Pathology of Lying, Etc.

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[7] ``Tests for Practical Mental Classification,'' by William
Healy and Grace M. Fernald, Monograph No. 54. Psychological
Review Pub. Co., 1911, Princeton University, Princeton, N. J.

The short summary of causative factors given at the end of the
case study deals only with the factors of delinquency. To avoid
misinterpretation of the coordinated facts, what they are focused
upon should ever be remembered. The statement of these
ascertained factors brings out many incidental points which
should be of interest to lawyers and other students of
criminalistics.

It should be needless to state to our professional readers that
the personalities represented in our case histories are entirely
fictitious, but that alterations have been made only in such
facts as will not impair scientific values. We confess to no
particular pleasure in writing up this rather sordid material;
the task is undertaken because such studies offer the only way to
gain that better understanding which is necessary for adequate
treatment of special types of human beings.

CHAPTER II

PREVIOUS STUDIES

The subject of pathological lying was first definitely brought to
the attention of the medical and legal professions by the studies
of Delbruck.[8] The aim of this work was to follow the
development of a symptom but little commented upon up to this
time, a symptom, as he says, found in every healthy person in
slight degree, but in some cases rising to pathological
significance and perhaps dominating the entire picture of
abnormal traits--thus becoming pathognomonic. This symptom he at
the outset calls lying.

[8] ``Die pathologische Luge und die psychisch abnormen
Schwindler. Eine Untersuchung Uber den allmahlichen Uebergang
eines normalen psychologischen Vorgangs in ein pathologisches
Symptom, fur Aerzte und Juristen.'' Pp. 131, Stuttgart, 1891.

Through an elaborate and exhaustive investigation of the lies
told by five patients over a period of years, he came to the
conclusion that the form of falsifying in these cases deserves a
new and separate name. It was not ordinary lying, or delusion,
or false memory, these words express only part of the conception;
hence he coined the new term, pseudologia phantastica, to cover
the species of lying with which he was concerned. Later German
writers have also adopted his terminology.

To emphasize the method by which he arrived at this conclusion
and to gain at the same time some knowledge of the problems he
dealt with, we may review in bare outline his case-studies.

The first patient presented by Delbruck was an Austrian
maid-servant who in her wanderings through Austria and
Switzerland had played at various times the roles of Roumanian
princess, Spaniard of royal lineage, a poor medical student, and
the rich friend of a bishop. Her lying revealed a mixture of
imagination, boastfulness, deception, delusion, and
dissimulation. She romanced wonderfully about her royal birth
and wrote letters purporting to be from a cardinal to herself.
She fled disguised as a man from an educational institution to
Switzerland where her sex was discovered. It appeared that she
was subject to contrary sex feelings and thought of herself as a
man. She was under the observation of Krafft-Ebing at one time.
He considered it at least as a case of paranoia. Others had
determined the girl to be a psychopath who indulged in
simulations and lies. Delbruck denominated it a case of direct
lying with a tendency to phantasies, delusions, and
dissimulations. Delbruck from this case argues that a mixture of
lies and delusions is possible, comparing such a state with
dreaming and with the hypnotic condition in which one follows the
suggestion of the hypnotizer and is still aware of the fact. It
was evident at times that this girl half believed her own
stories, then again that she had forgotten her former lies. In
her, Delbruck considers perverted sex feeling and hysteria
revealed a brain organization abnormal from birth. There was the
instinctive tendency to lie.

The second patient, an epileptic girl, had been many times
imprisoned and also sent to the Charite for examination into her
sanity before Delbruck saw her. Her peculiar method was to
approach strangers, claiming to be a relative coming from another
city to visit. If cordially received she would stay as long as
her welcome lasted, then depart taking with her any of their
possessions her fancy chose. Many prominent physicians examined
her and were unable to decide as to her responsibility; judges
and others said she was a willful deceiver, a refined swindler.
Delbruck, looking deeper, found that she was suffering from
hysteria, having hystero-epileptic seizures with following
delirium, or rather twilight states. Though her delinquencies
seemed to show cunning and skill, a careful investigation
revealed the fact that this was merely aberrant. Generally her
thieving was undertaken in feebleminded fashion; many times she
stole things worthless to herself. Evidences of her pathological
mentality were that she would give orders for groceries, would
buy children's clothes, or send for a physician under an assumed
name. She might not go back for the groceries, but after
ordering them would say she would return with the carriage. The
characteristic fact throughout her career was that she wished to
appear to be some one wealthier, more influential than she was.
Delbruck classifies her as high-grade feebleminded, suffering
from convulsive attacks and peculiar states of consciousness,
with a morbid tendency to lying. She possessed no power to
realize the culpable nature of her acts when she was performing
them.

