NP but worth reading

[pynchonoid]

Does Pathological Lying Warrant Inclusion in DSM?
     Ken Hausman
     Psychiatr News 2003;38 24

"Pathological lying has rarely appeared on the
psychiatric radar screen in recent years, remaining a
poorly understood concept with serious ramifications,
particularly for forensic psychiatrists. 

Charles Dike, M.D., a forensic psychiatrist and
clinical instructor in psychiatry at Yale University
School of Medicine, maintains that psychiatrists need
to pay attention to pathological lying so they are
able to inform the legal system about whether
pathological liars should be held responsible for
their behavior. He believes as well that it is time
for psychiatrists to assess whether pathological lying
"represents only a symptom of a pre-existing
psychiatric disorder or is a coherent enough entity"
to be included as a separate diagnosis in APA’s
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). [...] 

Defining the concept is a crucial step in analyzing
the concept of pathological lying from a psychiatric
viewpoint, and Dike described it as repeated lies told
over a number of years for which an external reason is
not easily discernable. These lies are often "woven
into complex narratives," he pointed out. "In
pathological lying, telling lies may often seem to be
an end in itself . . . .the pathological liar may
become a prisoner of his lies, [and] the desired
personality of the pathological liar may overwhelm the
actual one." [...] 

continues at:
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/38/1/24?etoc

...enjoy!

-Doug




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