Is compulsive lying linked with any recognised mental disorders?
Possibilties in which lying is specifically indicated: Narcissistic Personality Disorder Antisocial Personality Disorder or Munchausen Syndrome Your working theory seems closes to Borderline Personality Disorder; BPD sufferers can often have a history of abuse, and have huge problems with self-image and relating to others.
There’s an article by Owen Edwards titled “Thrice-Told Tales” that unfortunately is in the pay-to-see archive of the New York Times, but it’s been anthologized some. Edwards maintains that the kind of lying you’re talking about, which he terms “counterfeit self-improvement” is largely practiced by men and that it isn’t purposeful or pathological, just a common, natural outgrowth of results not matching up to expectations. He thinks most of these lies are actually exaggerations and often end up being the version the teller genuinely believes. For instance, Edwards once took a writing class on a college campus where William Faulkner taught (I’m not sure if he was teaching there that semester.) As he told the tale over the years, somehow it evolved into him saying that he took a class taught by Faulkner. I’m not sure I buy Edwards’ analysis, but his discussion is an interesting read if you ever come across it.
I work with a guy who’s a compulsive liar. He’s a great guy, really interesting, in spite of the lies. I’ve found that the lies tend to be things that exaggerate his importance. Even though he works two jobs, he tells us that he’s actually a multi-millionaire, and that he just works because he loves the job. (Of course, ask him 10 minutes later and he’ll admit that he hates both of this jobs.) He’s also held top-secret clearances, been in charge of enormous organizations, and suffered completely improbable injuries. (Such as having several of his fingers severed off at work, at a job I’m pretty certain he never held; he duct-taped them back on and it wasn’t until he went home that evening that his wife insisted he get medical treatment.) Sometimes, though, I’ll realize that he’s lying about even the most mundane details about his life, such as when he talked about his ‘new computer,’ which apparently ran Vista long before it was available and has a 956 kHz processor. He’s also contradi
