How can you tell if someone is a pathological liar?

Identifying a Pathological Liar

Pathological liars, or "mythomaniacs," may be suffering from histrionic personality disorder or narcissistic personality disorder. The following comments basically reflect a pathological liar who has the characteristics of histrionic personality disorder.

Some characteristics:

1. Exaggerates things that are ridiculous.

2. One-upping. Whatever you do, this person can do it better. You will never top them in their own mind, because they have a concerted need to be better than everyone else. This also applies to being right. If you try to confront an individual like this, no matter how lovingly and well-intentioned you might be - this will probably not be effective. It's threatening their fantasy of themselves, so they would rather argue with you and bring out the sharp knives than admit that there's anything wrong with them.

3. They "construct" a reality around themselves. They don't value the truth, especially if they don't see it as hurting anyone. If you call them on a lie and they are backed into a corner, they will act very defensively and say ugly things (most likely but depends on personality), but they may eventually start to act like, "Well, what's the difference? You're making a big deal out of nothing!" (again, to refocus the conversation to your wrongdoing instead of theirs).

4. Because these people don't value honesty, a lot of times they will not value loyalty. So watch what you tell them. They will not only tell others, but they will embellish to make you look worse. Their loyalty is fleeting, and because they are insecure people, they will find solace in confiding to whomever is in their favor at the moment.

5. They may be somewhat of a hypochondriac. This can come in especially useful when caught in a lie, for example, they can claim that they have been sick, or that there's some mysteriously "illness" that has them all stressed out. It's another excuse tool for their behavior.

6. Obviously, they will contradict what they say. This will become very clear over time. They usually aren't smart enough to keep track of so many lies (who would be?).

Here are some ways to tell someone is a pathological liar contributed by another WikiAnswers Contributor:

 

• They lie about even the smallest things. For example, saying "I brushed my teeth today," when they didn't.

 

• They add exaggerations to every sentence.

 

• They change their story all the time.

 

• They act very defensively when you question their statements.

 

• They believe what they say is true, when everyone else knows it isn't.

Here's an alternate "checklist":

 

• Lies when it is very easy to tell the truth.

 

• Lies to get sympathy, to look beter, to save their butt, etc.

 

• Fools people at first but once they get to know him, no one believes anything they ever say.

 

• May have a personality disorder.

 

• Extremely manipulative.

 

• Has been caught in lies repeatedly.

 

• Never fesses up to the lies.

 

• Is a legend in their own mind.

Here are more opinions and other input from WikiAnswers Contributors:

 

• I have found a few differences in pathological liar and a "slime ball" liar. Pathological liars cannot tell that they are lying they actually believe the lie as soon as it comes out of their mouth. They lie about unimportant things that don't really matter to anyone. This can be caused by mental defect but isn't always. Slime-ball liars lie about things that make them look better or embellish to get attention. They also lie to keep their butts out of trouble and to get what they want.

 

• Here are things to ask yourself: How could this many things happen to one person? Would believe these stories if someone else told you? Think back to the beginning: you had red flags and alarms going off in you head. Learn to trust your instincts.

 

• It is very hard to tell when one is a pathological liar. Some people just are liars and lie to lie because they can and they don't care about getting caught and aware that you know they have lied. These people care not about lying, it's no big deal. It's like "ok, so what? I lied". The pathological liar on the other hand, IS aware that they are lying BUT will go to extremes to make you believe that they are truthful. They appear to believe their own lies BUT in truth, they know their lies are just that, lies. But because their efforts are constantly backing up their lies, it appears to us that they actually believe their lies, when we eventually do find out about them and then we tend to feel sorry for these people. Then they have an excuse, "I am sick, I don't know why I lie, I believed what I was saying etc." The only truth was the fact that they don't know why they lie. Other than that it's crap. It is true that most of them have an extremely low sense of self worth and are continuously trying to make themselves feel better about THEMSELVES and this is one reason they lie. It is about them but the lies are not always set up with the purpose to hurt some one else; it's that these people feel so low about themselves they need to create ANYTHING different from the ugly reality they feel about themselves so they lie about even the most tiniest little thing. The people closest to them get sucked into these lies which sometimes start as something very trivial and then turn into something that can turn everyone involved worlds upside down and inside out.

