Pseudologica Fantastica: Dull and Common

When we were kids we called it "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire" but Dr. Sam Vaknin, self-proclaimed narcissist and author of Malignant Self Love, calls it Pseudologica Fantastica - way too pretty a term for such ugly activity.  it is hard for basically honest folks to comprehend people of the lie (a phrase coined by M. Scott Peck in his book by the same name).  Now everyone will lie to keep from being shot in the head, but there is a condition that goes beyond self-protection.  As my Daddy used to say, "He would rather climb a tree and lie than stand on the ground and tell the truth."  And I will never forget Judy W., a girl I knew through junior high and high school.  It was one pathetic attempt after another to illicit awe or pity.  We pitied her, all right, but not for her hard luck, rather how pathetic a liar she was.  

Dr. Vaknin's description might help us understand how controlling liars are:   

 "In 'Streetcar Named Desire', Blanche Dubois, the sister in law of the character played by Marlon Brando, is accused by him of inventing a false biography, replete with exciting events and desperate wealthy suitors. She responds that it is preferable to lead an imaginary but enchanted life - than a real but dreary one.

I exaggerate everything. If a newspapers publishes my articles, I describe it as "the most widely circulated", or "the most influential". If I meet someone, I make him out to be "the most powerful", "most enigmatic", "most something". If I make a promise, I always promise the impossible or undoable.

To put it less gently, I lie. Compulsively and needlessly.

All the time.

About everything. And I often contradict myself.

Why do I need to do this?

To make myself interesting or attractive. In other words, to secure Narcissistic Supply (attention, admiration, adulation, gossip). I refuse to believe that I can be of interest to anyone as I am. My mother was interested in me only when I achieved something. Since then I flaunt my achievements - or invent ones. I feel certain that people are more interested in my fantasies than in me.

This way I also avoid the routine, the mundane, the predictable, the boring.

In my mind, I can be anywhere, do anything and I am good at convincing people to participate in my scripts. It is movie-making. I should have been a director.

Pseudologica Fantastica is the compulsive need to lie consistently and about everything, however inconsequential - even if it yields no benefits to the liar. I am not that bad. But when I want to impress - I lie."

This concept leaves me pondering how a person is a thief of reality when he or she will lie to control another's perception of reality.  It's sad for the deceived and even sad for the liar.  You have to see it for the pathology it is and laugh at it to keep from taking it too seriously.  Ultimately the shock and awe of lies may be covering only a Blanche Dubois dull commonness.