Pathological Lying Vs Normal Lying? How To Tell the Difference

by Panzer
Hi, I'm Dr. Tracey Marks, a psychiatrist,
and I make mental health education videos.
Today, I'm talking about pathological lying,
what it is and how it compares to normal lying.
Yes, there is such a thing as normal lying.
There isn't an established official definition
for pathological lying
because it's not considered a mental disorder.
Instead, it's observed as a behavioral disturbance
that's present inside of other disorders,
like some personality disorders,
like antisocial personality disorder,
and some brain disorders like Korsakoff's syndrome,
which is brain damage from alcohol.
Pathological lying used to be called pseudologia fantastica.
I like saying that.
And it referred to people who told multiple outrageous lies
that would border on the fantastic.
And those were more than just simple lies.
These would include elaborate details
that seem questionably believable,
and when you challenge the person on the details,
they tell even more lies to make the story work.
The motive behind the lying wasn't always clear,
and sometimes it was just to impress people.
Now, there is a body of research on deception.
Most of the early work was within a forensic context,
usually looking at people who have committed crimes,
but the more recent research has focused
on non-criminal settings.
And of that research,
there has come this understanding of deception.
Lying is defined as the deliberate attempt
to get someone to believe something
that you know is not true.
And there's three types of lying:
normal, prolific, and pathological.
Pathological lying is still seen as a different entity
that takes lying to a different level,