
End the relationship: If you are unable to cope with the person’s lies, you can end your relationship with them.If they don’t have a lot of insight or willingness to change, you might have to set boundaries with yourself about how much you'll give to that relationship,” says Daramus. Set boundaries: “It's important to set boundaries in your relationship with the person, to protect yourself.Actions don't lie, and over time you'll spot patterns that will help you predict their future behavior,” says Daramus. Pay attention to their actions: As it can be difficult to trust the words of a person who lies pathologically, “one of the most effective things you can do is read the person’s actions.

If you’re upset, let them know that you don’t want to interact with them if they’re not being honest with you.

Make the right noises but act based on the reality you know to be true. Better is simply to make a mental note of their lie. Likewise, if you challenge a compulsive liar, you may damage their world view or self-esteem. Directly confronting someone about their lie could well make matters worse if they become defensive – and especially if this is a person who may also show signs of psychopathy. If you find that a friend or colleague is a compulsive or pathological liar, then the best thing you can do is simply to ignore the behaviour as far as possible. This does not have its own diagnostic criteria and is not associated with conditions such as psychopathy – though it may present alongside other forms of compulsive behavior. The same goes for compulsive lying, which tends to be more nervous and random in nature but is still difficult to identify. At the end of the day though, it is a blurry line and not one that is easy to define. they are not lying because they are being in some way threatened) and will be repeated. Pathological lying tends to involve the individual making themselves look better in some way, will be internally motivated (i.e. That is not to say that they are dangerous – there are many high functioning psychopaths who will never commit crimes. If the person you know is also prone to stepping on the toes of others to get their own way and if they exhibit a lack of empathy, then they may be a psychopath. Pathological lying, also called pseudologia fantastica or mythomania, is both its own standalone psychological disorder and a symptom of many others – psychopathy being one of the prevalent ones. Rather than being annoyed at your friend who keeps telling porkies then, should you in fact be concerned for their mental health? At which point does lying to get your way become pathological? Pathological lying only is considered among real mental disorders and can be found with diagnostic criteria in the DSMV. Certain personality traits where pathological lying may. The question that then follows, is whether the person you know really has either of these conditions. Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and CD (conduct disorder) Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often combined with ODD or CD. In some cases a compulsive liar might be well aware of their lies, whereas in other cases they might have no awareness of them. A compulsive liar might lack impulse control and literally feel unable to tell the truth, or they might lie because they fear the truth and want to make up a more pleasurable narrative. This is someone literally compelled to lie and who might make up stories with no real end goal in mind. Meanwhile, the compulsive liar is someone who lies because they have no control over what they are saying.
