how very interesting! it makes me think a bit differently of people telling lies now...have read a book about compulsive lying, but this article explains everything so greately. thanks a lot!

I just found out that my absolute bestfriend has been lying since January, more lies each month, about people passing away in her life. She told me that if I didn't believe her, that I could go ahead and ask her mom. Well, that's just what I did. I'm kind of thinking that maybe this was her way of admitting all of her lies to me? There's all sorts of them. More than just about deaths, too. She's claimed that 11 people in her family or close to her family have died. I named them, and her mom had never even heard of some of them, and others were alive and well. I have always been completely honest with this friend of mine, and it hurts me and confuses me to find out that all of this has been lies all along. I feel so betrayed, and I'm so upset. I'm not really sure if I should confront her about it, because I don't want to lose her. I'm hurt, but I'm also extremely scared. It's really kind of creepy to think that someone who I have been completely and totally comfortable with and trusted for the past year has been lying to me all along. It makes me feel like [and i know this is rude to say] she's psychotic, and I feel horrible for her.

I've been friends with this person for a very long time, twelve years to be exact. It used to seem all she did was lie about having relationships with people. She used to say she did all sorts of things, which now she says she hasn't, she must think I've forgotten the lies she told me and thought I believed, ha. I've spoke to my other close friends who think the same about her lies. She isn't as bad nowadays but she still tells some lies about 'fake' relationships. It's never anyone who I could question, it's someone who lives 'miles away.' It's extremely weird and I've learnt to switch off when she starts to lie. I've known her for ages but I wish I could tell her to stop lying, everyone around her knows she lies. It's really frustrating because she's always changing her stories.

My marriage has nearly run its course because of lying. I am heartbroken because my husband is a compulsive liar and he refuses to seek help, even if it risks losing his family.

I am a semiconscious compulsive liar. I lie to avoid confrontation and my own insecurities. I have lived in very social circles since i was a kid and have always painted myself back into this reclusive circle of lies. I am very self aware and i know this is primarily attention based. I am a middle child whose older brother was a gifted athlete and whose younger brother was his real fathers only son. I have understood the reason i do what i do since i was 13, but can't stop. I lie to this day at work to avoid a new confrontation.

Judge if you will but i am disturbed. Thoughts have often raged beyond what a lie can control. These lies in my mind protect more than myself. Sad thing is that there are days that just the thought of another human voice, is enough to lie. The diseased mind, while always fragile, is often the conveyor of new technology. Impossible is possible and false is true. Just imagine.

Well this began three years ago. I have a female friend who looks like an ordinary girl but what you don't know is that she has an obsessive compulsive lying disorder. At first everything she said at one point seems to me very realistic. But one day, after hanging out with her and some other friends, she told us she had recently moved to New Jersey with her grandmother and her brother because she got to an argument with her mom and got kicked out of her house. We all seem to believe her because she said it in a very persuasive way. So we all believed her. Until one day, her mother called me asking where she was. So I responded that she was in New Jersey living with her grandmother and older brother. After she heard what I said, she was extremely shocked. She explained to me that none of this been true because she NEVER kicked her out nor had she had family living in Jersey. I was very disappointed and overwhelmed. I couldn't believe my best friend had lie to me and others about something very serious and personal. After that day, we continued to notice her lying obsession became more and more serious. After that day, we questioned weather or not she was telling the truth. Years pass and she still lying. We don't know what else to do. We tried getting advice from other close friends and it still wasn't enough to fix her. My guess is that she lies in order to make herself more conferrable and fit with the whole group. Its sad to say she lies sooo MUCH that she actually believes her lies.

My whole life has just come crashing down around me....my husband of 10 yrs has been meeting other women, hiding mobile phones and lap tops to keep his "second life" hidden. He has run away to his parents and they are telling me he is having a nervous breakdown, im so confused as our life as far as i was concerned was perfecr, is he really having a nervous breakdown or lying???????? I would love your opinions

i am a compulsive liar. ill admitt it. ive lied to so many ppl. my parnets, friends. and i truly do want to stop. i just dont really know how. im actuslly groundeed rite now for lying. i wish i could stop. i truly do want to be honest, its just hard to cope with.

