Have you blindly trusted someone only to realize after a long time that you were manipulated by a psychopath and trapped in a web of lies? If yes, then you have hit the right post. Here is everything you should know about “pathological lying” and psychopaths.
Do you know that pathological lying and psychopathy are one and the same thing? While lying has been assumed to be universal and typical in humans and not so harmful, pathological lying is the chronic behavior of compulsive or habitual lying.
Pathological lying is usually hidden by certain assumptions – that can be called outright dangerous – and has also been proved by research.
Lying to your parents about excess consumption of ice creams, and chocolates or lying to your teachers about bunking classes, or hiding about your occasional alcohol consumption from your spouse – is definitely not wrong.
Related: 10 Surefire Signs You’re Dealing With a Psychopath
We all lie to have some extra fun, protect ourselves from the wrath of parents and teachers or avoid hurting our best friends’ feelings or avoid shame because of our silly mistakes.
However, psychopaths are habitual liars because they are driven by the mission to manipulate others for pleasure and personal gain. They are quite different from ordinary people because they tend to lie for no apparent reason. And every lie is damaging!
Why do psychopaths lie so much? Knowing their actual intentions behind lying and disturbing aspects of their character will leave you dumbstruck.
So, they are pathological liars having personality disorders and fit the definition of psychopaths. Their deception and lying are inseparable from different types of psychopathic behavior.
Here are different ways in which psychopaths manipulate others using pathological lying.
4 Ways Psychopaths Use Pathological Lying To Manipulate You
1. Dominate their targets
Psychopaths treat relationships as games and people as objects. So, they never regret taking advantage of you, even if you are innocent. Nothing can melt their hearts. They always have excuses ready to justify their acts.
They have mastered the art of lying, which is an essential skill to manipulate and deceive the victim. Lying is like breathing to them. If they want to impress you they will leave no stone unturned to prove themselves as genuine and trustworthy individuals.
Having incredible mind-reading skills, psychopaths hardly take time to understand your personality and psychology. And, present themselves in front of you in a manner that is appealing to you.
If you have never encountered psychopaths before, it is highly likely that you will fall for their false images and do things exactly the way they want. You end up making the wrong decisions and fall into an impending disaster.
Once the potential target is trapped in the psychopath’s web of lies, s/he loses the capacity to distinguish between what is true and false. Because psychopaths twist and turn the facts and occasionally speak half-truths. That creates uber confusion in your mind!
Moreover, psychopaths are always prepared with the necessary resources and backups to support their alcoholism, abuse, and other dubious acts. So, even when you’re suspicious about them, you can’t find any evidence against their wrongdoings.
Consequently, it is the target or victim who ends up feeling guilty and enters into a stage of chronic self-doubt.
A psychopath will always keep you in an illusion that s/he loves you immensely and that you are always wrong to ensure their control over you. Thus, they keep lying, manipulating, and dominating you.
Related: 10 Tips That Will Help You Avoid Emotional Manipulation
2. Seek pleasure in lying
Some people seek pleasure from reading, while some from food and some from movies or traveling. But, psychopaths seek pleasure in lying. They tell lies until their hearts are filled with happiness. Shocking. Isn’t it?
A lot of people tell lies to save themselves from danger or avoid heavy personal or professional loss. Some people lie under extreme pressure to hide shame or a wrong act.
However, psychopaths cannot progress in their lives without lying. Telling lies is innate to them and they keep doing even when they can easily tell the truth to avoid all the problems.
This pathological lying is explained by “Duper’s Delight” which describes why psychopaths lie even though lying is not at all necessary.
Psychopaths love the process of lying as they add a lot of details to make it more real. It is like an achievement to them when people believe their fake story. Sick entertainment! Because they have gained desired control over you and can make you dance to their tunes.
3. Speak lies – truer than reality
Unlike normal human beings, psychopaths lack any subtle emotions, which is why psychopaths lie all the time. They are driven by devious motivations and lying is their powerful tool and a source of fun and entertainment. They are hollow inside and lying only gives them shallow pleasure, which they fail to realize.
Their lying is compulsive pathological lying – a typical characteristic of psychopathic personality disorder. It is completely opposite to normal lying that we all do when and if the situation demands it or in unavoidable circumstances.
Psychopaths have no purpose in life, no mercy, no empathy for people, and no regrets for their lies and manipulations. They can look directly into your eyes and speak lies effortlessly. Even when caught they can cook false stories on spot without a pinch of guilt or hesitation.
Denying is another great skill that they have. When they are caught telling lies, they will deny quite naturally and make you fool instantly. Captivated by their fake image and attempts to portray themselves as unusually honest, you will end up believing their falsehood.
Many of these psychopaths would never care to apologize, but many would do that frequently. But, keep in mind – their apologies are never real. Even if they apologize, they do so to manipulate you more while coming across as sincere.
“A pathological liar is absolutely the toughest individual to deal with as a psychiatrist. Because you can’t take anything they say at face value. And you can’t, you know, fill in their personality. You don’t know what’s real and what’s not.” – Dale Archer
Related: Habitual Liars And Their Agendas
4. Play victims with lies
Psychopaths have a wonderful clarity in their minds about what they want and how they wish to achieve it. Since psychopaths are wonderful mind readers, they are well aware of the in and out of their target. Psychopaths lie and distort the truth so that they can trap their victims in their web of deceit and manipulation.
Convincing you or winning your sympathy is an easy job for them. They can keep weaving tragic stories of how harsh their childhood was and how their exes and friends betrayed them how violent accidents were suffered by them or how people robbed their hard-earned money, and so on and so forth.
Whatever they say or do, they do it with 100% confidence and flawlessly. Sure, you will feel pity for them and get trapped in their vicious games. Which, further increases the scope for more manipulation, exploitation, and lying.
In most cases, kind-hearted and empathetic people are their prime targets. Because they don’t have twisted minds, they think straight and hence, quickly fall for the cunningness of psychopaths and their pathological lying.
Everything appears true and real to the victims. Lying and conscienceless behavior is completely rooted in the psychopathic thought process and their actions.
“Habitual liars invent falsehoods not to gain any end or even to deceive their hearers, but to amuse themselves. It is partly practice and partly habit. It requires an effort in them to speak the truth.” – William Hazlitt
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Want to know more about pathological lying? Check this video out below!
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