Contents
Mythomania
Origin of mythomania
The term mythomania was invented by the forensic scientist Ernest Dupré at the very beginning of the XNUMXth century in his book Mythomania, a psychological and forensic study of morbid lies and fabulation (1905). It originally referred to the elective aptitude of children to lie and simulation and more precisely the “pathological tendency, more or less voluntary and conscious, to lie and to create imaginary fables”. For Dupré, haunted by the risk of judicial errors, the child is moved by a constitutional need to harm adults by lying in a natural way. Even if he specifies that these acts are still not intentional, such a speech constitutes a real indictment against the children, and all the more so since it does not put forward any hypothesis to explain the phenomenon. According to him the conscience of the child would intervene only at the very beginning of the lie, which would arrive, by progressive autosuggestion, to impose itself on the belief of the child. He would live his lie so intensely that he would sincerely end up believing it.
The lie
The term lie appeared in the XNUMXth century in the French language from Latin “ to lie », Traditionally associated with thought, intelligence in action. Today, it designates an “assertion knowingly contrary to the truth, made with the intention of deceiving”, which confirms the idea that the liar never believes his lie. In other words, whoever says a wrong thing that he believes to be true is not lying, he is wrong..
Linguist A. Reboul confirms this by adding that an assertion can only be qualified as a lie on the condition that ” the speaker intends his interlocutor to believe that he believes in the truth of what he is saying. “
The definition of a lie therefore clashes with the idea of ”lying to oneself.” Now, it seems that the mythomaniac himself believes his lies… Can the mythomaniac be described as a liar?
Is the mythomaniac a liar?
In his work entitled “Small treatise on moral perversions”, A. Eiguer defines “mythomania” as a form of mystification towards others, but also to oneself. Classically, the mythomaniac creates a rewarding character to which he adheres with such determination that he manages to convince those around him.
« Mythomaniacs must sincerely believe in the stories they tell and the characters they make up in order to be able to convince others better. Even if this is not the case at first, they eventually get caught up in their own game. »
In other words, the mythomaniacs begin by lying, then end up appropriating the theme of their narration. A theory was born in 1891 at the instigation of the psychiatrist A. Delbrück to describe and explain this phenomenon: the pseudologia-phantistica theory. The doctor considers this phenomenon as a daytime dream told to the other as if it were reality, and without will to deceive.
Mythomania today
Mythomania is today akin to a pathology characterized by false statements in which its author himself believes. The individual develops scenarios, events, acts and characters that never happened or do not exist. He calls himself an actor or witness to a story that he himself imagined and which often places him in a advantageous position.
The mythomaniac ends up acting partially or totally according to his imaginary production. “Not having the strength to exist in reality, they do not really know who they are, since they only identify themselves through the imaginary” specifies the psychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik. It is therefore abouta way to escape from a reality that is unacceptable or difficult to face without suffering. For the psychiatrist Bomstein, it is a “defense of the organism against a feeling of inferiority and regression”.
By an almost unconscious decision and to avoid frustration, the mythomaniac locks himself in a fictitious universe where reality and fiction merge. In most cases, this process tends to take place over a very long period of time.
« The liar […] acts with the intention of giving false information. He always has a choice between telling the truth or not, and he knows the difference between the two. Mythomaniacs, who know that they are not telling the truth […], are unable to control their behavior […] and are not aware of lying » Paul Ekman.
The causes of mythomania
Why do some people have to lie to their interlocutors without any material motive pushing them to do so? What psychic benefits does a relationship where others are cheated on provide for the liar?
Why is the child lying?
There may be several reasons why a child resorts to lying. He may want to feel valued, avoid responsibility, or fear reprimand. Anyway, the child would ignore the lie before the age of 6 to 7 years: before that, it often alters reality, but in an unconscious way and without intention to harm.
The robot portrait of the mythomaniac
Because the confession is unbearable, mythomaniacs quickly become great mystifiers. He must be believed otherwise everything collapses and his imaginary world collapses. He therefore does everything he can to be as precise as possible, feeding on reality, drawing here and there fragments of truth. Nothing is left to chance, everything is thought out so that the storytelling is credible.
The mythomaniac is typically fragile, hyperemotional, subject to a strong dependence on the eyes of others and whose powers of the imagination are increased tenfold. Whatever his profile, he often appears the first victim of his imaginary stories, which he struggles to distinguish from reality.
What happens when the mythomaniac is unmasked?
This is the worst case scenario for a mythomaniac: to be discovered. It is a moment that he lives in an extremely distressing way and which pushes him to take several paths:
- Engage on a new lie.
- Sinking into depression.
- Flee to somewhere else where everything can be started over.
What to do when faced with a mythomaniac?
When faced with a mythomaniac, it is recommended to not to pay attention to his lies, at the risk of pushing him even deeper into what he believes to be reality.
Likewise, it is not recommended to go violently against what he says, at the risk of leading to an obstinacy from which it would be even more difficult to escape.
The best solution is tolittle by little help the mythomaniac to become aware of the falsity of his reality, by confronting his speech with elements which are not in adequacy with it, while keeping in mind that mythomania can be a serious illness. There is therefore no point in constantly telling him that he is lying.
Therapy is the most recommended treatment, but the myth addict must still be asking for it.
Inspirational quotes
« Hiding is a pleasure, but not being found is a disaster » DW Winnicott
« The mythomaniac […] is not content to take his desires for realities, or to deny a painful reality. [The mythomaniac] seeks [..] to modify the real world for his own benefit, through the intermediary of the belief of others. » Guy Durandin