Pathological Lying
Pathological Lying
My research and writing has primarily focused on people who struggle with pathological lying. The fields of psychiatry and psychology have written about pathological lying for over a century but it has remained understudied and not formally recognized as a psychiatric condition. Unfortunately, people who suffer are unable to get the help they need. I care deeply for people I speak with who are unable to find the help they need. My hope is that pathological lying will eventually be recognized as a formal diagnostic entity and that there will be empirically-supported treatments to help people who are suffering from their lying behavior.
Pathological Lying
“A persistent, pervasive, and often compulsive pattern of excessive lying behavior leading to clinically significant impairment of functioning in social, occupational, or other areas, causing marked distress, and posing a risk to the self or others, occurring for longer than a six month period.”
(Curtis & Hart, 2020)
“The most frequent question we deception researchers are asked is, “What about pathological liars?” Now we can answer, “Buy this book.” It fills a gap in the literature by providing a comprehensive overview of theory, research, and clinical practice related to pathological lying, and is written in a very accessible style.”
— Aldert Vrij, PhD, Professor of Applied Social Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth
“This book is the gold standard; in its contribution to our understanding of pathological lying, nothing else compares. ”
— Bella DePaulo, PhD, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara
“Curtis and Hart provide the much-needed definitive treatise on pathological lying. They have changed how I understand pathological lying. I recommend their book to everyone interested in the topic.”
— Timothy R. Levine, PhD, author of Duped: Truth-Default Theory and the Social Science of Lying and Deception
“Until now, our understanding of the pathological liar has been fragmented, confusing, and obscured by stigma. Finally, the picture is clearer! Curtis and Hart bring all the pieces of the puzzle together to provide an engaging book that draws on scientific evidence to help us understand the pathological liar—what makes them lie and approaches to reducing their lying and the negative impact on close personal relationships.”
—Victoria Talwar, Ph.D., author of The Truth About Lying: Teaching Honesty to Children at Every Age and Stage, Professor and Chair, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill Univeristy
“By parsing pathological lying from everyday normative and prolific lying, Curtis and Hart make a valuable contribution to both clinical psychology and the study of deception. Not only do they build the case for pathological lying as a distinct diagnosis that is more than just the symptom of other pathologies, but they also help us to understand that not everyone who tells a lot of lies is suffering from a mental disorder. This book will go a long way toward correcting the frequent and casual misuse of the term “pathological liar.”
—Kim Serota, PhD, Deception Scholar and Lecturer, Department of Management and Marketing, Oakland University.
“Following an outstanding review of the literature, the authors use case histories and examples, historical and current, to bring the concept of pathological lying to life. This scholarly but easy-to-read work extends the forceful argument for recognizing pathological lying as a diagnostic entity in the DSM.”
—Charles C. Dike, MD, MPH, Distinguished Fellow, American Psychiatric Association; Fellow, Royal college of Psychiatrists of England; Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Co-Director, Law and Psychiatry Division, Yale University School of Medicine.