Pinnochio Syndrome: Pathological Liars
Pinocchio syndrome is known in psychiatry by the name of “pathological lying” or also by the name of “mythomania.” Some researchers of the human mind indicate that this pathology is characterized by the inevitable compulsion to lie.
When we observe someone within the age of adulthood who fills their life with lies and deceit, then we find ourselves faced with a serious problem.
Some people lie consciously in order to achieve some benefit, but pathological liars lie without even knowing why. Their lies are spontaneous and unplanned. Once they step into this dynamic of fallacy and deception, they can’t seem to stop. They can even keep up their lies for years at a time. The pathological liar knows they are lying, but they can’t keep themselves from doing it. They end up believing their own fables.
How to recognize a pathological liar
- The stories they tell are not delusions, and aren’t entirely true. They tend to have traces of the truth within them.
- The tendency to lie is constant, because it is a personality trait and isn’t related to external situations or their social surroundings.
- Their stories and lies tend to describe the liar in a positive and favorable light.
- The compulsive liar really believes that the imagined events have taken place. They deny at all times that these events are fantasies of their own mind.
Mythomania is not deadly but it is far from harmless. It has side effects on many different levels. Within the social sphere, the mythomaniac tends to lose their credibility and is often labeled as a “storyteller.” Within their family, they are defined as a disreputable person and one in whom you shouldn’t place your trust. With acquaintances and friends, they tend to distance themselves or the person tends to be shunned from the group.