Pathology of Lying, Etc.

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

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We gradually came to learn that Janet had been subject to much
sex temptation from her own physical feelings. She never was a
good sleeper, she thinks, and she often lies awake, or will wake
up for a time in the middle of the night and think of sex
affairs. She feels sure there has been considerable stress upon
her on account of this temptation which she has felt should be
combated. The occasional giving way to sex habits also resulted
in mental stress and, as she expresses it, worry.

At the time of her failure to do well in school work her internal
conflicts were especially acute. There was before her
continually the success which the other members of her family had
made, which she herself admired, and for which she was ambitious.
She hid at that time the cause of her nervousness and failure;
there was the danger of its being discovered. After thus
reviewing her case with us, Janet reiterated that she was sure
her tendency to prevaricate came on at the time when she first
began her bad sex habits.

This girl was probably not much of a day-dreamer. She denies
being so, saying she had always been too busy for such to be the
case. We also obtained corroboration of this from others who had
closely observed her. She says she had lived no specially
imaginative life beyond occasionally thinking of herself as a
well-to-do lady with many good clothes to wear, or sometimes
lying in bed and imagining she had a lover there. Further
inquiry into her imaginative life seemed futile because she was
not trained in introspection and because even in her frankest
moments we were always afraid that she might fall into her
strongly formed habit of prevarication. We ascertained that in
her home life special efforts had been made to keep her busy and
she could not be regarded as a dreamer. Janet strongly denied
the periodicity in her lying which her mother maintained, but the
girl did state that her periods of sex temptation were mostly
just preceding her menstrual period.

In giving the above account of what was ascertained by analysis
with Janet we have offered such of her statements as are clearly
probable or which are corroborated by the parents. Our many
experiences with the young woman led us to be particularly
careful in accepting as veracious any of her statements unless,
as in what is given above, they clearly followed the type of fact
which may be ascertained in the investigation of other instances
of pathological lying where the individual's word is more
reliable. The parents were able to corroborate many points. The
mother remembers the older girl in the town where they lived when
Janet was 7 years old and that this girl was notorious for her
sex tendencies, although she was not in the least aware that
Janet had been contaminated. Then she recollects that Janet used
to tell her so particularly about going with a special crowd of
girls (those which she now says were not her companions). Both
parents considered the matter at great length in order to help my
study of the case and both are very certain that it was just
about this period when Janet says she was beginning her covert
sex experiences that she began the lying, which was petty at
first, but after a time expanded into the type of detailed
falsifications we have enumerated above. Altogether there was
little doubt in our minds that Janet was giving the truth in its
main outlines. Undoubtedly it was merely her habit which always
led her to alter somewhat the details.

We were interested to note that in her letters and in her
ordinary conversation Janet took up the topics that a fairly well
educated girl would naturally discuss. For instance, she would
give us some account of her recent reading, or a visit to an art
gallery, telling us with normal vivacity about a couple of
pictures which had deeply impressed her. She spoke not only of
their subjective influence, but discussed the details of
composition and coloring. We might mention that in a
characteristic way she interjected some remarks that she herself
used to be very good at drawing and won several prizes at it.
She stated that she thought of going farther in art, but that her
parents could hardly afford to allow her to do this. These
remarks were found later to be quite aside from the truth.

Telling us the story of her school career, Janet insists her
memory had never been good for learning poems or for languages,
particularly Latin, but anything in the way of a picture she
could recall with ease. What she has read she often thinks of in
the form of pictures. Concerning her lying she denied it was
done particularly to cover up things, at least since the time
when the habit was first formed. She feels that it really is a
habit, a very bad one. She hardly knows she is going to
prevaricate; the false statement comes out suddenly. In thinking
about it all she harks back once more to that crowd of girls;
everybody thought they were good, but she knew they were not.

After a time of quieting down in her behavior tendencies,
although there was never complete cessation of the inclination to
falsify, a new exacerbation of lying arose. This time it seemed
to center about a clandestine love affair of a mild type. There
was one trouble with this case which neither I nor any one else
was able to clear for the parents. It was perfectly apparent
that the girl might naturally be expected to marry at some time.
Now, when an honest young man felt inspired to keep company with
this vivacious, healthy, and generally attractive young woman,
what were the parents to do? It was easy enough for them to
decide that she must not go with a man of bad character, but were
they bound in honor to inform any young man, before affairs had
gone too far, that the girl had this unfortunate tendency and
that she had had rather a shady career? It was perfectly clear
to them that she herself would not tell him. This was how the
matter stood at the time we last heard of the case, and while the
parents were holding back, a young man's affections and the
girl's fabrications were growing apace.

