a psychiatrists dream (sounds like a Dr. Phil episode!)

How to Spot a Pathological Liar

* They change their story all the time
* They will exaggerate and lie about everything, the smallest and easiest things to tell the truth about and the big serious things
*What ever you do, they can do it better.
*They often don't value the truth, and can often live in their own type of reality.
*They will act defensively when questioned or challenged, they see their lies as not hurting anyone
*They lie for sympathy or to seem better
*They usually never own up to the lies
*They contradict what they say, they lose track of the many lies told
*They lie because they are insecure

Do you know anyone like this? This is my mother-in-law to a "T." She has every symptom and you wouldn't believe some of the stuff that she comes up with! It has been a huge eye opening experience getting to know my mother-in-law. There is not enough time in the day for me to tell you all the crazy things that she comes up with. Her kids even know how much of a problem she has with lieing. Their philosophy is that's the way she is and most of the time they let it go in one ear and out the other. I came from a totally different family and this has been very hard for me to accept. I was always taught that lieing was something you just don't do. My Dad's biggest pet peave is lieing. So... that's how I grew up. It is hard for me to look at my MIL b/cuz all I can think about while she is talking is that it's all a lie. She lies about small things- like what she had for dinner... to huge things. I could write a book on my MIL based on the 5 yrs we have been together. I try not to complain or gripe about her to Big Country, but damn... sometimes you just can't help it. This is a big source of frustration and anger for me. I am trying to deal with it better, but it's definately going to take some work.