Mitomania – what is the pathological lie?

Proven content

Mitomania is a fairly common phenomenon, but still not fully researched by medicine. Otherwise it is called a pathological lie or a fantastic pseudology. Simply put, mythomania is lying all the time. What is mitomania? Where does this phenomenon come from, what are its effects and is it possible to cure mythomania?

What is mitomania?

Mitomania is a personality disorder that manifests itself in a tendency to pathologically lie and fantasize about yourself. It involves creating untrue stories about your life, health, achievements. In extreme cases, even exaggerating one’s unreal merits or advantages, thanks to which, in the opinion of himself and the environment, the mitoman grows into the role of a hero (or the other way around – he places himself in the role of a victim). In 1891, the phenomenon of mythomania was first investigated and described by the German psychiatrist Anton Delbrück in (we call mythomania Delbrück’s syndrome after his surname).

Mitomania and lies – differences

Unlike lies, which are intentional, mythomania has no specific purpose. The mitoman creates his own vision of himself and his life, is very convincing in it, but is not aware that he is telling the truth. A person with such a disorder does not distinguish between truth and lies in his speech because he identifies with what he says and believes it. A deliberate lie is intentional and serves to gain some benefit. In mythomania the opposite is true. The tendency to mythomania is permanent, it may take many years for the environment to become aware of the person’s problem.

What are the symptoms of mythomania?

Symptoms of mitomania include:

1. coming up with false but real stories about yourself and the surroundings of the mitoman’s closest people,
2. fanciful coloring of real events (the mitoman in the center of events, in superlatives shows his share so as to attract the attention of others),
3. exaggerating the role of the mitoman on various levels of life (professional, social, friendly, etc.), which is not true (the mitoman is driven by the need to present himself as the best, irreplaceable in a given field),
4. not distinguishing between truth and falsehood (mythomans lie aimlessly, completely unconsciously),
5. opposing all attempts at polemics on the part of people who want to prove a lie to the mythomaniac,
6. ignoring achievements and belittling the importance of other people.

The causes of mythomania

Until now, psychiatry has not been able to assess the unequivocal causes of the phenomenon of mythomania. The problem arises at the stage of determining whether mitomania is a mental illness, a personality disorder or perhaps one of the personality types.

Mitomania is often associated with the following mental illnesses and disorders:

1. schizophrenia,
2. psychopathic tendencies.
3. separateness bordeline,
4. narcissistic personality type,
5. other diseases and injuries of the central nervous system (e.g. infectious diseases of the nervous system, epilepsy).

Researchers have noted that mitomania appears in some cases as early as adolescence. Hence, psychiatrists and psychologists recognize that the emergence of mythomania is influenced by the environment in which a person grows up, as well as traumatic experiences. These include the death of a loved one, alcoholism and drug addiction in the family, pathological poverty and violence, including sexual violence. Taking these factors into account, mythomans compensate for their childhood traumatic experiences through pathological lies.

Diagnosing and treating mitomania

It’s not easy to make a diagnosis. A number of other diseases that resemble mitomania in their course and symptoms, such as delusional disorders or schizophrenia, should be excluded. Most often the problem is diagnosed by the mitoman’s environment when his lies are revealed. This causes problems for a disturbed person at work, in private and social life. His relationships and friendships break up, and he is fired from his job. This whole process is hampered by the fact that the mitoman remains unaware of his disorder. Despite the arguments from the outside, he does not allow himself to think that there is something wrong with him. There is no pharmacological treatment, the only method of salvation for such a person is psychotherapy. The primary task for a mitoman is to become aware of the problem and approach psychotherapy. With the help of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which looks for the causes of the disorder in the past (in experienced emotions and traumas), the patient is able to control his tendencies to mitomania and learn to control them.

The content of the medTvoiLokony website is intended to improve, not replace, the contact between the Website User and their doctor. The website is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Before following the specialist knowledge, in particular medical advice, contained on our Website, you must consult a doctor. The Administrator does not bear any consequences resulting from the use of information contained on the Website.Do you need a medical consultation or an e-prescription? Go to halodoctor.pl, where you will get online help – quickly, safely and without leaving your home.