Janet had been suffering from a chronic inflammation of the
bladder, which, however, did not cause any acute symptoms. A
chronic pelvic inflammation was discovered, for which she was
operated upon in her home town. The surgeon reported to the
parents that conditions were such that they would naturally be
highly irritative, although there had been no previous complaint
about them. The girl made an exceedingly rapid recovery. It was
after this that her last affair of the affections was causing the
parental quandary and distress.

Our final diagnosis of this ease, after careful study of it, was
that it was a typical case of pathological lying, mythomania, or
pseudologia phantastica. The girl could not be called a
defective in any ordinary sense. Her capabilities were above the
average. She showed good moral instincts in many directions and
was at times altogether penitent. Nor could she be said to have
a psychosis. The trouble was confined to one form of conduct.

The lying, as in all these cases, seemed undertaken sometimes for
the advantages which thereby might accrue. On the other hand, at
times the falsification seemed to have no relation to personal
advantages. Indeed, this girl had experience, many times
repeated, that her lying very quickly resulted in suffering to
her. There were aspects of her falsifications which made it seem
as if there was pleasure in the mere manufacture of the stories
themselves and in the living, even for a short time, in the
situations which she had created out of her imagination and
communicated to others. Frequently there seemed to be an
unwillingness on her part to face the true facts of existence.
In her representation of things as different from what they
really were she seemed to show even the desire for
self-deception. Another point: no student of cases of this kind
should allow himself to forget the potency of habit formation.
There can be little doubt but that a large share of this girl's
conduct was the result of her well developed and long maintained
tendency to trim the facts.

As far as we were able to determine, and we undoubtedly got at
the essential facts, this girl's falsifying trait was based on
the following: The fact that she came of neuropathic stock would
make us think that she possibly inherited an unstable mental
make-up. To be sure, the only evidence of it was in this
anomalous characteristic of hers, namely, her pathological lying.
She seemed sound in her nervous makeup. The idea that the
grandmother passed on as inheritance her prevaricating traits is
open to discussion, but we have seen that environmental
influences from this source may have been the only effect, if
there was any at all. Very important in this case, without any
doubt, is the early sex teaching, its repression and the mental
conflict about it for years, and then the reintroduction into the
subject just before puberty. Probably this is the vital point of
the girl's whole career. The success she early achieved in
deceiving her mother, not by denials, but by the elaboration of
imaginary situations, has been the chief determinant of her
unfortunate behavior. Added to that was the formation of a habit
and of an attitude towards life in which the stern realities were
evaded by the interposition of unrealities. Even the affair of
the imaginary social gathering can be conceived in this light,
for evidently she and her family were not engaged then in social
affairs and the preparation for a gay event would for a time be a
source of excitement and pleasure. Her autoeroticism may have
helped towards the production of phantasies and the general
tendency to evasion of the realities of life.

It was clear from first to last that the exploration of the
genesis of the tendencies in such a case as this could be but one
step towards a cure. What was also needed was prolonged
disciplinary treatment under conditions which were well nigh
impossible to be gained at her age. Willingness on the part of
the individual to enter into any long period of discipline or
education, such as an institution might offer, is not easily
obtained.

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Mental conflict: early and severe. Case 6.
Early sex experiences and habits. Girl, age 19 yrs.
Mental habit formation.
Home conditions: defective understanding
and control, although ordinarily good
home. Early acquaintance with lying.
Heredity: neuropathic tendencies on
both sides.
Delinquencies: Mentality:
Excessive lying. Ability well up to
Runaway. the ordinary.
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CASE 7

Summary: A girl of 16 brought to us by her mother, who regards
her as abnormal mentally because she is an excessive liar and
delinquent in other minor ways, proved to be an habitual
masturbator. Under direction, the mother succeeded in curing her
of this habit, with the remarkable result that the young woman
became in the course of a couple of years quite reliable.

We first saw this young woman of 16 with the mother who
maintained that there must be something wrong with the girl's
mentality because of her lying, recent running away from home,
and some minor misconduct. There had been trouble with her since
she was 7 years old. She was the twin of a child who died early
and who never developed normally. Her mother said she seemed
smart enough in some ways; she had reached 7th grade before she
was 14, but even at that time she was a truant and would run off
to moving-picture shows at every opportunity. Her father was a
rascal and came of an immoral family. He had a criminal record,
and that was another reason why the mother felt this girl was
going to the bad. The mother herself was strong and healthy; she
was remarried. The existence of feeblemindedness, epilepsy, or
insanity on either side was denied.

We quickly observed by the physical conditions of this girl that
something was the matter. Expression sad and dull. Long thin
face and compressed lips. Vision almost nil in one eye, but
normal in the other. Hearing normal. Color only fair. Weight
115 lbs.; height 5 ft. 4 in. Most notable was her general
listlessness. ``I feel draggy and tired. I'm yawning all the
time.''

