Are you a pathological liar if you tell lies to people to make your life seem a lot better and more exciting than it really is?

Answer 1

According to a book on pathological lying: "[T]he making up of tales ... is bound up with the desire to play the role of the person depicted. Fiction and real life are not separated as in the mind of the normal author."

Wether you are or not, these symptoms are definite proof you are in desperate need of a life! Get a hobby and you will surely notice an increased quality of life. If by then you still lie about your life you could be a pathological liar. Else you were just bored.

No, not all the time. All of us are different. Some people are extroverted while others are not. Wouldn't it be a boring world if we were all the same. It doesn't mean an outgoing person who may be popular is any smarter than the quieter person. Seek out friends you feel comfortable with rather than friends you feel you should be with to be popular.

No one should ever be ashamed of their background. If you come from a poor family you could have come from a loving family that made ends meet. If you are rich this doesn't mean you came from a loving family at all. Life is quite strange at times. If you were abused as a child, given up for adoption, deserted by a parent(s) or grew up on the so-called wrong side of the tracks it is still no reason to lie about your background.

I suggest you start looking up biographys of famous people and see some of the lives they came from. They didn't have to lie to get where they are. Dig in, quit lying and don't feel you have to tell everyone about yourself. If asked, don't lie. By lying you are lying to yourself. Be strong, be proud of yourself and you will be!

I may have been a pathological liar. Growing up with a depressed, alcoholic mother I learned to lie. Everything a child says or does revolves around their mother. Particularly when the father is absent a majority of the time. I had to lie when teachers, coaches, instructors asked, where is this or that? Can your mom come, can she help, can she drive and on and on. ALl of those questions were answered with a myriad of lies. I could never divulge the big secret in my life. When a huge lie of mine was discovered, my father thought it was time to take me to the shrink. My mother refused. Of course she refused, she was the catalyst of my problems. She was abusive and negligent. She did not want me anywhere near a shrink, someone I would tell my secrets to---then she would be discovered. I think this basis of learnig to lie attacks many adult children of alcoholics.

I think the sign of a true PATHOLOGICAL LIAR is when the person lying does not consiencely acknowledge the lying and will deny it. Often, they actually BELIEVE their own lies. You don't seem to have the pathology; you consciencely lie to fulfill your own agenda. I'd say you are a bulls****er, as my dad would say. To the third poster; it sounds like you had it tough and to that I say "ya do what ya gotta do". PEACE