If your executive functioning is intact, when the cop pulls you over you may be tempted to lie to him or her but your executive function kicks in and you realize, no my kids are in the car, I need to be truthful and do some good role modelling here. Problems with executive functioning may look like difficulty with controlling the impulse to lie. The first process, executive functioning, is about the ability to control and monitor your own thoughts, as well as control impulses and organize yourself This impairment affects two important mental processes: Executive Functioning These impairments could be caused by head injury, degenerative diseases, infection, epilepsy, or be present from birth. Neuroimaging of patients who show compulsive lying reveals impairments to the prefrontal cortex. Serious forms of chronic lying may be due to differences at the brain level. Not for the purpose of justifying the behaviour or asking you to be OK with it, but just to create a little compassion and hopefully even some possible treatment strategies. It’s also helpful to know that someone who is a pathological liar may be mentally well adjusted in every other way, or they may have other difficulties such s personality disorders (especially narcissistic personality disorder), ADHD or memory problems. They often get caught up in a web of increasingly unrealistic lies. That’s why I say we use the label too freely: there’s a much lower level of lying that is still problematic but strictly speaking, pathological lying should have all these components.Īlong with this you’ll often see that the compulsive liar, when challenged about his or her lies, may attempt to downplay what was said or may try to get out of it by telling more lies. Those are a pretty serious set of criteria. Compulsive: lies are often told automatically without any conscious decision.The person simply sees an opportunity to lie and does so. Impulsive: the lies are not necessarily intended to manipulate people or gain anything. Continuous: the lies are told regardless of context or who is being spoken to, without any apparent benefit or motive and no thought of potential consequences.Typically the lies told have three features: Somebody lies to you a couple times and it upsets you and you call them a pathological liar: that may not be an accurate assessment.īut when you have frequent, compulsive telling of lies and false stories this is a pathological lying disorder. Like some other psychological terms it can get thrown around too loosely. There are a few terms that get used interchangeably here: compulsive lying, chronic lying, and pathological lying. What do you do when your spouse is a chronic liar? Well, we are going to try to come to this topic with accountability and compassion because trust is so vital to creating a happy marriage. We have a tough topic today - and unfortunately, it’s also one that is all too common.
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