Pathology of Lying, Etc.

W >> William and Mary Healy >> Pathology of Lying, Etc.

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During the continuance of the case, when all her interests
demanded her good behavior, Gertrude could not refrain from what
were almost orgies of lying and deceit. She well realized how
this would count against her and, indeed, wrote letters of
apology repeatedly for her misconduct.

``Let me come and tell you all. The time has come when things
must stop, therefore I feel that I must talk to someone. I have
lived a lie from the day I was born until now.''

After these letters she went on making false statements which
could readily be checked up. Nothing is any more curious in
Gertrude's case than the anomaly of her telling several of us who
tried to help her that up to the time of the given interview she
had not thoroughly realized how bad it was to lie, and how she
now felt keenly that she must cease, while perhaps at the end of
the very same interview a reaction to a new situation would
produce more fabrications. Personally I have seen nothing any
more suggestive of the typical toper's good resolutions and
sudden falling from grace.

The story of the forged check was fancifully embellished and ever
more details were supplied at pleasure. While this matter was
under investigation Gertrude stayed away from home several
nights, two of which have never been accounted for. She told
fairly plausible stories about going out of town, but she first
should have studied time tables to make them wholly convincing.
The mother, too, told that the girl had been out of town, but in
this she was caught, for it was found that Gertrude had been part
of the time with other relatives.

The main story of the check involved a man who worked in the same
office. She stated that he made an immoral proposal to her on
the basis of immunity from prosecution. After a couple of months
Gertrude got round to confessing that she alone was responsible
for the entire forgery and that her previous quite clever stories
were not true. Her main confession was made in the form of a
long letter written entirely aside from the influence of any one.
In this she also stated that she had stolen money and jewelry,
which was known to have been taken. There was no untrue self-
accusation, except that she may have exaggerated her own tendency
to falsify at a very early age. Naturally, in such a case as
this, even the latest confession must always be taken cum grano
salis.

Passing from the above probably sufficient account of Gertrude's
falsifications as we knew them, we can take up her mental life
and traits. We have had to rely on the girl herself, as we
stated above, for many of these facts. She was brought up in
poor circumstances in a manufacturing town in England where there
had been many labor troubles. On two occasions when she was a
child she had seen encounters on the street, and during one riot
in their neighborhood her uncle was injured. She was
considerably frightened, but, so far as we could learn, this was
the only time in her life that she experienced any fear. Very
early she found that stories told to frighten her were untrue,
and what was said about the undesirability of certain children as
playmates proved false when she came to know them. She early
discovered that for self-satisfaction she would have to live a
mental life of her own. There were many things which she could
not discuss with her mother. In early childhood she was a great
reader of novels and spent many hours lying on the bed living an
imaginary life. She never discussed her ideas with any one.
Later she took to more serious reading, and of recent years she
has assailed many of the world's greatest problems. Particularly
she tells of the influence of Tolstoi's ``Kreutzer Sonata'' upon
her. During two years she has read it four times and it has
convinced her of the shams of character and that people lead dual
lives.

When she was about 9 or 10 years old she began talking with other
girls about sex problems and up to the present time has never
consulted any grown person about them. Her first information of
this kind was obtained from a crowd of girls who used
successfully to lie to their teachers and mothers to get out of
school work. Going further into the question of this hidden
knowledge of sex things, she tells us she has never worried much
about the things she has heard, but she has wondered a great deal
and they have often come up in her mind. She pursued the course
of asking many girls what they knew about this subject and then,
getting unsatisfactory answers, picked up what she could from
ordinary literature. Gertrude maintains that all her dwelling
upon sex affairs never aroused within her any specific desires.
(Gertrude is anything but a sensuous type and it may be that her
statement in this respect is true.) When she went to work she
fell in with girls who talked excessively about boys and sex
affairs, but at this time she had a mental world of her own and
so did not pay much attention to them. Gertrude talked much to
us of the possibility of her studying civil law, history,
economics, and so on--it is very clear that she has really dwelt
on the possibility of being a student of serious subjects.

Very willingly this young woman entered into the problem of
solving the genesis of her own tendencies. She repeatedly said
that she, of all things, wanted to break herself of this. She
maintains she can perceive no beginnings. It seems to her as if
she has always been that way. She spoke at first of this crowd
of girls who successfully lied to their parents and talked to her
about sex things, and we are inclined to believe that this really
may have been the beginning, but later she affirms this was not
the beginning and that her lying began in earlier childhood. All
that she knows is that it has grown to be a habit and now ``when
I speak it comes right out.'' After she has told a lie she never
thinks about it again one way or another. Her conscience does
not trouble her in the matter. She does not tell lies for what
she gets out of it, nor does it give her any particular pleasure
to fool people. She does not invent her stories, but at the time
of talking to people she simply says untrue things without any
thought beforehand and without any consideration afterward. To
one officer she flung the challenge, ``Oh, I'm clever, you'll
find that out.'' After months of effort and when it was clear
that the girl for her own good must be given a course of training
in an institution she quite acquiesced in the wisdom of such
procedure, after a few hours' rebellion.

