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Phenomenon described by science, but outside manuals as isolated diagnosis, helps explain why a small group concentrates recurring lies, difficult to control and capable of affecting bonds, routine, and mental health in a more profound way than simple occasional falsehoods.
Science describes compulsive lying, also known as mythomania or pathological lying, as a persistent, recurring pattern that is difficult to interrupt, capable of compromising bonds, routine, and mental health.
Although the phenomenon has been discussed for over a century, it does not appear as an autonomous diagnosis in major classification systems, such as the DSM-5 and ICD, which does not prevent its clinical recognition as a relevant behavior and, in some cases, debilitating.
This debate has gained strength because research on the act of lying has shown that most people lie little, or do not lie, on an ordinary day, while a small fraction concentrates a large part of the reported falsehoods.
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In other words, the behavior does not distribute homogeneously in the population, which helps explain why certain cases attract the attention of clinicians and researchers.
Compulsive lying and common lying do not work the same way
The central difference between occasional lying and the compulsive form lies less in the existence of the falsehood itself and more in the pattern it assumes.
Lying occasionally, to escape embarrassment, avoid punishment, or protect one’s image, is part of human social repertoire.
In pathological cases, however, the behavior becomes repetitive, generalized, and often disproportionate to the context.
In these cases, the person may lie even when there is no evident objective advantage, distancing this pattern from the idea of pure strategic calculation.
Researchers studying the topic have proposed that pathological lying involves a relatively stable set of characteristics: high frequency, difficulty of control, maintenance over time, and concrete negative impact on social, professional, or emotional life.
Psychoanalyst Christian Dunker, a full professor at the Institute of Psychology at USP, distinguishes the two planes by stating that common lying “presumes a desire to deceive the other, an intentionality,” while the pathological form refers to a kind of subjective coercion, in which the person can no longer simply stop lying.
This formulation helps understand why mythomania is often treated less as an isolated act and more as a clinical sign.
What studies have shown about mythomania
The most recent scientific literature has attempted to delineate this behavior with its own instruments.
In 2024, researchers published the validation of an inventory aimed at identifying patterns of pathological lying, an initiative that seeks to better differentiate frequent lying from clinically problematic lying.
The proposal stems precisely from the historical difficulty of studying a phenomenon known in the office, but still without fully consolidated diagnostic boundaries.
Another important point is the trajectory over the life course.
Lying tends to appear more frequently in childhood and adolescence, alongside cognitive and social development.
In most cases, however, this behavior loses intensity with maturity.
When this does not happen, and high levels of lying persist from adolescence into adulthood, the pattern begins to deviate from what is expected.
A longitudinal study published in the Journal of Adolescence identified that about 5% of participants maintained high traits of atypical lying from adolescence into adulthood.
This group exhibited, even in youth, more manipulation, impulsivity, irresponsibility, and lack of remorse, as well as a greater likelihood of later involvement in offenses and substance use.
The result does not turn compulsive lying into an independent diagnosis, but reinforces that it is a risk pattern, and not just a personality trait without consequences.
Research with psychotherapists also indicates that the behavior often arises associated with other mental conditions, especially personality disorders and conditions marked by significant psychological suffering.
This helps explain why many specialists see mythomania as a symptom, behavioral expression, or clinical trait embedded in a broader picture, rather than as an isolated entity.
Why some people lie recurrently
There is no single cause.
What science suggests is a combination of psychological, social, and behavioral factors.
Low self-esteem, intense need for recognition, difficulty tolerating frustrations, and traits of impulsivity appear recurrently in the literature.
In certain cases, lying can also function as an immediate reward: it offers attention, relief, admiration, or a momentary escape from discomfort, which favors its repetition.
This dynamic helps explain why the behavior can consolidate even without lasting benefit.
A successful lie in the short term can reduce anxiety, avoid immediate embarrassment, or produce the feeling of control over one’s image.
Over time, the resource ceases to be exceptional and takes on a frequent role in the mediation between the subject and reality.
In the psychoanalytic reading presented by Dunker, lying can operate as a fiction of identity.
“Lying is a version of our fantasies, of what we would like to be,” he states.
In more marked situations, this elaboration serves not only to convince others but to sustain a character that organizes one’s own experience, mixing desire, social image, and personal narrative.
When truth, fantasy, and memory begin to mix
One of the most delicate aspects of compulsive lying is that it does not automatically confuse with delusion.
In general, the person knows they are lying. Still, constant repetition, combined with emotional investment in the stories told, can make the separation between fact, fantasy, and reconstructed memory less clear.
This does not mean a total loss of contact with reality, but indicates a more unstable relationship with one’s own version of events.
It is precisely in this gray area that the behavior tends to produce more damage.
Lying ceases to fulfill a punctual function and begins to require permanent maintenance.
To sustain a previous version, another needs to be created; then, a third.
Gradually, a chain of fabrications forms that compromises others’ trust and imposes on the individual a continuous effort to manage their image.
The consequences tend to be broad.
Loss of credibility, emotional wear, family ruptures, professional difficulties, and social isolation appear among the most frequent effects described by clinicians and researchers.
Furthermore, as the behavior often coexists with psychological suffering, anxiety, depression, and interpersonal conflicts may intensify instead of diminish.
Treatment depends on individualized evaluation
Clinical management depends on individualized evaluation. As compulsive lying often appears associated with other conditions, treatment usually involves psychotherapy and, when necessary, psychiatric follow-up.
The first challenge is to distinguish occasional, socially contextualized lying from a persistent, widespread pattern that generates real harm.
Without this differentiation, there is a risk of both trivializing a clinical behavior and pathologizing common human conduct.
The scientific discussion, therefore, no longer revolves around whether this pattern exists in practice, but how to define it precisely enough to guide diagnosis, research, and care.
The consensus has not yet been closed in the manuals, but the accumulated evidence indicates that, for a small portion of people, lying is not just exaggerating, omitting, or manipulating in specific situations: it is a repetitive, difficult-to-contain, and potentially destructive behavior for communal life.
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