On the mental tests we found much irregularity. Tasks that were
done without effort were done fairly well. The girl was a good
reader and wrote a good hand. A long task in arithmetic was with
difficulty done correctly. When she was able to get hold of
herself she could do even our harder tests with accuracy. Her
failures were apparently from lack of concentration and
attention. Although she did some things well we felt obliged to
call her dull from physical causes, feeling that if she were in
better condition she might give a much better performance.

On the ``Aussage,'' or Testimony Test, 11 items were given on
free recital and 2 of these were wrong. Upon questioning, 17
more details were added and 4 of these were incorrect. 2 out of
5 suggestions definitely accepted.

Under observation it was just as the mother said. The girl was
an extreme falsifier. As one observer puts it, ``she is not
malicious in her lies, but just lies all the time and seems to
try to make herself believe what she is saying.''

``I was in the 7th grade. Had a hundred jobs since then. Can't
keep them because I'm so draggy. They want their money's
worth--they want a more live girl. Sometimes I don't mind my
mother and I get spunky. I feel lonesome and get mad. I feel
tired. I can't please my mother no matter how hard I try. I'd
like to go in some little home where I could have a chance.''

After a few days we found this girl in a decidedly good mood,
wanting to be helped. She willingly entered into the analysis of
her case with us and said she thought most of her trouble came
because she was a day-dreamer. ``Sometimes I dream of things in
the day time. I'll sit and stare and stare and think of
different things. I'll think I'm doing them. I'll dream of
things what I do and if I read a good play I'll dream of that.
When I think of myself or somebody starts looking at me I'll stop
dreaming.''

To another observer this girl gave a vivid description of how she
felt after seeing pictures in the nickel shows. She states that
love-making scenes lead her to practice self-abuse. This matter
was taken up with her mother who stated that when this child was
7 years old she and the father had caught her at this habit and
had severely reprimanded her and had thought she had stopped it.
We were particularly interested to hear this because it was
exactly the time the mother had specified as the beginning of her
lying and general bad behavior. Going farther into the case with
the mother and the girl we ascertained that her bad sex habits
had been continued more or less during all these years, and of
late, particularly under the influence of picture shows, and of
what some other girls were doing in the way of delinquency, the
habit had become worse than ever. It was closely connected
evidently with day-dreaming all these years and with the
development of the fabricating tendency.

The mother who had been apparently so negligent of causes proved
now to be a stalwart in this case and took the girl under her
immediate charge. There was steady betterment. The girl went
back and finished school and at the end of a year was reported as
tremendously improved. There was no further complaint about her
lying. We know that after this she long held a good position
which any hint of untrustworthiness or lack of capacity would
have lost her. Thus the cure of her sex habits brought about
cessation of her extreme untruthfulness.

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Bad sex habits long continued. Case 7.
Heredity. (?) Father immoral Girl, age 16 yrs.
and criminal.
Home conditions.
Lack of understanding and
supervision.
Delinquencies: Mentality:
Excessive lying. Dull from physical
Early truancy. causes. (Later
Running away. quite normal.)
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CASE 8

Summary: A thoroughly illustrative case of long continued,
excessive pathological lying on the part of a very bright girl,
now 17 years old. As this young woman has well known, her
falsifications have many times militated against the fulfillment
of her own desires and interests. In the face of clear
apperception of her fault, the tendency to react to a situation
by lying sometimes appears to be fairly imperative. The only
ascertained bases of the tendency are her early reactions,
unthwarted by parental control, followed by habit formation; all
in an environment peculiarly favorable to deception. The lying
passed over into swindling.

Gertrude S., who immigrated from England with her parents ten
years previously, was seen by us when she was 17, after she had
been engaged for months in a career of misrepresentation which
had led her case into the hands of several social agencies. Much
difficulty was encountered because repeatedly when people had
tried to help her she had led them astray in their investigations
by telling ridiculously unnecessary falsehoods. Her parents came
to see us and gradually we obtained a detailed and probably quite
reliable family and developmental history. About the evolution
of the young woman's mental life we have unfortunately had to
rely much upon her own word. This has made our studies rather
more unsatisfactory than in other cases where corroboration from
parents was obtained. However, there is much that rings true and
is of interest even in the unverifiable part of the study.

There is not much to be said about the physical examination; it
was negative in most respects. She is of rather slight type;
weight 110 lbs., height 5 ft. 1 in. Delicate features of mature
type. Expression intelligent and decidedly refined for her
social class. Gynecological examination made by a specialist
revealed nothing abnormal and no evidence of immorality.
Menstruation said to have taken place at 13 years and to be
regular and not difficult.

In studying Gertrude's mental powers we gave a considerable range
of tests and found her to be well up to the ordinary in ability.
She showed no remarkable ability in any direction, but gave an
almost uniformly good performance on tests. Concerning her other
mental traits and especially her range of information and reading
more will be said later. No signs of aberration were discovered
by any one.