It has been noted by many that one of Gertrude's outstanding
traits is her lack of emotion. She never cries and only rarely
does the semblance of a blush tinge her cheeks. She neither
loves nor hates strongly. She seems remarkably calm under
conditions where others storm. She says she never is frightened,
that she never worries, or is sorry. She is well aware of her
own ego; that she may be trespassing upon the rights of others
never seems to enter her head. Certain simulations of physical
ailments, which at times she showed, we could only interpret as
part of her general tendency to misrepresent.

Our summary of the causative factors in this case, made,
unfortunately, partly on the basis of this unreliable girl's
testimony, offers the following explanation of her remarkable
tendencies:

(a) There was early development of an inner life which dealt
vividly in imaginary situations. This grew into a mental
existence hidden entirely from the members of her family.

(b) There was early experience with successful lying on the part
of others, and this as a main episode probably occurred at the
time when the emotion natural to first knowledge of sex life was
present.

(e) There was frequent experience with the falsifications which
were her mother's frailty.

(d) For her lying there were no parental disciplines or
corrections at any time, so far as we have been able to learn.

(e) The young woman shows unusually little emotion, and only
sporadically demonstrates conscience.

(f) There is unquestionably marked habit formation in the case.

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Habit formation: Very strong. Case 8.
Lack of parental correction. Girl, age 17 years.
Early experience with lying.
Development of inner life: Imaginative and
hidden.
Delinquencies:
Excessive lying and misrepresentation.
False accusations.
Forging. Mentality:
Stealing. Good ability.
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CASE 9

Summary: A girl of 14 had been notoriously untruthful for years.
She had created much trouble by her petty false accusations, and
her lying stood often in the way of her own satisfactions and
advantages. Analysis of the case shows the girl's dual moral and
social experiences and tendencies, her inner conflicts about the
same, and her remarkably vivid mental imagery-- all of which
leads her to doubt sometimes concerning what is true and what is
false.

A strange admixture of races, of religion, and of social and
moral tendencies was brought out in the study of Amanda R. and of
her family conditions. We were much helped in the study of this
case, which has long been a source of many social difficulties,
by the intelligence of certain relatives who knew well the family
facts, and also by the good mental capacities of the girl
herself.

Amanda is an orphan and has been living for years with relatives.
She has caused them and others, even those who have tried to help
her, extreme annoyance on account of her quite unnecessary lies,
her accusations, and some other delinquent tendencies. The main
trouble all concede to be her falsifications, which vary from
direct denials to elaborate stories invented without any seeming
reason whatever. Reports on her conduct have come from a number
of different sources. Neighbors have complained that she has
come to them and borrowed money with the statement that her
family was hard up. At school she stated for a time that she had
come unprovided with lunch because her people were so poor, but
it was ascertained that she had thrown away her lunch each day.
The lies which she told to the other school children were
extraordinarily numerous and fertile; unfortunately they
sometimes involved details about improper sex experiences. A
long story was made up about one of her relatives having
committed suicide and was told to the school teachers and others.
She defamed the character of one of her aunts. To her pastor she
told some outrageous falsehoods. A home for delinquent girls,
where she was once placed on account of her general bad behavior,
would not put up with her, so much trouble arose from her
prevarications. She accused the very good people there of not
treating her well because she was not of their race. All of the
above is quite apart from the girl's own romantic stories which
have been told in her family circle and have done no especial
harm. Of these we had the best account from the girl herself.

An intelligent relative gave an account of the facts. Amanda has
been tried in a number of households, but has been given up by
everyone after a short period of trial. Her word is found so
unreliable that in general she is regarded as thoroughly
untrustworthy. This particular relative, who is most interested
in her, tells us she thinks the girl is mentally peculiar. She
states that in general her mind is both romantic and rambling.
She constantly has the idea that her beauty will bring her a
wealthy husband. She lies about other people to these relatives
and about them to others. They have a comfortable home and are
very anxious for Amanda to do well, and many times have had
serious talks with her, all to no purpose. They themselves have
attempted to analyze the nature of the girl's characteristics,
and say it is quite evident that the telling of untruths with
this girl is the result of quick reaction on her part. Fictions
of all kinds come up in her mind constantly and are uttered
quickly. It is doubtful whether she premeditates her stories.
She has threatened suicide. They think she is the biggest liar
that ever lived and can't understand how she can engage in such
unforesighted behavior unless she is somewhat abnormal. Only
once did they ever notice anything suggestive of a mental
peculiarity other than her lying. Then she did talk quite
incoherently and at random for a time (she is a great talker
anyhow), but later she said she realized what she had done, and
said not to mind her--she had just let her tongue rattle on and
did not mean anything by it.

