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Saturday, September 15, 2012

The Compulsive Lying Personality

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Compulsive lying personality isn't considered a true personality disorder. Being able to lie easily and often may be a symptom of a recognized personality disorder, such as Narcissistic Personality Disorder or Borderline Personality Disorder. People with Bipolar Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may also have issues with compulsive lying.


A personality disorder is a chronic psychological condition. The personality disorder may be either mild, moderate or severe. Signs of a personality disorder include:
  • Self-esteem issues
  • Difficulty in successfully maintaining interpersonal relationships
  • Skewed thinking about how they perceive themselves and others
  • Impulse control issues

Compulsive Lying: Personality Disorders

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

A person with Narcissistic Personality Disorder may also demonstrate the traits of a compulsive liar. For this individual, everything is about them. They have a highly-elevated sense of their own importance and need to receive frequent confirmation about how special they are from the people around them. Compulsive lying comes into play with the Narcissistic Personality Disorder when the individual exaggerates his/her experiences and/or achievements to demonstrate to others how superior he or she is. This kind of people are capable of exploiting other people to get their needs met, and lying may be a part of this behavior as well. Narcissists have a distinctive lack of empathy, and they fail to appreciate that their lies and actions may be hurtful to others.

Borderline Personality Disorder

The Borderline Personality Disorder is characterized by unstable personal relationships. People with this condition go back and forth between idolizing the people they are involved with and devaluing them. Since their goal is to avoid being abandoned by the people who they have latched onto, the individual with Borderline Personality Disorder may use lies as a means to keep friends and loved ones close. This type of person demonstrates impulsivity in at least two of the following areas:
  • Binge eating
  • Reckless driving
  • Sexual activity
  • Spending
  • Substance abuse
They have difficulty with sustaining their self image. Part of this personality disorder includes a constant feeling of emptiness that the person tries to fill by clinging onto other people.

Bipolar Disorder and Compulsive Lying

During the manic phase of bipolar disorder, the person feels elated. He/she has a heightened sense of self-worth and may begin talking rapidly as the mind races from one idea to the next. Compulsive lying plays a part in the disorder, since the person feels as if he or she can do or say anything when in that state.
When the individual is in the depressive phase of this illness, he or she may feel worthless and lack self-esteem. Lying may become part of trying to appear normal or discount how low the individual has sunk into the depressive state.

Compulsive Lying and ADHD

A person who has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder may begin lying because he/she has trouble with controlling impulses. The pattern may begin in childhood when the children steal because they see something they want and simply take it. When they are confronted by an adult about their behavior, they lie to avoid being punished or to minimize the punishment that will be meted out.
The child with ADHD who is lying may be doing so to make him or herself appear more attractive to others. Being unable to admit to having made a mistake may be part of the reason for a pattern of compulsive lying in children.


While there is no specific compulsive lying personality, people who live with personality disorders may demonstrate these symptoms. The pattern of compulsive lying may begin in childhood as a coping technique and continue into adulthood as a habit that is difficult to break.

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