Pathological Lying?

[leaving]

Can anyone relate to this with their child? Our son has been lying to us for years and years and it comes SO easily to him. He will lie to us even when we present him with evidence. It's so distressing. I had to add it to the questionnaire for the clinic we are looking at for him. I looked up pathological lying and found this out:

Personality Disorders:

1. 1. Antisocial Personality Disorder (better known as sociopathy)
   2. Borderline Personality Disorder
   3. Narcissism or narcissistic personality disorder
2. Behavioral disorders:
   1. Conduct disorder (often diagnosed in children and teens who have criminal-like behaviors or who demonstrate sociopathic traits such as animal cruelty, fire setting, and oppositional behaviors toward authority)
   2. Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and CD (conduct disorder)
   3. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often combined with ODD or CD

Certain personality traits where pathological lying may occur include:

1. Narcissism or self-centered behaviors and thought patterns
2. Selfishness
3. Abusive attitude
4. Obsessive, controlling, and compulsive behaviors
5. Impulsivity
6. Aggressiveness
7. Jealous behavior
8. Manipulative behaviors
9. Deceptiveness
10. Socially awkward, uncomfortable, or isolated
11. Low self-esteem
12. Tempermentalness
13. Anger

 

[BusynMember]

I know it is a trait of reactive attachment disorder but cant see any reason your son would have it...that is because of early abuse or neglect of a major caregiver and is common in older child adoption and sometimes when parents divorce when a child us very young. The child we adopted at age 11 had Severe Reactive Attachment Disorder. I suspect a boy we adopted at 6 also had attachment issues.

Let the professionals handle this. You dont need to figure it out. Hopefully they will offer great help.

 

[Littleboylost]

Leaving
I drove myself mad with Dr Google atempti for solve the mystery of what is wrong with my son.

He is a chronic liar about so many things as well. When he is actively drugging he has so many traits of so many ailments.

Let the specialist do the diagnosing. Be there for him and find a way to support yourself.

 

[Sam3]

Same for mine. Constant lying.

Even about stupid things.

No wonder they have so little self esteem. And are often paranoid and distrustful. They say people who are untrustworthy, also can’t trust.

I want to challenge my son to tell the truth for a month. Maybe it would restore some of his faith in himself.

 

[leaving]

"I drove myself mad with Dr Google atempti for solve the mystery of what is wrong with my son."

I actually have Master level Family Counseling education to support some of my research. I had to stop taking classes because of my son with Asperger's. He required so many trips into the city for counseling and testing, etc. Plus, I am not trying to diagnose him. I find it interesting some of the traits I see in him and how it correlates to co-morbidities in mental health illnesses. My own mother suffers from borderline personality disorder and I see a lot of pathological lying coming from her. She has lied so much throughout her life that after a while she believes the lies she tells and lives in that world. It's sad actually to see.

 

[Littleboylost]

"I drove myself mad with Dr Google atempti for solve the mystery of what is wrong with my son."

I actually have Master level Family Counseling education to support some of my research. I had to stop taking classes because of my son with Asperger's. He required so many trips into the city for counseling and testing, etc. Plus, I am not trying to diagnose him. I find it interesting some of the traits I see in him and how it correlates to co-morbidities in mental health illnesses. My own mother suffers from borderline personality disorder and I see a lot of pathological lying coming from her. She has lied so much throughout her life that after a while she believes the lies she tells and lives in that world. It's sad actually to see.

As the old saying goes perception is reality. I shake my head at the lies my son tells and begins to shape his realty with.

I am a health care professional with years of clinical research experience and a masters level education as well. My comment was not meant to offend. I simply found when I came to this site I was obsessed with finding answers where there are none, doing this in the hopes of being able to fix my child. I soon learned it is what it is. I Can’t Control this. I can’t Cure this and I didn’t Cause this.

I am now focused on not enabling the behaviours and detaching with love and healing from my codependency. Regardless of our background or education we all suffer the same plight when it comes to our difficult children.

I always say if you shake any family tree hard enough a few skeletons are bound to fall out with respect to MH or Addiction issues.

I wish you all the best with your son.