His third patient as a boy appeared normal both mentally and
physically. In his youth he went through the gymnasium and then
studied theology. He spent money very freely on clothing and
books, but at this period neither stole nor lied. After
finishing his theological studies, he preached in his home town
and was regarded as a young man of great promise. Then came a
change; he began to write strange letters, telling of some
positions offered him, he borrowed money freely from relatives
and friends who were willing to give because they believed in his
coming career. When studied, it was concluded by Delbruck that
this was a case of constitutional psychosis, hysteria, moral
insanity, and psychopathy--all of these forms being interrelated.
Outside of masturbation, begun in early childhood and indulged in
excessively at times, no causal factors were discovered. He
considered that this case offered a good illustration of the
peculiar coexistence of real lies and delusions in the same
individual.

His fourth case was that of an artful, deceitful, arrogant,
selfish boy, always clever in excuses, who had stolen from the
age of twelve, often stolen things that he threw away. Though of
Protestant family, he delighted to draw Catholic insignia and
embroider religious characters. He finally entered the
university, always lying and stealing. At the end of three
months he was taken home in debt 2000 marks. He later became a
Catholic. Outside of normal expense he had cost his father
28,000 marks. By the time he was studied he had already taken
opium for four years, having started because of neuralgia. There
had been a severe operation on account of some trouble with the
teeth. It was discovered that there was contrary sexual feeling
in this case also. The patient had a great inclination for doing
woman's handwork. Delbruck again considered the early appearance
of character anomalies and perverted sex feeling to prove a
deep-seated abnormality of nervous constitution. He diagnosed it
as a case of constitutional psychosis; the extent of the
abnormalities showing the individual to be irresponsible.

His last patient was an alcoholic adventurer, early life unknown,
who had an idiotic sister. He had lived long in America and
returned to Germany full of stories of his wonderful achievements
over seas. This case does not concern us except to emphasize the
influence of alcohol in the development of such cases.

This outline is sufficient to show the justification of his
conclusion, namely, that just as in healthy people a mixing of
lies and mistakes may occur, so the same combination may reach a
pathological height, and one can diagnose a mixture of lies with
delusions or false memories.

These studies focus our attention on the following points which
are valuable to emphasize for the purpose of this monograph: the
complexity of details to be examined in the life of any one
patient in whose delinquencies pathological lying is a factor,
the variety of cases in which this factor may occur, hence the
difficulties in the way of determining the extent to which the
patient is responsible for his deeds and whether he belongs in a
reformatory or an insane hospital. From the standpoint of
society Delbruck's work has great use, since it reveals so
plainly the menace that these liars are to their families and to
the community as a whole, their unscrupulousness in financial
dealings, their tendencies to bring false accusations involving
families and friends alike in useless expense and litigation.

German studies on pseudologia phantastica since Delbruck's time
have followed the line of amplification of his views and
clarification of the subject by the addition of new types.

Koppen[9] attempted to differentiate sharply and to analyze more
accurately the conception of the pathological lie. He found it
impossible to make an absolute separation between pathological
lies and normal lies. The lies of the mentally diseased are
seldom pathological. They lie, but their lies do not differ from
those of the mentally sound. We cannot call the results
delusional lies. Among imbeciles we find a peculiar disposition
to lying, especially among those of criminal inclination. Their
lies do not separate themselves either in content or in relation
to the rest of their ideas from the lies of the mentally
diseased. Here follows his positive contribution to the
conception; the pathological lie is active in character, a whole
sequence of experiences is fabricated and the products of fancy
brought forward with a certainty that is astonishing. The
possibility that the untruth may be at any minute demolished does
not abash the liar in the least. Remonstrances against the lies
make no impression. On closer inspection we find that the liar
is no longer free, he has ceased to be master of his own lies,
the lie has won power over him, it has the worth of a real
experience. In the final stage of the evolution of the
pathological lie, it cannot be differentiated from delusion.
Pathological lies have long been credited to hystericals, they
are now known to arise in alcoholics, imbeciles, degenerates.
All pathological liars have a purpose, i.e., to decorate their
own person, to tell something interesting, and an ego motive is
always present. They all lie about something they wish to
possess or be.

