Confronting the person with their deceptions will likely backfire. As tempting as it is to take a prosecutorial approach and attempt to extract a mea culpa from the individual, save your breath. Exposure and questioning tend to stimulate further fabrication and evasion.

• Pseudologia fantastica, aka pathological lying, is when a person lies to a degree that is out of proportion to any clear, objective benefit.
• Pseudologia fantastica serves an ego-driven, internally motivated longing for how someone wishes the world would be and would see them.

Truth be told, we all lie sometimes. Ninety percent of our deceptions are white lies told to protect ourselves, to avoid getting into trouble, and to spare someone else’s feelings. For the most part, the lies we tell are motiva...

In a clinical setting, there is evidence that showing disinterest in the tales but maintaining interest in the person may help reduce the motivation to lie. While there is no guarantee of successful treatment, I think we can all a...

While there is no current gold-standard definition of pseudologia fantastica, several key characteristics have been identified:

1. They chronically tell lies or untrue stories that are unrelated to, or out of proportion t...

Moreover, unlike cons who lie for external gain or profit, people with PF tell lies that go above and beyond what would be necessary to pull off a successful swindle. They are out of proportion to any obvious external reward. The lies they tell are “almost always dazzling or fantastical,” and eas...

That said, in the face of incontrovertible evidence, they will—reluctantly —relinquish their tall tales. This stands in contrast to people with a delusional disorder who cling to their fixed false beliefs no matter what. PF often overlaps with borderline, antisocial, and

"It's a basic truth of the human condition that everybody lies. The only variable is about what."—Hugh Laurie

Lying may be an integral part of our daily lives, but there is a big difference between “normal” lying and pathological lying, also known as pseudologia fantastica. The term pseudologia fantastica (PF) was first coined by the German physician, Anton Delbrueck, in 1891 t...

These individuals “indulge in a veritable orgy of lying” t...