On two or three occasions Amanda has started to school in the
morning and wandered off and kept going all day. She had been
immoral with boys, but not to any great extent. She undertook to
be religious for a time, but her sincerity was always in
question. She knows the character of her own mother and
threatens at times to follow in her tracks.

The racial heredity of this girl is a strange mixture. Her
father was a Scandinavian and her mother colored. The maternal
grandfather was colored, and the maternal grandmother was an
alcoholic Irish woman and died in an insane hospital. It is
possible, also, that there is Indian blood in the family. The
mother kept an immoral resort and drank at times. The father is
said, even by his wife's relative, to have died some years ago of
a broken heart about her career. She died of tuberculosis a few
years after him. Amanda was the only child. About the early
developmental history we have no reliable information. The girl
was taken by relatives before her mother died, but was allowed to
visit her, and there was evidently real affection between mother
and daughter. Long contention over religious affairs in the
family led to some bickering about placing the girl.

We found Amanda to be rather a good looking girl with very slight
evidences of colored blood. Quiet and normal in her attitude and
expression. Slightly built--weight 93 lbs.; height 4 ft. 10 in.
Vision R. 20/80, L. 20/25. Coarse tremor of outstretched hands.
No evidence of specific disease. All other examination negative.
The girl complains of occasional sick headaches with photophobia.
Pelvic examination by a specialist negative.

On the mental side we quickly found we had to deal with a girl of
decidedly good general ability. Tests were almost uniformly done
well. Memory processes decidedly good-- span for eight numbers
auditorily and for seven numbers visually. No evidence whatever
of aberration.

Results on the ``Aussage'' test: Amanda on free recital gave 12
details of the picture; on questioning she mentioned 32 more
items, but a dozen of these were incorrect. Of 7 suggestions
offered she accepted 6. This was an exceptionally inaccurate
performance.

In the course of our study of this case we obtained from Amanda a
very good account of her own life, deeply tragic in its details,
and a probably correct analysis of her beginnings in lying. It
seems that she remembers well her mother, particularly in the
later visits which the relatives allowed. These must have been
when she was about 5 or 6 years old. ``I know a lot. There
isn't anything bad that I have not seen and heard. I try to
forget it, but I can't. What's the use anyhow? When I think of
my mother it all comes up again. When I was very little I would
sit in a room with my mother and a crowd of her friends and they
would say everything in front of me. I would see men and women
go into rooms and I kept wondering what they did in there. I
think I was quicker and sharper then than I am now. I think I
was about 3 when I used to see them smoking and drinking. Then I
used to think it was all right. I thought it was swell and that
I would like to do it too. I thought about it a lot. Mother,
you see, would tell me to be good one minute and the next would
teach me how to swear. I remember once when I was about 7 they
brought her home drunk. She looked terrible. I can close my
eyes and see her just as plainly as if it is there before me. A
protective society once found me and took me to their place.
Then I lived with my grandfather. Mother stole me from them and
then my uncle took me. I lived around in lots of places. I have
done lots of bad things. . . . .

``I picture these things too--I can't help it. The pictures come
up in my mind as plain as can be--not just at night, but in the
daytime too. The only thing I have ever been really afraid of is
the dark. Then I imagine I hear people talking. I see things
too. I see whole shows that I have been to. But then, as I have
said, I see them when I'm awake and in the daytime. I dream
about them also. Sometimes they are so real I don't know whether
I'm asleep or awake. For instance, a long time ago I read Peck's
Bad Boy and I can see those pictures now just as plain as when I
read the book. It is always that way about what I read. The
things I read I always see in pictures. It's that way with the
love stories too. I used to read lots and lots of them. I like
to read about murders. I can see those too. When I read about
the R. murder in the papers lately I just felt like I was there.
I could see everything he did. I don't know why I like to read
such things so much. It was the same way last winter. I read a
story with suicide in it and someway I just wanted to commit
suicide myself. I did go to the railroad tracks and stood around
until the train came and then walked away. . . . .

``My aunt says that I am too attractive and that I stare at the
men. Well, when she was with me a man did stare at me and I
stared back at him. I could have turned my head away, but I'm
not that kind of a girl. I'm a bad girl. Everyone believes me
so and I might just as well be. When I was little in my mother's
place I used to smoke and drink. I dream every night--often
about men doing bad things. I wake up and sit up to see if men
are there or if they are gone. My dreams are always just that
plain. If I read a book I can sit down and imagine all the
people are right before me. I can get it just by reading. If
anybody speaks to me I jump, and it is all gone. When I go to
the theatre or the nickel show I can come home and see the whole
show over again. I have been that way ever since I could
understand things. When I was small and people would tell me
things I could imagine them right in front of me. Even now I
will be sitting still and I will imagine I see my mother taking
me up in the way she used to. When I came to see her she would
rock me to sleep, and I can plainly see her lying in the coffin.
Often I think I see my mother brought home drunk.

