In his 2003 state of the union address, George W Bush announced: “The British government has learnt that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
The first 10 years of the new millennium were later referred to as the “decade of deceit”. As we approach the 2020s, deception is still in the ascendancy and truth looks like it’s in serious trouble.
“Gaslighting”, “alternative facts” and “post-truth world” are phrases that have all recently entered the popular lexicon and imagination. But why do we lie?
For answers, we might look to the old idea of the seven deadly sins. The deadly, or cardinal, sins were viewed as such because they were believed to be the source of all other vice. They were, if you like, gateway vices. It’s pretty easy to come up with examples of how greed, envy, sloth (escape from work), lust and pride might motivate deceptive behaviour. However, there are some people for whom lying goes even deeper; the motive for their deceit is simply unfathomable. What lies behind these lies?
Over the years, psychologists have come up with a number of terms to describe this type of excessive and apparently baseless lying. Initially, the tendency was termed “pseudologia fantastica” or “mythomania”. This referred to a type of lying where the falsifications were over-elaborate and massively disproportionate to any obvious personal gain. Lies for the sake of lies. It’s like the pseudologue (liar) simply derives some kind of warped gratification from telling his or her tall tales.
Today we might refer to this type of deceptive behaviour as pathological lying, and perhaps view it as a symptom of an underlying psychiatric condition.
For example, lying is common in antisocial personality disorder (psychopathy), where a person may simply lie for pleasure or for the satisfaction they derive from watching the victim of their lie suffer. Histrionic and narcissistic personality disorders are also associated with pathological lying.
In the histrionic type there is a need for attention, so the lies tend to be headline grabbers: “The doctor thinks it might be a tumour.” In the narcissistic type there is a need for adoration, so the lies tend to be self-esteem boosting: “The director said I was the most talented person he had ever interviewed.”
Within some quarters of the psychiatric community however, there are calls for pathological lying to be considered a full disorder in its own right. There are many cases where pathological lying is present in the absence of any other known psychiatric condition or symptoms. Perhaps the most famous case is Baron von Munchausen, an 18th-century German cavalry officer who was fond of telling false tales and today lends his name to Munchausen’s syndrome (falsely claiming to be sick).
Pathological lying can have devastating implications. Consider, for example, the criminal justice system. Who would want a pathological liar testifying against them in a court of law? Similarly, in the world of work, your whole career might be set ablaze by the incendiary allegations of a modern-day Munchhausen.
Is pathological lying a diagnosable psychiatric entity, and if so, is it treatable? Should an individual be held responsible for the consequences of their pathological lying and would such an individual ever be competent to stand trial?
The debate over the exact psychiatric status of pathological lying seems increasingly relevant in our post-truth era. However, psychiatric diagnoses tend to apply to behaviours that deviate from the norm. Perhaps in our post-truth world, lying will become so common as to render this a meaningless debate. We may instead begin talking about pathological truthfulness.
Dr Justin Thomas is an associate professor at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi
On Twitter: @DrJustinThomas
