Are these crazy?

Question

Are there such people who convince themselves to believe their own lies and in the end, really end up believing it? And what are these people called?

Answer 1

They are pathological liars, and yes the condition is very real.

A pathological liar is someone who often embellishes his or her stories in a way that he or she believes will impress people. Pathological liars are different from normal liars because they believe the lie he or she is telling to be true (at least in public) and is "playing" the role. He or she sometimes is seen to have a serious mental problem that needs to be rectified.

The term "pathological liar" is not an official clinical diagnosis; however, psychiatrists agree that pathological lying is often the result of a mental disorder or low self-esteem. When caught in a lie, pathological liars tend to become hostile or try to disregard the fact that they lied; often playing it off as a joke.

Answer 2

They may loosely be called a Pathological Liar or a Compulsive liar. The distinction is made here http://www.truthaboutdeception.com/confront_a_liar/public/pathological-compulsive.html

But...receiving a diagnosis depends on many factors.

1) AGE
Young children lie often. It's all about pushing the boundaries as they learn about emotions and rules, and also a way for them to test reality.

It is very common for adolescents (and even adults at times) to lie frequently, even to the point of believing their own lies. I know that I did a few times, and I certainly wasn't alone! If you've done it once, it can create quite a vicious cycle (lies build upon lies) and it is possible to convince even yourself when convincing others. That's something that people tend to grow out of, and it's not a diagnosis of any sort.

Into adulthood it's less common and may be indicative of a problem. However, like the other poster said, it isn't in itself a diagnosis, but it may be indicative of a Personality disorder (NOT BIPOLAR DISORDER!).

2) Meeting the Criteria for Mental Illness
Being a liar would only be considered a mental illness if and only IF their behaviour is affecting their ability to function in one or more areas in their life (such as not being able to work, losing all of their friends, not going out, depression, etc) AND if they demonstrate the other symptoms required for the diagnosis of certain disorders.

Lying can be indicating of almost any Personality Disorder. Which diagnosis would entirely depend on their intentions (to get attention, to get people to leave them alone, to get people to love them, just to mess with people's heads) and on the other behavioural characteristics which they demonstrate.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Bi-polar.

Answer 4

i would say they live in a fantasy world...