[9] ``Ueber die pathologische Lugner,'' Charite-Annalen, 8, 1898.
Pp. 674-719.

Koppen offers three case studies: I. A man who had suffered
from many epileptic seizures came from a family in which there
was insanity. He gave himself many false titles, and from his
childhood pathological lying had been a prominent symptom. As an
example, when he married against his father's will, he at the
wedding read a false dispatch, pretending it to be
congratulations from his family. Koppen suggests that this
individual was incapable of meeting life as it really was and he
therefore wove a mass of phantasies. II. A young man charged
with grave falsifications. He had come from an epileptic family
and himself had slight attacks in childhood. He bore various
pathological stigmata. Koppen considered that the patient
believed his own stories about his rather superior education and
that in general his lies became delusions which influenced his
actions. He diagnosed the case as psychotic; insane in a legal
sense. III. A young man undoubtedly insane brought forward his
pathological lies with such force that Koppen was persuaded that
the patient believed in them.

Bernard Risch[10] has seen many cases of delinquents with more or
less marked psychopathic signs in which pathological lying was
the focal point. He reports five cases at great length, in all
of whom the inclination to fabricate stories, ``der Hang zum
fabulieren,'' is irresistible and apparently not to be repressed
by efforts of the will. Risch's main points, built up from study
of his cases, are worthy of close consideration: 1. Mental
processes similar to those forming the basis of the impulse to
literary creation in normal people lie at the foundation of the
morbid romances and fancies of those afflicted with pseudologia
phantastica. The coercive impulse for self-expression, with an
accompanying feeling of desire and dissatisfaction, plays a
similar part in both. That the making up of tales is an end in
itself for the abnormal swindler, just as it is for the normal
author, seems clear to Risch. 2. The morbid impulse which forces
``zum fabulieren'' is bound up with the desire to play the role
of the person depicted. Fiction and real life are not separated
as in the mind of the normal author. 3. The bent of thought is
egocentric, the morbid liar and swindler can think of nothing but
himself. 4. There is a reduction of the powers of attention in
these cases; only upon supposition that this faculty is disturbed
can we account for the discrepancies in the statements of
patients. One has the impression that their memory for their
delinquencies is not clear. Careful investigation proves that
they do not like to remember them and this dislike has to be
overcome. 5. There is a special weakness in judgment, which for
general purposes is sound. The train of thought is logical, but
in ethical discernment the lack appears. The pathological liar
does not face openly the question of whether his lies can be seen
through.

[10] `` `Ueber die phantastische Form des degenerativen Irrseins,
Pseudologia phantastica.'' Allgemeine Zeitschrift fur
Psychiatrie, 65, 1908, H. 4; pp. 576-639.

Then follows a closer analysis of the qualities possessed by
pathological liars: (a) Their range of ideas is wide. (b) Their
range of interests is wider than would be expected from their
grade of education. (c) Their perceptions are better than the
average. (d) They are nimble witted. Their oral and written
style is above normal in fluency. (e) They exhibit faultiness in
the development of conceptions and judgments. Their judgment is
sharp and clear only as far as their own person does not come
into consideration. It is the lack of any self criticism
combined with an abnormal egocentric trend of thought that biases
their judgments concerning themselves. (f) Psychic traumata
arise perhaps through a striking reaction in the emotional realm
towards external occurrences. (g) Nearly all of Risch's cases
were burdened with bad inheritance. He maintains that, above
all, these cases show instability and psychic excitability. The
entire symptom complex arises upon a basis of degeneracy.