 

• Unmasking the pathological liar is an easier task when the pathological liar is no more than a casual acquaintence to the "un-masker." Close relationships provide camouflage for the pathological liar, and intimacy provides a heavily-fortressed breeding ground.

 

• Other indicators: 1) Rage attacks after they realize you're questioning their lies. 2) Distraction techniques, e.g. hanging up the phone when you catch them in lie, playing word games, or even just running out of the room. After using the distraction technique, or rage attack, or sometimes both, they will pretend that nothing ever happened. They re-write history, so it never did happen in their minds. Normal people do it too, but these people take it to the extreme.

 

• From "Go Ask Alice": Lies are unplanned and impulsive. Behavior is repeated over a long period of time. Lies don't seem to exist for any external reason. Behavior may not always be a conscious act. Lies are admitted, changed, and/or adapted if a false story is challenged.

 

• From Andrea Broadbent "The Truth about Truman": To begin, the definition of pathological actually means abnormal or grossly atypical. Therefore, a pathological liar prevaricates more frequently than the average person or tells more abnormal lies. In most cases, pathological liars tell lies that are "unplanned and impulsive" (Hausman). These lies are usually very emotional stories that tend to serve no purpose except to impress people (Ford 133). As of now, psychiatrists are unsure whether or not pathological liars are fully capable of realizing if and when they are lying, so detecting whether or not a person is a pathological liar is a very difficult task (Hausman). By looking at the list of conditions commonly connected with people considered to be pathological liars, psychiatrists are better able to determine whether or not a person might actually have the disorder. Some main qualities linked with pathological liars include dysfunctional family origin, family lying patterns, anomalies of sexual life, frequent substance abuse, and a great capacity for language.

 

• From Raymond Lloyd Richmond, Ph.D. "Psychological Honesty": Even a pathological liar carries deep in his heart a desire for goodness and honesty and yet, because of painful emotional wounds, believes that the world never has, and never will, recognize his pain. And so, to hide that pain from himself, he uses all the lies he can concoct to hurl at the world as he runs in fear from his own goodness.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_can_you_tell_if_someone_is_a_pathological_liar

Hann er greinilega staddur á annarri plánetu aumingja maðurinn ...

Stýrivaxtaákvörðun Seðlabankans 11. september 2008. Davíð Oddsson, yfirforsætisráðherra sagði:

„Aðgerðir til þess að örva efnahagslífið nú, hvort heldur með minna aðhaldi í peninga- eða ríkisfjármálum, eru ótímabærar. Þær myndu tefja óhjákvæmilega aðlögun þjóðarbúskaparins að jafnvægi, veikja gengi krónunnar og stuðla að meiri verðbólgu og hærri verðbólguvæntingum."

Ætli maðurinn fylgist yfirleitt með gengi krónunnar, staddur þarna úti í geimnum? 

 

 

 

Reykjavik, Jan. 17th 2010 (Reuters) Inflation battered Icelanders find novel ways to save

A roll of toilet paper containing 72 wipes is now at kr. 50,000. However you can get 100 500-kr. notes for the same amount and by using them save a total of kr. 1400.

Enn ekkert lát á hruni krónunnar - gengisvísitalan hefur hækkað um 75% síðasta árið

Evran hefur rokið úr 120 í 153 síðasta mánuðinn, dollar úr 83 í 109, jen úr 0.76 í 1.03 osfrv. Þetta er allsherjarhrun og spurning hvar það stoppar. Trúlega verður bráðlega tekin hvíld, hagnaður tekinn í 1-2 mánuði og síðan haldið áfram. En líka gæti evran haldið fljótlega beina leið í 200 kall. Stay tuned.

