Do you know or have you had experience with a compulsive liar?

Question

Not quite the same thing but I had a relative that was bipolar and whether it was part of the disease or a character flaw, I don't know.
I've known others who told fantastic stories of careers, fortunes gained and lost, ties to famous people etc.
One person would start a story and it would grow by leaps and bounds. Another person was in a head on collision but told their child who was an infant during the wreck that they had been hit by a train.
Soem chronic liars seem to lie just to hear themselves speak others have an agenda.
Not to mention the deadbeat Dads and Moms who are always coming to visit the children and never show.

Answer 1

Yes and this is true, he has been married three times, but when he got to his second wife, they brought the wedding photos to let me see them. His second wife said to me I just wish he had put on his Army Captain's Uniform for the wedding. He couldn't he had spilt milk all over it, the milk carton had burst I just went in to a fit of laughing. He was my sister' son and had never been an Army Captain the family had nicknamed him Walter Mitty.

Answer 2

Our eldest daughter is a compulsive liar. She adds bits here and there to things she's done or just makes up great big porkies. She knows she does it and should stop but it seems like she is dissatisfied with her life and adds bits for excitement or something! She has a nice home and keeps it nicely, she has 2 sons who should be a joy to her but don't seem to be and she has a girlfriend who is just the same as she is with telling porkies. It's difficult when we visit coz we know that some of what she tells us isn't actually true......she was like this as a child and we learnt early on to identify the fact from the fiction. We're pretty good at working out when people are lying as everyone has little tell-tale signs that give them away.
When our 2 girls were a lot younger, friends of ours used to bring their kids to us if they suspected a lie was being told but the parent couldn't work it out lol. We often saved a child from a punishment because they were telling the truth and the parent thought they were lying lol for which the child was probably very grateful for but then on the other hand when they had been lying we knew and the punishment was given. In the end all it took with some kids was the threat of being brought to us and confessions were instantly made!

Answer 3

My sister.
Man she tells some whopper stories.
She is a deadbeat mom and has told her kids that she would come see them and they would wait and cry. I have gaurdianship with no visitation outlined in the orders..for a while I was letting her come over to the house to see the kids. She would sit and lie to them about clothes she was sewing for them ect and then either not show up or show up without what she promised. I put an end to visitation because I thought it should be at a nuetral place...a place she wouldn't end up getting an asskicking from. I knew it was just a matter of time that I would beat her and I did not want her kids to have to deal with that. Then I told her to go to court and seek visitation and I have not heard from her since.

One of the most recent stories she as telling was to a guy she met online and thought she would run off with. I later found out she was telling the guy that she was taking her sisters kids and raising them because her sister (me) was incarcerated. LOL she also sent him pics showing her as drop dead gourgeus. I was happy to correct him on both accounts.
Her lies start out as seemingly small, yet the lengths she would go to to cover them were almost laughable. Before I threw her out she told me for a month she had a job. She would leave the house and then come home a few hours later and actually tell me about her work day.

I think my sis has bipolar yet she refuses to get help.

Answer 4

Yes, my second husband was like that. He would lie for no apparent reason whatsoever. I could not trust one thing he said. He would also use "double talk" so it seemed he was telling the truth, but you could think about it and it meant something entirely different..
Even a simple thing like what did you have for lunch, would be a lie. I never figured it out either, just innocuous questions, he would lie about. I would say is their gas in the car, he would say he put gas in 2 days ago, a yes or a no would have been appreciated.
Another occasion he said he had to go back to Boston because his daughter was murdered. His daughter was alive and well, not even a broken finger nail.
Another time he had an appointment with a client to install a sound system, it however, was a strip bar, who never bought from our company

Answer 5

Well there are several I know.
1 - My son was a compulsive liar. We found out he is bipolar, and once we began medicating him, the lying stopped so maybe it is a component of the disease.
2 - My ex-husband. Need I say more?
3 - My current husband - but only about really stupid things and I can always tell.

Answer 6

My ex husband and ex boyfriend were both compulsive liars. But I think that my ex husband was worse. He would lie about anything and everything. I don't think that I have ever see any body as bad as him. He would tell you the sun was shinning and even make you believe it. He even believed his own lies. Every time that mouth of his would open another lie would come out of it. He would lie to the insurance company and to the judge. Even when he lied to the judge, he thought he was telling the judge the truth, the judge knew he was lying to him. All the judge said was "there is no point in arguing with him, he really thinks he is telling the truth". My ex walked out of that court room with a smile on his face!

Answer 7

I knew 2. One was my boyfriend in college. He would tell these stories in a very convincing way, and it wasn't until you weren't around him that you would think..that can't be right. The second was my second husband. He had a gunshot wound to the head & survived. He was delusional if he didn't take his meds (lithium). He called the police & told them I was threatening him with a gun. I had a legally registered gun, I they took his word & arrested me. I was in jail for 3 weeks. He finally pleaded to get me out because he realizd he had locked up his paycheck. I was the breadwinner. He told me fantastic stories of writing a book, being on a talk show, things his ex-wife did, etc.
After I left him, he told a lot of stories about me, so now I question everything he said about everyone else.
Your next question would be, why did I marry him?....I felt sorry for him because he had a tough childhood & I thought I could "save" him. (I take in stray animals & occasionally people.)

Answer 8

I have known of two people that I can say lied over everything from a life changing situation for another to the most mundane things. Many of the lies by these folks were to avoid consequences of their actions, but neither could be trusted to tell the truth about what they had for breakfast. I came to the conclusion that they lied over the mundane things to keep themselves in shape for the real tall tales! I will add that one was a man, and the other was a woman, but both were malicious and vindictive.

Answer 9

I've known a few, two of them a mother and daughter pair. (I wonder if there is a hereditary component or if it is just learned behavior.) Like your acquaintances, the stories grow over time and they tend to believe them, or at least they forget which lies they have told. They thrive on a dramatic and turbulent lifestyle, which makes everyone around them suffer a bit. They need to be the center of attention. They need to be "handled" carefully if they are in your family, or you can find out later that they have been telling lies about you to turn people you love against you.

Answer 10

My ex was a compulsive liar. Never told the true about anything. I came across a book, "I Hate You, Don't Leave Me. The Borderline Personalty Disorder". And there was not a single word in it that did not describe my ex. And it said it was often mis-diagnosed as Bipolar. So you may want to read this too.

Answer 11

If I feel the need to experience a compulsive liar all I have to do is visit my grandson's girlfriend. She lies with such ease and they arent even very good lies. The only good part about it is, she forgets the lies she told yesterday and comes up with brand new ones. It's fruitless to try to keep track. I'm 70 years old and can truthfully say I have never met anyone like her in my whole life. I guess that's a good thing.