Essential similarities run through all of Risch's cases; it is
perhaps valuable here to cite a couple of them. His Case I is
that of a soldier, who after being released from prison at 23
years had begun his military duty and in a short time attempted
suicide. He was then studied for insanity. It was found that he
gave long accounts of his experiences as a chauffeur, rendering
his story with fluent details about hairbreadth escapes and other
adventures. He also told at length of his love affair with a
young girl. These stories were discovered to be false from ``A
to Z''; he did not clearly remember them later. The evolving of
such fabrications was all along one of his chief characteristics.
Examination showed no gross intellectual defect, but there were
certain psychopathic signs which had been displayed from early
childhood: he had little endurance and was unable to stand
criticism. Emotions befitting his stories were correctly
expressed by him; there were no facial evidences of conflict or
discomfort. It was impossible to tell from his physiognomy that
he was engaged in untruths. Mentally he was well oriented and
his thoughts flowed in orderly sequence. Despite rather limited
education he demonstrated very good style in his conversation and
his letters. The train of thought was expressed coherently and
logically, so well that one could speak of him as having literary
ability. Physically he was quite normal. Investigation of
antecedents showed that he was born of an exceedingly nervous
mother (more exact diagnosis not given) and that he had a
feebleminded brother. During his school career he was considered
to have quite fair ability. He learned no trade, and after
stopping school would leave a position upon the slightest
provocation. Before he was 23 he had been legally punished many
times for stealing and had spent, all told, over three years in
prison. Once before he had attempted suicide. After the
thorough study of him at 23 he was placed in an asylum. There he
was occupied at basket weaving and was chiefly notable for
keeping up the characteristics that were peculiar to him before.
He continually lied and, indeed, seemed to get his main pleasure
out of telling fabulous stories to the other patients.

Case IV was a man of 31 years, a decorative painter by trade, who
presented himself at the states attorney's office and stated that
in a fit of jealousy he had shot and killed a man. Taking up the
case it was soon found that this was quite untrue and that the
man was a chronic liar. He seemed much astonished when he was
told that the man he claimed to have killed was still alive.
Further study of this self-accuser showed that he had been
punished by the law every year since he was 16. His offenses
consisted of embezzling, theft, forgery, and swindling. In all
he had served about 6 1/2 years. His lying was so much a part of
his mental life that he seemed to be unable to discriminate
between his real and his fancied crimes. He not only invented
stories, but was much inclined to play some role created by his
fancy. There seemed to be a method in his cheating and swindling
which added to his undoubted pleasure in lying. His peculiar
career was much furthered by the possession of a fluent style and
a good memory through which his creations were built up in most
plausible fashion. He proved to be willingly introspective and
stated that his inclination to lie was a puzzle to him, and that
while he was engaged in prevarications he believed in them. He
always was the hero of his own stories. He further declared that
inner unrest and love of wandering drove him forth even when he
was living under orderly conditions. He considered that his
feeling of restlessness was a weighty motive in the deeds for
which he had been punished. At one time this man had simulated
attacks of epilepsy and attempted in connection with these to
swindle physicians and others. His schooling had been continued
to the gymnasium, ``untertertia,'' then he had taken up his
trade. His intelligence and memory were considered excellent.
He had an insane brother.

Vogt[11] has made a thorough analysis of six cases of
pathological liars, ranging from the very stupid to the
intelligent. I. A girl, who had done poorly in school was unable
to hold a place and became a thief. Her mother was epileptic.
Examination showed intelligence not equal to that of eight years
with moral inferiority on account of this weakness. II. A
feebleminded girl of vacillating, weak judgment. Father insane.
Her lies were marked by their fantastic nature. III. Lively,
fanciful, unstable, hysterical girl. Poor record at school. IV.
Hysterical liar with peculiarities united with splendid mental
ability. V. Unusually intelligent, 15 years old, illegitimate
child; normal mother who later had five sound children; father
drunkard. Her lies were neither of suggested nor dreamy type,
they were skillfully dramatized means to an end in her fight for
social position. In the psychiatric examination she was found
mentally normal. VI. Girl thoroughly intelligent, good at
figures and puzzles, with no signs of degeneracy.

[11] ``Jugendliche Lugnerinnen.'' Zeitschrift fur Erforschung d.
jugend. Schwachsinns., Bd. 3. H. 5. 1910; p. 465.

