They are able to provide you with a safe and confidential environment for you to rework any negative habits causing you to lie, and create new ones for you in your day-to-day life.Īt the start of therapy, you are not expected to drop your lying habits right away. Your therapist will be able to work with you in order to understand why you lie and how it affects you and those around you. Treating habitual lying is not simple but one of the first steps to recovery is recognising it and seeking help from a therapist. In this case, you may use lying as a way to win the affection or approval of others. It can also be a way to cope with insecurities and the deep-seated feeling that you are flawed. If you have grown up in an emotionally unsafe environment, you may have developed the habit of lying as a way to cope. It is used as a way to cope with feelings of anxiety or shame. Lying compulsively often starts during childhood.

Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (linked to OCD).

In most cases, compulsive or pathological lying is rooted in personality disorders which can be officially diagnosed by your doctor. This is considered compulsive or pathological lying. In other cases, people may feel like they have very little control over their lying and lie for no reason at all.

Depression as well as self-harm or suicidal thoughts.

Eating disorders such as bullimia, anorekia or overeating.

An addiction such as drug usage or gambling.

Confidence issues such as social anxiety.

In some circumstances, people may lie in order to hide other underlying mental issues including: There are different reasons why people lie. Learning to understand why you are lying and getting to the root of it will help to start the journey to unlearning this behaviour. If you find yourself repeatedly lying, it is natural to be worried and can start to negatively impact aspects of your life or others around you. While you may lie to avoid difficult situations, habitually lying will, most likely, create difficulties in your relationships, career and family.

Feelings of stress from maintaining lies or being ‘found out’.

Anxiety from attempting to keep up with constant lying.

However, repeatedly deceiving people around you and saying things that aren’t true out of habit can create barriers in your life and lead to common mental issues such as: At other times, lies can become layered as you have to lie to hold up previous lies.Īt times you have reason to lie and white lies can be an empathetic response to a situation - we sometimes even call these ‘white lies’. Sometimes lies can be small deceptions that don’t seem to affect anyone. Telling a lie can have different outcomes.

While most of us are taught from a young age not to lie, lying from time to time is quite common. ADHD (Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder).

Pathological liar treatment