Compulsive Liar Test: Identifying The Signs Of Pathological Lying

Lying is something most people have done at one time or another. Children often begin lying almost as soon as they can talk, pointing the finger of blame at someone else or answering "no" to a question that should be given a "yes." To some degree, lying is accepted as a necessary part of engaging in social niceties; you often swerve the truth a little bit to avoid hurting people's feelings or to get out of a commitment you do not want to make. But what separates these types of lying from compulsive lying or pathological lying? Keep reading to find out more about compulsive lying and what can be done to seek help.

Understanding pathological lying: How do pathological liars behave?

While lying is a common enough behavior, compulsive (or pathological) lying is characterized by a literal compulsion to lie. Most people lie for a purpose; you might lie to get out of trouble, to perform social niceties, to encourage someone who is feeling down, or to get that job you've been after for months. 

By contrast, compulsive lying is characterized by lying without reason. Compulsive lies are often strange, absurd, or completely unnecessary and can seem almost too outlandish to be untrue.

Compulsive lying may be, to some degree, outside of the control of the person lying. Many compulsions within mental disorders lie in a gray area of being under control and out of control. When it is compulsive, lying is almost an automatic response. It is rarely planned out or considered beforehand. Initially, the lies of a compulsive liar might not be noticed or called out. However, most compulsive liars, or even a constant liar, do eventually develop reputations for their behavior and are often not considered trustworthy or reliable.

Many prominent figures have been accused of compulsive lying, including many a politician. Compulsive lying can be easily recognized because it often provokes disbelief and confusion, as the lies are often easy to identify as such and seem outlandish, unnecessary, and even foolish. Compulsive lying was demonstrated by the journalist Stephen Glass, who fabricated the vast majority of his career-making stories and was removed from his position as a journalist. Compulsive lying is not unheard of, new, or even necessarily unusual, but it is often an indication of a more serious condition.

Antisocial personality disorder, substance use, etc.: Potential causes of compulsive lying

Compulsive lying may be part and parcel of any number of mental health conditions, including antisocial personality disorder (APD or ASPD), narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), borderline personality disorder (BPD), and addictive disorders such as alcohol dependence. Anxiety and attention disorders can also lead to a compulsion to lie, although APD, NPD, and BPD are the most common disorders featuring this symptom.

What is it about these disorders that lead to lying? In most of these conditions, identity is something of an issue. Whether that stems from an unstable home life, ill-formed attachments in infancy and childhood, neglect, trauma, or genetics is unknown. Each of these disorders also has the component of struggling to create, maintain, or recognize a definitive personality or identity.

Thus, it could be hypothesized that compulsive lying is perhaps linked to insecurity and feelings of inadequacy. What might seem like pointless lies could be lies intended to gain attention, admiration, material things, or even the emotional triumph of having gotten away with yet another falsehood. Healthy minds do not resort to lying to function daily, so someone who struggles with compulsive lying is likely to be experiencing poor mental health.

Treatment for the underlying mental health challenges 

Treating compulsive lying can be tricky, as it is not recognized as an official diagnosis by any governing body within psychology. Typically, compulsive lying is seen as a symptom of another condition and is treated indirectly. The most common method of treatment for related conditions is talk therapy, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This form of talk therapy works to eradicate false assumptions and unhealthy patterns of thinking, improve the way you look at yourself and the world around you, and help you feel better equipped to handle life's challenges.

Compulsive lying is most effectively treated by identifying its underlying cause. If anxiety is behind the compulsion to lie, treating the anxiety may help resolve the compulsion to be dishonest. If the compulsion stems from NPD, treating the NPD will often take care of the lying. If ADHD is the driving force behind compulsive lying, developing tools to manage the ADHD symptoms can help curb the compulsion.

While it might be frustrating and overwhelming to discover that there is no single treatment available for compulsive lying, you may take comfort in knowing that compulsive lying is a symptom of a greater issue and is not the most important part of one's mental health or personality. Instead, it signals the need for intervention and assistance, which can usually be provided by a mental health professional, including the therapists working through online platforms such as Regain. Online therapy with Regain is both affordable and convenient. You (or you and a partner) can be matched with a licensed therapist trained to help with your situation. 

Research has proven that online CBT can be just as effective as CBT done in person. An online platform can, for many users, be more comfortable than an office—since therapy can be done from home. In addition, in many areas, it may be difficult to find just the right therapist. An online platform can offer many therapists to choose from.

Is there a compulsive liar test? How to identify the signs of pathological lying

There is no single, definitive test that can assess if you or a loved one is a compulsive liar. Identifying a compulsive liar can be difficult, as many compulsive liars do not believe that they can be categorized as such. The ones that do might, naturally, lie about it. A single test, then, is not broad or far-reaching enough to accurately determine the presence of compulsive lying.

What can be done, however, is an assessment with a mental health professional where they look for signs of pathological or compulsive lying. Through a series of questions and close observation, a therapist might be able to determine if you or a loved one is a compulsive liar. Even this can be difficult, though; long-standing, practiced liars are likely to be convincing even to someone trained in recognizing and diagnosing mental health conditions. In addition, a single session might not be long or substantial enough to warrant an identification of compulsive lying.

Although there are tests to determine if someone is lying, these are not usually performed liberally. The most famous lying test is the polygraph test, which measures your body's response to your speech and can demonstrate a marked increase in your heart rate or respiratory rate following a lie. A polygraph test can be fallible, though, as the nervousness brought on by such a close, thorough examination can easily cause elevated heart and respiratory rates. In addition, a compulsive liar might believe so thoroughly in what they are saying that a polygraph machine would not detect any lies.

Ultimately, the only true test of whether or not you are a compulsive liar comes from you. Do you find yourself regularly lying, without rhyme or reason? Is lying your default response rather than honesty? Do lies seem to "slip off" your tongue regularly, without you intending them to? If you answered "yes" to these questions, you might tend to lie compulsively, and lying may be a part of your communication patterns. These same characteristics in another person might be signals that they are a compulsive liar.

Seeking help as a pathological liar

Compulsive lying is difficult to define, as it is not a single, recognized condition. Instead, compulsive lying is considered a symptom or component of other mental health conditions. These mental health conditions could include anything from anxiety to antisocial personality disorder. In some cases, compulsive lying is relatively harmless in its execution, and in others, compulsive lying is dangerous and can put anyone close to the liar at risk. Defining the difference between the two is usually a matter of finding the underlying cause.

Although compulsive lying as a condition is difficult to nail down, the behavior itself does have a definitive description: compulsive lying is lying not intentionally motivated by personal gain or intention and is instead seemingly mundane, bizarre, or unnecessary. Compulsive liars might lie to get things in a relationship or a job, for example, but these instances are likely to be outliers in the grand scheme of their lives rather than the standard. Most compulsive liars do so without regard for any actual gain or outcome but are instead driven by the desire or need to lie, regardless of the consequences.

Mental health and compulsive or pathological lying

Compulsive lying can be harmful to the liar and to those around the liar, whether that harm is physical, emotional, or mental. Mental health and compulsive lying cannot live together in harmony, and getting treatment for compulsive lying is pivotal. If you, or someone you know, seems to experience compulsive lying, the first step is acknowledging the presence of the lies and the scope of the behavior. From there, you can visit with a mental health professional to determine possible causes and treatment options to live a life that is not shrouded in half-truths, confusion, and lies but is instead rooted in confidence, honesty, and integrity.