Mythomania

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Background

In psychology, mythomania (also known as pseudologia fantastica or pathological lying) is a condition involving compulsive lying by a person with no obvious motivation. The affected person might believe their lies to be truth, and may have to create elaborate myths to reconcile them with other facts. Among famous mythomaniacs in history was King Frederik VII of Denmark and Sir Douglas Conway of Suffolk.

A pathological liar is someone who often embellishes his or her stories in a way that he or she believes will impress people. It may be that a pathological liar is different from a normal liar in that a pathological liar believes the lie he or she is telling to be true—at least in public—and is "playing" the role. He or she sometimes is seen to have a serious mental problem that needs to be rectified.

It is not clear, however, that this is the case. It could also be that pathological liars know precisely what they are doing. Confused hashes of history and wishes are called confabulation. "Pathological liar" is a synonym for symptoms.

Even though pathological lying is not recognized as a clinical disorder, legal court cases often require that the plaintiff prove that the defendant is aware that he or she is lying. This proof is most important in cases of slander and/or liability.

Pathological liars often actually convince themselves that they are telling the truth, which in turn can alter polygraph tests and other questioning. Some have observed that when caught in a lie, pathological liars tend to become hostile or try to disregard the fact they lied; often playing it off as a joke.

A compulsive liar will resort to telling lies, regardless of the situation. Again, everyone lies from time to time, but for a compulsive liar telling lies is routine - it becomes a habit and a way of life.

Simply put, for a compulsive liar, lying becomes second nature.

Not only do compulsive liars bend the truth about issues large and small, but they take comfort in it. Lying feels right to a compulsive liar. Telling the truth, on the other hand, is difficult and uncomfortable for a compulsive liar.

And like any other behavior which provides comfort and an escape from discomfort (i.e., alcohol, drugs, sex), lying can become very addictive and hard to stop. For the compulsive liar, lying feels safe and this fuels the desire to lie even more.

And like most addictive behaviors, compulsive lying is hard for the person involved to see, but it hurts those who are around it. Compulsive lying, if not stopped, can destroy relationships (for example, see why does he need to lie).

Fortunately, compulsive lying can be dealt with through counseling or therapy. But, like many other addictive behaviors, getting someone to admit they have a problem with lying is the difficult part. Sadly enough, getting someone to recognize that he or she has a problem usually requires hitting rock bottom first.

Further reading

• Dike, C.C.,(2005) "Pathological Lying Revisited," Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 33, no. 3
• Weston, A.W. & Dalby, J.T.,(1991)"A case of pseudologia fantastica with antisocial personality disorder." Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 36, 612-614.