Talið að gamalt og mjög eitrað viskí sé einn helsti efnahagsvandi þjóðarinnar

Munið að þið fréttuð það fyrst hér. Það eru mörg vond mál í gangi og menn koma úr meðferð og fara síðan í þá næstu og eru ekki mikið í vinnunni að meðaltali. Og svo kóar hver með öðrum. Góðar stundir.

Flokkseigendafélag íhaldsins hleypti hundunum út um allt tún

Hvernig var þetta nú aftur ... Benedikt og Einar Sveinssynir, stóreigendur íhaldsins og Dabba og Geira voru þarna í Íslandsbanka koppar innarlega í búri en hrökkluðust á brott þegar inn komu Karl Wernersson, Jón Ásgeir og Þorsteinn Már. Þetta minnir mig að hafi verið svo. Síðan er snötunum sigað og þeir eru illa vandir og sennilega ekki með réttu ráði af náttúrunnar hendi og trylla þeir allan fénaðinn eins og hann leggur sig og skemma hann eins og sjá má.

Ófullkomin geðvistunarúrræði

Þetta er náttúrlega viðkvæmt umræðuefni, það er eins og gengur hvar á að geyma vitfirringa.  Meira síðar, amen og kúmen.

Nauðsynlegt að afskrifa sirka 98% skeinipappírsins í kauphöllinni

Þetta er hræðileg eyðimörk. Mikið af þessu rusli er undir tíkalli og stefnir áfram í núllið. Þú færð 6-7 hluti í landsbankanum fyrir evru sem þýðir í raun að það er ódýrara að fara með bunka af hlutum með sér út til Evrópu en að kaupa skeinipappír á almenningssalernum. Annað drasl er síðan enn hagstæðara í þessu tilliti.

Kaupþing stendur enn upp úr hvað þetta varðar og er ekki pennístokkur en mun samt sjálfsagt hrynja ásamt restinni af þessum vonlausa ruslahaug.Góðar stundir.

The Ponzi-Plus Plan

To paraphrase the late and great old war-horse of the senate, Everett Dirkson of Illinois (1896 - 1969), a trillion here, a trillion there, sooner or later you're talking about real money. Except in the case of the Great Bail-out of 2008, maybe it's more like... sooner or later your money is no longer real.

What we're seeing in this fiasco, among other things, is a lesson in the diminishing returns of technology. This is a train wreck of investment vehicles so complex that they could only be created with the aid of computers. The result is that hardly anyone -- perhaps even nobody in or out of Wall Street -- really understands what they represent. In fact, this alphabet soup of engineered securities -- CDOs, CDSs, MBSs, SIVs, etc -- was cooked up from a recipe of Ponzi algorithms. They were designed to be mathematically indecipherable, except by computers, in an alternative universe of model-making that bore only a superficial relation to the real world. That was their dirty secret. And the dirty secret of the Great Bail-out is that, in the real world, we will never be able to discover the actual trading value of these things at any number above zero. This is why they are called "toxic."

The big effort of Mr. Paulson and his working group has been to ram through legislation that at all costs avoids any attempt to place a reality-based value on this bad debt. He managed it by holding a gun to Congress's collective head, telling them in plain English that a genuine "work-out" of these "toxic" investments would set in motion a fatal cascade of credit default swaps which would leave the entire banking landscape a smoldering wasteland -- with the result that virtually every retirement account and pension fund would go up in a vapor, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC would melt away to twin piles of goo, scores of millions of lives would be ruined, and the USA would be left a basket case among nations, making us envy even the fate of Haiti and Zimbabwe. Talk like that might prompt a congress-person to do any fool thing.

