Pathological Lying: Case Studies
(These case studies were sent to by Osric University by Internet users and by no means reflect the research of Osric University scholars.)
Desc. of two pathological liars:
I have run across two people in my life so far that
I classify as truly pathological liars. The way I
distinguish them from "normal" liars is that they lie
all the time--as if it was the normal way of
communicating--and without any reason to. It's as if
they just cannot tell the truth--as if they are
driven by some strong inner force to keep on making up
stories in order to fool other people or create their
own version of reality that they can deal with.
An example of this is the first pathological liar I ever
knew. I'll call her "Nancy" (not her real name).
There is a very long personal story involved with her,
but I'll try to keep it as brief as possible.
Basically, she lied about everything in life. One
instance of this is that she told me a story about
someone that I knew but was not very close to. She
made up this huge story about how this man's ex-wife
was going to take their daughter away (the child of
the man and his ex) because the ex-wife been informed
that her rich relative in Virginia had died and now
she was inheriting a ton of wealth and power.
First of all, I found out later that none of this was even
close to the truth--not only was there no family in
Virginia, but the ex-wife didn't even have any plans
to try and get custody of the child!
Secondly, there was absolutely NO REASON for "Nancy" to tell me this
story: I was not close to this man that she knew, I'd
never met the ex-wife, I didn't really know the child
in question. I had absolutely no personal involvement
with these people other than that she knew them, and
yet she still told me this fantastic lie. I was so
baffled. What was the point of that?
Another thing that I think seperates pathological
liars from people who are lying for a reason is that
pathological liars BELIEVE their own lies. It's as if
they feel they can change reality with their thoughts.
As if by making up lies, they actually do change the
real events and people they are lying about. I
witnessed this in both "Nancy" and "John" (not his
real name) John being the second pathological liar I
have come across. John provides a great example of
this!
About a year ago, when I was still friends with
John, I confided a secret in him. At that time, I did
not realize the depth of his mental problems, and when
he said my secret was safe with him, I believed him.
However, months down the road, I had the secret come
back to me from another friend--only this friend
told me a fantastic twisted version of my own secret!
Now, if this had happened through the grapevine, I
could understand. But no, my friend had gotten my
secret (or rather, John's weird version of my secret)
straight from John himself.
When John and I had a confrontation about this betrayal
of my trust, he proceeded to tell ME the version HE'D made
up as if it was the truth, as if it was exactly what I'd
confided in him! When I was shocked and replied that what he
was telling me was not what I'd told him, that he'd
obviously heard wrong or had embelleshed things in his
own head, he became very confused, as if he just
couldn't comprehend what I was saying to him.
Needless to say, I do not have anything to do with him anymore.
Both "Nancy" and "John" have hurt people many times
over with their lying and deceitful ways. I really
hope that soon, there will be more research on this
topic and more help can be found for people like this.
Updated 10-14-2002. Problems? Contact chris
OSRIC UNIVERSITY'S MAIN LINKS: HOME | ABOUT US | APPLY | DEPARTMENTS
@osric.com