What is going on?! - chronic liar

[Whatisgoingon8]

This may be more suited to the mental health thread but I’d prefer this was only online for a short period of time.

This person would be described by everyone as generous, kind, loving and deeply caring. I think all of those things are true but I have started to unpick a few things from my childhood and more recently and I’m wondering whether there is a mental health issue/ personality disorder that has gone undiagnosed.

I have never spoken to anyone about this but a couple of comments from others in the family tells me this issue is clearly getting worse.

In short, they lie constantly. Embellish the story, add something extra for dramatic effect, or just straight up lie. It’s always been fairly harmless stuff. Someone at work has said this, a neighbour has done that or they almost died when this happened.

The issue is, it’s constantly and I now no longer believe anything they say. Everything is taken with a pinch of salt! It’s becoming a running joke and it doesn’t sit well with me that someone is the butt of some very unkind jokes.

They have been diagnosed with a physical medical condition. I feel like the worst person on the planet but part of me doesn’t actually believe they have it! There have been some questionable statements, some curious stories and some even “funnier” demands around this diagnosis. I’m not finding it funny, I’m genuinely concerned.

Any advice? I should say, nothing changes if you catch them in the lie! They don’t seem phased and just keep adjusting the story.

I used to know someone like this. I thought it was just attention-seeking and caused by insecurity. But I’ve since heard on the grapevine that she has been diagnosed with a serious mental disorder and there are rumours of childhood abuse.

So your suspicion of something undiagnosed could well be true. Or it could just be a bad habit.

There are several mh conditions that the person will fully believe is the truth but it's not. If there diagnosed not sure why you won't believe it

My Sister is like this .It got worse and worse and ended up causing untold damage for her and those in her life. My advice would be to gently talk to her and accompany to the GP if she will let you. Provide links to information on personality disorder types - research first. I didn't and wish I had, mainly to protect her children but also to give her a chance to make true connections with people and get better. She was like it from childhood but the lies were constant when I last saw her. So hard to deal with as she believed it all and was very, very defensive if challenged.

I should add my sister also had medical conditions she was diagnosed with.Except she hadn't. None of it was true.

If OP wasn’t at the appointment when the diagnosis was given, how can she believe it

There was childhood abuse in this case too. It’s another reason I’ve given this quite a bit of thought.

This isn’t the first and only diagnosis claimed to have been given. I believed them when they said they needed an operation for something else and I later learnt it was a privately paid for operation for something entirely different!

There have been many claims of operations over the years. It’s tricky because it’s mostly bending the truth so a skin tag removal is called a minor surgery, I wouldn’t call that an operation though, would you?

I have tried to do some research but it’s so vast! ChatGPT was entirely unhelpful too!

@Whatisgoingon8 look up personality disorder type B. My sister is also a narcissist in the true sense of the word though.