Liar Liar Burn In Fire

How often have we told ourselves we hate lies? Yet, we do resort to speaking some amount of lies for various reasons. We lie when it is convenient for us and it is considered that 'white lies' are basically harmless if spoken with the right intention. The reasons for why a person lies could be many - it could be to cover up for something or even to get out of a situation. However, the problem starts when one becomes habituated to it. Lies being told for no rhyme or reason can damage your life to a great extent - professionally and personally as well. This fact is what am dealing with at the very moment. Imagine a person lying to make his/her way through without giving it a thought as to how his/her lying would affect other people around them. That's exactly what a person like me, a pathological liar does. 

Lying is the act of making a false statement. Most people do so out of fear.  Pseudologia fantastica, mythomania, or pathological lying are three of several terms applied by psychiatrists to the behavior of habitual or compulsive lying. It was first described in the medical literature in 1891 by Anton Delbrueck. Although it is a controversial topic, pathological lying has been defined as "falsification entirely disproportionate to any discernible end in view, may be extensive and very complicated, and may manifest over a period of years or even a lifetime. Excessive lying is a common symptom of several mental illnesses. For instance people who suffer from antisocial personality disorder use lying to benefit from others. Some individuals with borderline personality disorder lie for attention by claiming they’ve been treated poorly. Pathological lying, on the other hand, can be described as an addiction to lying. It is when an individual consistently lies for no personal gain. The lies are commonly transparent and often seem rather pointless. Pathological lying is considered a mental illness, because it takes over rational judgement and progresses into the fantasy world and back.

By this point, you guys might be confused and like, 'What the heck are you talking about?' Alright, let me clarify what am I talking about here. Over this past two months I've been dating a great guy but screwed him up badly with my habitual lies. Yup, am that kind of girl that everyone hated so much and wished never deal with whatsoever. I don't know when this thing started but all that I know was I constantly lying to others but I never meant to hurt them deliberately. I mean, of course, I knew for sure when I lie it might caused someone to get hurt but I can not help myself. Am an addict and my addiction is to lie.

I know, you guys would probably like, 'WTF? Did she just admit it that she has a mental illness?' Yeah, it was not easy for me to just say this out loud, but I know it's time for me to come clean and out of the closet where I've been hiding in for so very long time now. In my case, am pretty sure that am a Pseudologia Fantastica that came from my Pathological Lying, where I was so used to lie so it's taking over my life henceforth I couldn't see which one was a true and which one was not anymore. In some point, I don't even remember what I just told people like five seconds ago. Am not a shrink but thanks God for the internet because I can get so many information from it. So yeah, am analyzing myself in my own words.

There are many consequences of being a pathological liar. Due to lack of trust, most pathological liar's relationships and friendships fail. If the disease continues to progress, lying could become so severe as to cause legal problems, including but not limited to fraud. Psychotherapy appears to be one of the only methods to treat a person suffering from pathological lying. There has been no research done regarding the use of pharmaceutical medication to treat pathological liars. Some research suggests that certain people may have a “predisposition to lying”. Pathological lying is a complex phenomenon, differing from other mental illnesses. It has many life-changing consequences for those that have to live with the illness. Currently, there is not enough research in the area of pathological lying to guarantee a cure.

Okay, you guys might think that am crazy to this point by admitting that am having a mental illness, but NO, guys...am not crazy. In fact, in most of the case in the world, people who suffer from this disorder are mostly smart or even genius. Not that am telling you that am a genius, but just so you know that mental illness or disorder is more like a tame psychological problem that harm mostly no one physically. Pathological liars - or "mythomaniacs" - may be suffering from histrionic personality disorder or narcissistic personality disorder. As for my case, I have found that pathological liars like myself cannot tell that they are lying; they actually believe the lie as soon as it comes out of their mouth. We lie about unimportant things that don't really matter to anyone. This can be caused by mental defect but isn't always. Many people said that pathological liars, because they have lied so much that they have lost all conscientious pangs and are callus to doing wrong of this sort.Well, that's not always true. I am a pathological liar. Therefore I am the best person to tell you about pathological liars. Right, pathological liars lie because they find it too uncomfortable to tell the truth, much like how an honest person finds it hard to lie. However, we lie about the most mundane thing sometimes. I even make up stories to win an argument. Also, most people will tell you that we lose track of our lies. For me that is not true, I have an excellent memory capacity and therefore can remember nearly every important lie I've told. I was just having a trouble on separate them from the reality. Furthermore we have not lost all conscientious pangs and we are usually not callus. This person whoever said that was obviously thinking of a sociopath which is completely different to a pathological liar. We don't lie to advance our own goals unlike sociopaths, we lie because it feels comfortable for us. So it's more like a compulsive lie - it is defined as someone who lies out of habit.  Lying is their normal and reflexive way of responding to questions.  Compulsive liars bend the truth about everything, large and small.  For a compulsive liar, telling the truth is very awkward and uncomfortable while lying feels right.  Compulsive lying is usually thought to develop in early childhood, due to being placed in an environment where lying was necessary.  For the most part, compulsive liars are not overly manipulative and cunning (unlike sociopaths), rather they simply lie out of habit - an automatic response which is hard to break and one that takes its toll on a relationship.

"The truth that survives is simply the lie that is pleasantest to believe." the quote from H. L. Mencken was pretty much told everything I was talking about pathological liars above. True, few people always want to know the truth or seek it out. But in fact, many people actively deny the truth until they are forced to deal with it. We rarely see the world as it really is. Our perception of the world is biased, our memories betray us, and our true motives can remain hidden. For better or worse, we constantly convince ourselves of things that are not true. We kid ourselves about the most basic things in life: Who we are and what is going on around us.

Oh NO, am not trying to justify what I've done wrong in my past here, never. As a matter of fact, this blog I write because of my exhaustion of lying towards everything in my life. I knew I hurt so many people I loved and loved me and I knew by this point that I do need help. A professional help, it is. Don't you guys ever think that we the pathological liars are actually enjoying our bad habit, NOT at all. But the thing is, we are not that strong enough to have control on ourselves. Pathological liars have no remorse when lying. We do not think that it is bad to lie. We do not worry about the consequences either. We simply lie and go on with life as if nothing is wrong.

A pathological liar must be handled carefully if you wish to help the person change this habit. We would need to be reminded gently about their behavior by pointing out their little bits of lies. Do not blame us for the lies, as many times, we are not even aware about what is being said by us. It might need to use professional help to tackle extreme cases like mine now. I know how difficult this could be for you normal people out there to digest. I mean, last night I was with a guy whom I hang out with for a couple of months now and he was so hurtful when he found out about my lies to him hence he was so furious. But when he asked me for an explanation, I couldn't give him any. All that I could say was that I don't know why and no, I can not control it. I can see the disbelieve expression on his face and the frustration that he got from that answer. Trust me, I do realize that. I wished I had a better explanation, but in fact, I didn't. So, somebody shoot me!

^_^

Sources : Wikipedia, https://wiki.answer.com