Vogt characterized the pathological lie as active, more
elaborately constructed, more inclusive, and leaving the ground
of reality more readily than ordinary lies. Such lies he does
not always find egocentric. To the pathological liar his own
creation is reality, so he walks securely, is open and amiable.
All these cases are gifted with lively imaginations and inclined
to autosuggestion. Vogt calls the pathological lie a wish
psychosis. This statement opens the way to an interesting and
valuable interpretation of the psychological significance of this
phenomenon of the mental life. He finds many more girls than
boys among his cases; boys lie from need of defense and
protection, girls more from autosuggestion. This type of lie is
of greater interest to social than to clinical psychology. He
emphasizes the point that very refined and complicated lies
appear in healthy young people in the stress of difficult
situations. Obstinate and stubborn lying of itself is no disease
among children; examination must reveal that the lie has a morbid
cause.

The resemblance of pathological lying to poetic creation was
first suggested by Delbruck[12] in a reference to Keller's ``Der
grune Heinrich,'' a German novel in which the lies of a boy of
seven years, lies of a creative type of the nature of retroactive
hallucinations, are described. Hinrichsen[13] discusses at
length the resemblance of pseudologia phantastica to poetic
creation in Goethe, Grillparzer, Hoffman, and others.

[12] loc. cit.

[13] ``Zur Kasuistik und Psychologie der Pseudologia
phantastica.'' Arch. fur Kriminal Anthrop. umd Kriminalistik,
1906.

In an inaugural dissertation Anna Stemmermann[14] presents
exhaustively a series of cases. These cases were studied over a
long period catamnestically. Commenting upon one case she says:
It is worthy of note in this history that the patient in a
hypnoidal condition, with headache and flushed face, crochets in
a senseless way and thinks she is weaving a wreath for her
mother's grave, her mother being still alive. We often meet with
actions like this. Characteristic is the report of spontaneous,
fearful headache, without the patient's putting this in relation
to her peculiar behavior. We lay more stress upon this condition
than has been done previously in the literature. We believe that
this symptom is wanting in no classic case of pseudologia
phantastica. Often in this condition of narrowed consciousness,
the daydreams are spun and have such a power of convincing that
they later make the basis for pathological lies and swindling.
In this hypnoidal state a strongly heightened suggestibility
exists and trivial external causes give daydreams their
direction. The general trend of fancy reveals naturally the
inclinations and ideals of the affected individual. Stemmermann
also maintained that the pathological lie is a wish psychosis.
Even outside of the hypnoidal state, these cases are more
suggestible than the general run of people.

[14] ``Beitrage und Kasuistik der Pseudologia phantastica.'' Geo.
Reimer, Berlin, 1906, pp. 102.

Of Stemmermann's own cases, ten in number, only four at most were
normally endowed, the remainder were either stupid or slightly
imbecile. This agrees with the experience of previous writers.
Study of her cases showed that there was report of previous
mendacity, four had been liars from childhood. She found in them
the combination of the general habit of lying underneath the more
accentuated form of pseudologia phantastica. One case had
perverted sex feeling, one was a prostitute at sixteen years.

In her dissertation some points for the differentiation of the
pathological lie have been added to those offered by Delbruck,
Risch, Koppen, and Vogt. The pathological liar lies, not
according to a plan, but the impulse seizes him suddenly. This
propensity grows stronger. Under strict supervision it comes to
only an abortive attack, similar to what happens in cases of
dipsomania, or of tendency to rove in which the repressed
outbreak expresses itself in tormenting psychical and physical
unrest. While the normal liar and swindler is forced to be on
his guard lest he divulge something of the actual state of
affairs, and is therefore either taciturn or presents an evil and
watchful appearance, or, if a novice at his trade, is hesitating
in his replies, the pathological liar has a cheerful, open, free,
enthusiastic, charming appearance, because he believes in his
stories and wishes their reality. The inconsequential way in
which such persons go to work is to be explained by the fact that
consciousness of the real situation is partly clouded in their
minds. In any special act it is impossible to say whether the
consciousness of the lie, fancy, or delusion preponderates.
Inability to remember delinquencies Stemmermann regards also as
added proof of pathological lying.

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