Pseudologia fantastica, also known as pathological lying, is something that affects many people. Diagnosing pathological lying can be difficult. Psychologists are trained to understand the issues this diagnosis presents as a disorder. It is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition. It is a stand-alone disorder as well as a symptom of other disorders such as psychopathy and antisocial, narcissistic, and histrionic personality disorders, but people who are pathological liars may not possess characteristics of the other disorders. It has been shown through lie detector tests that pseudologia fantastica patients exhibit arousal, stress, and guilt from their deception. This is different from psychopaths, who …show more content…
pseudologia fantastica is strictly internal. The difference between borderline personality disorder and pseudologia fantastica is that BPD patients desperately try to cope with their feeling of abandonment, mistreatment, or rejection by making empty threats of suicide or false accusations of abandonment. People who suffer from pseudologia fantastica do not feel rejected; they have high levels of self-assurance that help them lie successfully. Unlike those with histrionic personality, pathological liars are more verbally dramatic than sexually flamboyant. Narcissists think they have achieved perfection and are unempathetic to others. Pseudologia fantastica patients do not show these anti-social behaviors; they often lie because they think their life is not interesting enough. The only diagnosis in our current system where purposeless, internally motivated deception is listed is axis I factitious disorder. This diagnosis deals with people who lie about having physical or psychological disorders. People with pseudologia fantastica tend to lie about their identities and past history. Since the symptoms do not match up, the individual may go undiagnosed. Pseudologia fantastica i actually factor #1 in the Psychopathy