``If I have anything to recite in school I just think of it all
the time. I dream a good deal about what that boy did and about
these other things. I can sit and think of everything he did to
me. I go to bed and I lie awake and think all these things and I
can't get them off my mind and then I start to dreaming about
them.

``There is always this trouble--my mother wasn't good and I can't
be good. That's what people say, but, of course, that's not so.
I know I start talking to girls about these things when they are
talking to me. I sometimes think that things will come
back--that the Chicago fire is coming back, and that slavery is
coming back.

``About my lying? I don't know why I tell things like that about
my aunt committing suicide--it just came into my head. Oh, I've
got lots of things in my head. I never had any chance to forget.
I can't forget at school. School does not interest me any more.
That's why I want to go to work. Perhaps then I should be
interested in something new.

``I used to tell lots of things that were not so out there at P.
Sometimes I did it as a joke and sometimes I meant it. It is
hard sometimes to tell just what is the truth, I imagine things
so hard. I can remember lots that I've read.''

Amanda in several interviews went on at great length in a very
rational way, but altogether the gist of her view of her case is
to be found in the above. She told that she was a masturbator,
as might be supposed. She feels she can't help this and never
felt it was so particularly bad. Apparently it is a part of her
life of imagination at night. She insisted frequently on the
vividness of her mental content, and indeed was anxious to talk
about her peculiarities in this respect. It was very apparent
that she showed real understanding of the forces which had
influenced her. It should be noted that we felt sure that it is
not only the strength of imagery, namely, of actually recollected
material, but also of imagination which is characteristic of this
girl's mental make-up. This was noticeable, as we have shown
above, in the ``Aussage'' Test. In our notes on psychological
findings we stated that the girl has both strong emotions and
strong convictions, together with her other qualities. She
expressed herself with considerable vehemence, and under
observation we noted changes from pleasantness to extremely ugly
looks when her relatives were mentioned. It was true that she
had seen immorality in other households than that of her mother,
and this, of course, rendered her even more skeptical about true
values in life.

It seemed clear that this bright girl had experienced so many
contradictions in life that she was much mixed about it all. We
might venture to suggest that the delinquency involved in lying
could seem very little compared to the actual deeds with which
she had come in contact. No idea that falsification was wrong
was expressed by her. She had used double sets of standards in
behavior all through her life. What she was urged to be and to
do seemed impossible in the light of her past and its
connections. Even her apparent decency belied the reality
underlying her career, she thought. With all this and her vivid
imagery it is little wonder that her magnificent powers of
imagination had full sway and that she said and half believed all
sorts of things which were not true. Then, probably,
habit-formation of indulging in day-dreams accentuated the
falsifying tendency.

It is too early to report on further progress of this case. For
some months she has been in a school for girls where discipline
and education are both emphasized.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Mental traits: special powers of imagery Case 9.
and imagination. Girl, age 14 years.
Early immoral experiences: much later conflict
about them.
Home conditions: unstable for many years.
Heredity (?): mother immoral,
maternal grandmother
alcoholic and insane.
Delinquencies: Mentality:
Excessive lying. Good general ability,
Sex. special capacities.
---------------------------------------------------------------

CASE 10

Summary: A boy of 14, supernormal in ability, coming from family
circumstances which form a remarkable antithesis to his
intellectual interests, is found to be a wonderful fabricator.
His continuous lying proves to be directly inimical to his own
interests and, indeed, his own satisfactions are thwarted by the
curious unreliability of his word. The case unfortunately was
not followed far, but study of it clearly shows beginnings in the
early obtaining of advantages by lying, and brings out the
wonderful dramatic and imaginative traits of the boy and his
formation of a habit of falsification.

This case in its showing of intrinsic characteristics and
incidental facts is of great interest. Robert R. for about a
year when he was 14 years old we knew intimately, but after that
on account of the removal of the family we have no further
history of him. Intellectually and in his family and home
background he presented a remarkable phenomenon. His parents
were old-country peasants who just before Robert was born came to
the United States. The father had never been to school in his
life and could not read or write. Here he was a laborer; before
immigration he had been a goose-herd. The mother was said to
have had a little schooling at home and could read and write a
little in her native language. In 15 years in the United States
she had failed to learn to speak English. It is needless to say
that our knowledge of the forebears is almost nil. Inquiry about
mental peculiarities in the family brought negative answers.
These parents had had nine children, seven of whom had died in
early infancy. Robert was the older of the two living. We did
not learn that the other child displayed any abnormalities. The
mother helped towards the support of the family by doing coarse
sewing.

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