I recently change jobs and one of my new colleague is the biggest crock of shiet that I have even known. I believe he has a compulsive obsessive lying disorder and most of the stories he tells are made out to help him look cool. Other than his full time job he seems to think that he is a professional scuba diver instructor, he is a horse trainer, a volunteer fire fighter, he can fly planes, he is a railway incidence inspector cos he use to work for the railways, he is a professional photographer and he does car modification. On top of all that he's gotta add some experiences of his with any topics of a discussion.
Now, everyone at work know that he is fulltime liar, but why does he does he keep doing that?. We loose respect for the guy when he talks sometimes, and it gets annoying when he does not consider your intelligence in a conversation when he is bull crapping.

I have a friend, who has been going up and down in these sort of phases of lying. She joined my school last year, and she went from lying all of the time, to getting a little better. Now, she's gone back down into the ditch she was in before. She lied about having this boyfriend, in fact, he was completely and utterly made up, but she managed to fool a few people. She told me he was fake from the start, saying it was to get back at her ex. Anyway, so she even found obscure pictures of one of the band members from this really underground band, claiming he was her boyfriend, giving him a new identity, though.
So, she lied even to her best friends. She then started saying he sexually abused her, physically abused her (pushing her down the stairs and scratching stuff into her arms) and that he was a drug addict. The thing is, she always had evidence. There were the scars, first, all over her shoulders and arms and legs, scratches, but still scars. After that, it developed to her even throwing herself down the stairs, and coming into school with a sprained wrist, to prove her point. She gashed her thighs with a ball point pen, then saying it was he who'd done it to her when he raped her/forced her to have sex with him. She even went to the extreme of saying he'd left heroin resin and 4 packages of cannabis in a drawer in her bedroom.
The girl in question isn't just that sinister. She's disturbed, I'm sure. One time, she dug not her wrist with a needle, in my friend's bathroom. The normal reaction to pain is to, well, cry, right? She sat there, in the corner of the bathroom with a bleeding wrist, laughing and rocking up and down, whilst my friend screamed at her to stop.
She lied to everyone about this second life, and when the lie was finally revealed, by me, and also by the friend who found her in the bathroom, so many people were hurt.
And she just laughed. She just insisted everything she said was true.
Oh, and by the way, she's 16 years old.

One of my closest person (male friend) had lied to me, during 4 years of relationship. He did many kind things to me and my family but it does not scratch off the fact that he lied numerous times. Above article made me understand why he kept lying. And now I can heal my wound and forgive by understanding his underlying issues, but not going back to him looking for the same emotional closeness.

i am trying to understand why husband needs to lie constantly, about everything! he has never cheated on me, he's always worked hard to support me and our children.i always thought we were best of friends and we were meant to be together for ever, but now i feel betrayed by his ridicolous lies. we have recently parted and i'm finding out that he has told people bad lies about me so he can get sympathy and now his family hates me. i can't understand why a husband would do that to his wife. i feel betrayed. he still loves me and wants to get back but how will i ever trust him?

Ok I can't take it anymore! My best friend she's like family to me. I have know her about 19 years. She lies about everything! I would catch her and she still wouldn't confess! I relationship has been up and down over the years because of it. She buys me and my kids stuff all the time. To make her self feel better. She does it so I can praise her..very sad cycle! I go for long period of time NOT talking to her because she drains me. She has gotten a little better. Only because she got busted by the attorney general for some big stuff. She has been all over the news and it has really ruined her life. This all happened because of her lies! Eventually lie snow ball no matter how big or small they are. It ruins relationships. She's got a huge heart and loves to help people. Its unfortunate that she has this problem.
Now to my husband. He to is a compulsive liar. He tells everyone what they want to here. I'll here him on the phone with people constantly lying. For instance..his dad will call and ask us if we can come over to dinner. Even though we have other plans he'll say. Yeah probably let me call you back. Then he just drags out the inevitable. Finally hours later after the dinner has started. His dad will call and THEN he'll make up a lie. WHY can't he just simply say we had other plans. Thanks for the invite and be done?? He does this with our friends..everyone all the time. I end up being the bad guy because he lets everyone think its me. The sad part is they believe him! I ask why he can't just be honest with people. But he just blows me off. He too has a huge heart and loves to help people. So I just let a lot of stuff go..pick your battles..right? Plus I just don't want to do this infront of the kids! I can't stand his lying and I don't know what to do. He won't admit to it. His family and friends think he's so great. Everyone LOVES him and he always tells me how much people look up to him. He's never wants to let anyone down. It sucks that I find out important things. By over hearing conversations with his friends and family. I ask him why didn't you tell me. He always says oh sorry I just forgot to. Its made me feel so emty inside. Not being able to trust your spouse is a horriable feeling. I don't want our marrage to end. But I feel like I'm loosing this battle and a peice of myself too.