The question, of course, is what happens now, after this morning's scheduled vote on the Great Bail-out package. Last night, I would have predicted a brief bounce in the stock markets of a week-or-so duration. This morning, at eight o'clock, I'm not so sure of that anymore, but I suppose we shall see. Beyond a week-or-so, I expect the Great Bail-out to fail rather quickly in its main mission: to stabilize the banking system and calm the markets. The process of negotiating the package has given off an odor something like medieval scholasticism -- a method much like the creation of Ponzi finance itself, in which layers of tortured interpolation rendered theological concepts so abstruse that all the prayer of all the monks and nuns ever conceived within the walls of the Vatican would not avail to reveal their mysteries. The object, of course, was to reinforce the essential mystery of religion, just as the object in Ponzi finance was to reinforce the mystery of engineered securities.

What the mainstream is truly missing here en masse is that another tsunami is building right behind the finance fiasco, and that it will render moot the whole reeking cargo of schemes and wishes that comprises the Great Bail-out. I am speaking of the global oil problem. In fact, the problems in banking and money currently roaring in the center ring of the world circus, can be described categorically as a product of the oil problem -- since oil is the primary resource of industrial economies and therefore the motive force behind our ability to generate "wealth." Without reliable and ever-growing supplies of oil, there is no industrial growth, and without industrial growth things like capital investment instruments lose their legitimacy. That is why the Frankenstein family of Ponzi securities was invented in the first place -- to compensate for the demise of industrial growth by creating wealth out of... nothing!

The looming oil problem entails a swirl of factors that will aggravate and accelerate our social, economic, and political struggles. These factors will mutually reinforce the instabilities that they set into motion. For instance, the new oil nationalism is undermining the traditional operation of oil markets as we've known them since the mid-20th century. In turn, oil nationalism will aggravate the oil export crisis, which will starve the oil importers -- the USA being the chief victim. Finally, there is the remorseless base-line condition of Peak Oil itself, meaning that we are at point where world oil demand permanently outstrips world oil supply no matter if the USA falls on its ass economically or not. What remains beyond this is a desperate contest among the oil importers -- America, Europe, China, Japan, India -- for control of the world's remaining oil resources.

The fantasies about alternative energy currently wafting across the American media-scape will not "solve" this problem, much as we wish they might. We'll try everything in a quixotic effort to sustain the unsustainable (that is, the happy motoring consumer society), but we will be disappointed by the results. I try to remind readers that the very concept of "solutions" does not apply in this situation, since it implies that we can keep running things in America just the way we are running them now, only by means other than oil. The truth, in my view, is that we have to run things very differently now, at different scales than the ones we're used to -- but we are too invested in our behavior of the past to move forward. This is certainly unfortunate, because we have everything to gain by letting go of our old habits and obsolete wishes.

It's odd to watch the talking heads on CNBC this morning, parsing endlessly over the latest minutiae of the latest deal for CitiGroup to land on Wachovia like a giant amoeba and begin the gruesome process of digesting its innards. The TV heads are just like the medieval monks trying to explicate the labanotation of x-number of angels dancing on the head of the pin. Religion really is the only metaphor left to discuss the epochal disaster underway right now, because God alone knows where this will take us.

From http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/

Gúmmístimplarnir á álþingi eru greinilega bara formsatriði

Maður hefði haldið að álþingi þyrfti fyrirfram að staðfesta
risalántökur ríkissjóðs (sem er algjörlega fallít áður en að
risalántökunum kemur) en menn í förgunarúrræðum þríátta um Arnarhól eru
sem fyrr á annarri skoðun og fara sínu fram að vild. Ósvífni og
valdhroki þeirra eiga sér engin takmörk. Þeir stefna sem fyrr að því að
setja hér allt á hausinn og láta réttu einkavinina hirða rústirnar. Mér
finnst sem fyrr að geðlæknar landsins þurfi að taka þessi heilkenni til
meðferðar og álykta um þessa aðila. Það fer hver að verða síðastur.
Góðar stundir.