The record on the ``Aussage'' picture test is as follows: She
gave 16 items on free recital with considerable reference to
functional details and with side comments as to who the little
girl might be, and what the dog wanted, and so on. So far, this
was the performance of a rational, quick-minded person. On
questioning, 28 more items were added, but no less than 12 of
these were incorrect--she evidently supplied freely from her
imagination. Of the 7 suggestions which were offered she took 5.
Twice not only was the main suggestion accepted, but imaginary
details were added. Naturally, this is a very unusual record
from a normal person.

There is absolutely nothing of significance in the heredity,
according to the accounts received by us. All the grandparents
are still alive in the old country. They are small townspeople
of good reputation. Epilepsy, insanity, and feeblemindedness are
stoutly denied and are probably absent in near relatives. The
father is a staunch citizen who feels keenly the disgrace of the
present situation. He is a hard working clerk. We early learned
the mother was not to be relied upon. Our best evidence of this
came from Gertrude. She told us she had always been accustomed
to hearing lies in her own household. According to the father
his wife's falsifications are merely to shield the children and
she only shows the ordinary deceit of woman. We have no history
of this woman ever having indulged in elaborate fabrications and,
in general, she is of thoroughly good reputation. In delicacy of
feature the girl is her mother over again.

Gertrude's birth was comparatively easy after a normal pregnancy.
After a healthy first infancy she had an illness at 2 years which
lasted for three or four months. The exact nature of this is not
plain, but it was probably bronchitis with complications. There
were no evidences of any involvement of the nervous system. She
walked and talked early, at about 1 year of age. She has had no
other serious illness in all her life and has had no convulsions.
None of the children has suffered from convulsions. Gertrude is
one of five, all of whom are alive and well. In the last couple
of years she has complained a little of headaches and some other
minor troubles. It was typical of the family situation that
after Gertrude had told us of a series of fainting spells a year
previously, the mother corroborated her and, indeed, made them
out even worse. But when the reliable father was consulted on
the matter it turned out there had been no such fainting attacks,
nor could they be verified by communication with a doctor who is
said to have attended Gertrude. Unquestionably they never
occurred. Gertrude went to school at the usual age, but on
account of poverty and immigration missed many long periods.
However, at 14 she had gone through the 6th grade.

About Gertrude's moral evolution we got very little aid from the
parents or indeed from any others. It was very evident that from
earliest childhood the girl had led a mental life of which her
relatives knew nothing. Naturally, the mother gave us no account
of the development of the tendency to lying; she merely glossed
over her daughter's deceptions. The father, who had been obliged
to work away from home much during Gertrude's early years, merely
knew that at about the time she left school, namely 14 years, she
began to lie excessively.

Anything like a complete account of Gertrude's prevarications,
even as we know them, would require much space. Some idea of
their quantity and quality may be gained from the facts which we
have gleaned from several sources. As might be supposed,
Gertrude has established a reputation for falsification among
many of her acquaintances. One friend tells how she represented
herself as a half orphan, living with a hard-hearted step-mother.
Demanding promises of secrecy, Gertrude told this girl about a
sum which she had with much difficulty gradually saved from her
earnings in order to buy needed clothes. She asked the friend to
come and help her make a selection. (Now the $20 or so that was
spent Gertrude had stolen. By following her strange impulse she,
with danger to herself, related a complicated story to this other
girl who needed to know nothing of any part of the affair.) We
have knowledge of scores of other fabrications which were
detected. They include her alleged attendance at a course of
lectures, her possession of a certain library card, and her
working in various places. For many of these stories not a
shadow of a reason appeared--especially during the time we have
known her she has had every incentive to tell the truth about
everything.

When by virtue of our court work we first knew the case, her
lying centered about her other delinquencies, but even so its
peculiar characteristics stood out sharply.

Gertrude was held to the adult court in the matter of the forgery
of a check, which had been presented in an envelope to a bank
teller by her and cashed as in the regular line of business
between the bank and the firm for which she worked. Finding the
girl had lied about her age, she was held, after the preliminary
hearing, to the proper court. There, in turn, she did not appear
at the right time, it being stated that she was sick in a
hospital. One officer knew better and further investigation
showed that Gertrude herself had come to the court, represented
herself as her sister, and made the false statement about the
illness. A telephone call the same afternoon to her house
Gertrude answered.

Months of difficulty with the case began now. Her employer and
all concerned experienced much difficulty in getting at the truth
of the forgery, particularly through her clever implication of a
man who had no easy task in freeing himself. Even after the girl
confessed herself a confirmed liar she told more untruths which
were peculiarly hard to unravel. Gertrude's firm bearing, her
comparative refinement and her ability made every one unusually
anxious to do her justice, and to save her from her own
self-damaging tendencies.

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