My 13 yr old daughter lies all the time. Not just little things but big things. She has done this since she was little. The lies are getting bigger and more serious. I told my husband this morning that we need to get her into some kind of therapy. I have been researching doctors this morning.
I am worried that she will continue this into adulthood and know that she needs help.

She has ADD so based on the article above this is common with people who have ADD. But therapy couldn't hurt and maybe will help her find ways to stop the excessive lying.

How can I help someone to stop their chronic lying? After a 6 yr relationship with one chronic liar, I have a new person in my life. Who, you guessed it, is also a chronic liar. The difference is I recognize this before getting involved with him, and also that he admits his problem. Obviously I have issues of my own, always trying to 'fix' others... but I really do want to help him. He is such a sweet guy, and I know he has the desire to stop, too. Is there anything that I could offer to help break him of this?

I have lied big lies little lies and I still do it to this day I always think if you don't get found out it is fine. I have never been found out yet. I can't stop it now anymore I am getting better but now I find things to lie about that don't really matter.

I am 34 years old, an artist, a friend, a writer, an animal lover and a Compulsive Liar. I am all these things, and I am getting help. I learned growing up, It's how my family functioned and god knows how but my parents still do. I however, have not been so successful in living in the lies. Some of the things I am doing to break this habit may help the CL in your life. First I would not even be doing this if I didn't have a friend in my life who was unwilling to watch me be anything but my best. It is because of her relentless questions and prods that I am aware of my problem. If the CL in your life is anything like me, they don't want to loose your friendship/relationship. So you can be a hardass and still have this person. They will probably get defensive, but my defensiveness faded quickly once I had a name and a direction to fix my problem. Second I went to a used book store and got a day planner, and in I right down everything I do in the course of each day, good and bad (EVERYTHING) I had a hard time not getting caught because I could not remember what things I lied about and what things I didn't. I remembered the event accurately but not the lies I may have said. There are hynosis cd's out there focused on CL's but they are few and far between. There are therapist who know of this disorder but they, like the cd's are few and far between. I finally found one and between the consciousthings I do daily, my friend's watchfull eye and my therapy I am on the road to being a recovering Compulsive Liar. The point is, there is light at the end of the tunnel for CLs, its a long road and its gonna suck alot of the time, but one day, you realize you feel more comfortable in your skin, you accept yourself more and life seems to be just a little easier every day.

It's worth the pain and the humilation.

ive been dating my boyfriend for over a year and a half and when we broke up once i kissed this kid and hung out with him twice. I told my boyfriend that when we got back together and my best friend also knows that this happend. Last night when they were all out his name came up and my best friend told her boyfriend that i had sex with this kid and that we hung out a bunch of times. SHE IS LYING. My friend is known to be a compulsve liar weve been friends since we were two and me and everyone in my family as well as many people in my town also know that she is a compulsive liar. My boyfriend doesnt know her very well and thinks she is telling the truth becuase he doesnt know why she would make that up when the truth is that i dont know why she would make that up either why would she make up a lie about me and howcan i get my boyfriend to see that she is lying?

well we have this frend of ours and we thinK she suffers from OCL a group of us had a drinkk tonite and she came up in the subject and well aloT of our stories werenT addinG up the way she told us.... from relationship issues which never existed mite i add to deaths within her family, her having breast cancer and serious arguements that got her kicked ouTtah home down to her being either related or close frends to our boyfrendz.... seriousley we are all so hurT confused and dont understand WHY ALL DESE LIES? we have nevah judged her always looked ouT for each other and not once bort one another down buT all these Lies has reaLLy got us concerned that we googled eht and it bort us to this site with manii others stories hoo are similar to our situation we're not sure if we are being ova exagerated but its honestly creepy but it does hurT....