more interesting and evokes greater emotions
claims that everything is bad in his life, and everyone is conspiring against him

Obvious evidence - a way to “treat” a person who lies

Once you have discovered that someone you know is lying regularly, you have several options for how to proceed.

The first is to distance yourself from this person and maintain your distance. But this, alas, is not always possible. Often we have no choice if this person is our colleague, partner or boss.

In any case, you must make a firm decision to confront the liar.

After all, the best way to “cure” a person who lies is to provide him with worthy resistance and “bring him to clean water.”

To do this, you will need to collect conclusive evidence. This may seem a little exaggerated to you, but you must take into account every lie, even the smallest one.

When enough evidence has been collected, you can proceed to the next step.

The child is a pathological liar, what to do. Practical recommendations for combating children's lies

It is always better to prevent a problem than to solve its consequences.
What can be done? Be an example for your children - honesty adorns a person. Watch cartoons with your child, read fairy tales, tell stories about how important it is to tell the truth. Provide clear examples that lying is bad. Teach your child to tactfully remain silent if there is no way to do otherwise. Not to lie, but to remain silent - your offspring should understand the difference. If children's deception is a fait accompli, then there are basic practical recommendations from a psychologist on how to wean a child from telling lies:

Pay attention to yourself. All great things begin with working on yourself. Think about why your offspring is lying? Maybe he takes an example from his parents? If you allow yourself to tell lies in front of your children, they feel it well. And if you are allowed to do this, then why are they prohibited? Perhaps in such a situation it is better to contact a qualified psychologist; first of all, parents need help.
Analyze your approach to raising your offspring. Think about whether your requirements for it are too high? Perhaps the methodology needs to be changed.
How much control do you have over your offspring? Are you not suffocating him with tutelage, lectures and moralizing? In this situation, you can do one thing - provide freedom, at least a little.
Allow your child to be himself and show all his emotions openly. Then he will understand that he is loved by you in any mood, which means he will not try to meet your expectations through deception.
If the reason for lying is fear, boasting, experimentation, or attention-seeking, then the problem can be solved through conversation. During a confidential conversation, you need to make it clear to the child that deception is a heavy burden for the conscience. After your offspring admits to lying, explain why it is wrong. Invite him to correct what he has done himself, let him think about how this can be done. Convey to your child that you need to correct your mistakes, and not try to hide from them.
Why is it difficult to explain to a child the harm of lying? Maybe you are being lenient towards him? When talking with your offspring, be on the same level with him: physically and emotionally. Try to become his friend and look at him not from your height, but “eye to eye.”
Strive to establish contact with your child. Even if he promises to always tell you the truth, he still continues to lie. Talk about your love for him, show it. Explain that you are upset because of his lies, but this does not affect your love for him. Just remember that shouting and scandals in this case are taboo.
Teach your child that dealing with the consequences of your actions is better than lying. Broke a vase? Tell us about it, and together we will remove the fragments.
Spend more time with your offspring, communicate with him, take an interest in his affairs, talk about yours. Praise him often, even for minor successes. Children even prefer to be punished rather than ignored.
Try to offer your offspring a solution to the problem that is causing him to lie. You need to do everything you can to show him your support; he should share his fears, hopes, problems and successes with you.
Give your offspring the right to choose, which will shape his responsibility. For example, let him not go to school because he doesn't want to. Not every time he doesn’t want to, but for preventative purposes. And he won't have to make up a story about a stomach ache.

What to do if a teenager constantly lies. What should parents do if their teenager lies out of fear?

Sadly, the most common reason for lying is fear of punishment.

Few teenagers willingly admit their guilt and are not afraid to take full responsibility for their offense. And if there is an opportunity to escape punishment, then why not take advantage of it?

Parents, if your child deceived you, it is very important:

Do not shout! The most important thing is that you don’t have to immediately shout, promise to punish, and so on! It will only get worse!
Show that being honest is better. We need to make it clear that not lying is “more profitable” and safer than lying! Ask yourself - are you punishing your children too much? Is their punishment always deserved? If the reason for lying is fear of punishment, then the child will gradually stop lying when he realizes that there is no danger. I talked a lot about punishment in an article on punishing teenagers.

To help a teenager stop lying out of fear, you can do this:

Make sure of deception - if “guilt” has not yet been proven, then it must first be proven. You can ask directly: “It seems to me that you are not telling the truth, is that true?” Or find out by “indirect” signs in a conversation. It's more complicated, and to me it's not very fair.
Promise not to punish - if the lie is obvious and exposed, then first promise not to punish him. Just ask to talk.
Find out the reason - discuss the situation inside and out, find out about the reasons for his behavior. There will most likely be a problem here. It is unlikely that a teenager will confess and speak frankly so easily.
Show consequences - explain what happened because of his lie. Tell us your opinion - how it really happened, and ask to correct the story so that it is true.
Talk about your feelings - that you are offended, that he lied, that you were scared. Only honestly. Your emotions are important, we don't want to upset you. Tell him that it is important to you that he tells the truth.
Discuss the situation - here I’m not talking about the reasons for lying, you’ve already forgiven the child :). The question is why we had to cheat. If, for example, we are talking about a hidden two, check whether the child understands everything in the last lessons. If necessary, help me understand the topic. If everything is clear, you can find out about the relationship with the teacher, or other reasons for the bad grade.