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Pathological Lying: Theory, Research, and Practice
This book analyzes the science behind pathological lying and offers important lessons for research and clinical practice.
Curtis and Hart expertly synthesize and unify historical and contemporary writings and research on pathological lying, into a functional and cohesive resource for researchers and clinicians. By offering a succinct, theory‑driven, and empirically corroborated account of this disorder, the authors aim to provide clinicians with the tools they need to more accurately identify and effectively treat patients.
For a hundred years, research on pathological lying has been fragmented and diffuse; as a result, the disorder has been called by different names and characterized in innumerable ways, with no formal definition or diagnosis. Recently, there has been a re‑emergence of research examining pathological lying, which has helped establish research markers, categorical distinctions, assessment profiles, and clinical parameters.
Curtis and Hart expertly synthesize and unify historical and contemporary writings and research on pathological lying, into a functional and cohesive resource for researchers and clinicians. By offering a succinct, theory‑driven, and empirically corroborated account of this disorder, the authors aim to provide clinicians with the tools they need to more accurately identify and effectively treat patients.
For a hundred years, research on pathological lying has been fragmented and diffuse; as a result, the disorder has been called by different names and characterized in innumerable ways, with no formal definition or diagnosis. Recently, there has been a re‑emergence of research examining pathological lying, which has helped establish research markers, categorical distinctions, assessment profiles, and clinical parameters.
260 pages, Paperback
Published November 22, 2022
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38 people want to read
About the author
Drew A. Curtis
2 books5 followersDrew A. Curtis, PhD is a licensed psychologist, Rodgers Distinguished Faculty, and the director of the PsyD and MS counseling psychology programs at Angelo State University (ASU). He is also serving as the Executive Officer of the Southwestern Psychological Association and President of the Psychological Association of Greater West Texas.
His research has specifically focused on pathological lying and deception: in the context of therapy, within healthcare professions, intimate relationships, and parental relationships.
He has published an abnormal psychology textbook, a book about psychopathology, several papers on deception, and received various research grants and awards for his research.
His research has specifically focused on pathological lying and deception: in the context of therapy, within healthcare professions, intimate relationships, and parental relationships.
He has published an abnormal psychology textbook, a book about psychopathology, several papers on deception, and received various research grants and awards for his research.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 1, 2024
I have previously looked for serious books dealing with the topic of pathological lying and this is one of the few that I've come across over the years. Because pathological lying is not formally recognized as a mental health disorder by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM) or in the World Health Organization's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), research on the problem has been sparser than it otherwise would be and much about the issue remains understudied and less than well understood. Drew A. Curtis and Christian L. Hart, the authors of the book professional psychologists, want to start to change this and are proposing that pathological lying be added to the DSM and ICD classification systems. As it stands today, those who lie pathologically are often not treated for their problem or are diagnosed with another mental health condition, often acquiring a stigmatizing and inappropriate label which in the process exposes them to harmful treatments that don't adequately address their needs or the needs of those impacted by their lying. I believe that there is more reason to be wary of many or perhaps all psychiatric diagnostic categories than the authors of this text seem to believe, but I think it's actually rather bizarre and inappropriate that if we're going to classify mental health conditions, there is no formal classification for individuals who lie pathologically, even though far less harmful and disruptive behaviors are pathologized within the psychiatric profession. In my own personal experience, I've known people who seem to lie frequently, often for no discernible motive, and sometimes in outlandish ways. The research documented in this volume seems to support the conclusion that most people claim to have known such individuals. It makes sense that pathological lying should be recognized as a mental health condition if we're going to recognize such a thing as mental health disorders.
Dispute some minor grammatical issues (the book could have used a more thorough proofreading job), the book is well-written and does a good job of explaining much of the current literature that exists on the issue of pathological lying. I wish that there was more of an explanation of the etiology of pathological lying and while the authors review some of the limited academic literature on the question that exists, they don't ultimately propose much in the way of an explanation themselves. Perhaps admirably and perhaps frustratingly, Curtis and Hart are careful not to outpace the academic literature that exists on their subject matter and stay away from conjecture for the most part. This may make the book less than satisfying in some ways for those like myself who has always wondered why some otherwise normal seeming individuals seem to have such a problem with telling the truth even when no incentives seem to be at play that would encourage deceitfulness.
I wish that more detailed case studies had been included in the book. One of the most interesting cases that was included involved a woman who lied habitually about the victim of serious violent crimes, leading to major legal problems for friends, coworkers, and acquaintances that she claimed she held no ill will toward. For a long time, I've been fascinating by the problem of people whose lies are absolutely outlandish and pose real harms to others - parents who make up stories about their children being deathly ill and have them subjected to abusive and unnecessary medical treatments, people who lie about being victims of violent crime, people who lie about relatives dying, people who lie about having serious illnesses they do not have, and the like. All of the pathological liars I have known have mostly lied about relatively harmless things. But there is a subset of pathological liars that pose a real danger to their families, their communities, and anyone that crosses their path and they place a great burden on the medical, criminal justice, child welfare, and other systems designed to deal with social problems. More research needs to be done on recognizing these sorts of liars so that the harm they do can be mitigated or avoided.
It would have also been helpful had the authors discussed in more depth the impact that pathological lying has on those affected by the liar's behavior. This issue is alluded to throughout the text, but drawing it out more clearly could have added a great deal in my view.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the state of academic psychology's current approach to pathological lying. The authors of "Pathological Lying: Theory, Research, and Practice" are currently at work on a book entitled "Big Liars: How Pathological and Compulsive Deceivers Hurt, Gaslight, and Exasperate Everyone Around Them." Judging by the title, it looks as if this book will fill in some of lacunas I noticed in the present text and it sounds as if it is likely to take a more narrative and less clinical approach than the present volume. I'm excited about the project and look forward to reading it when it comes out.
Dispute some minor grammatical issues (the book could have used a more thorough proofreading job), the book is well-written and does a good job of explaining much of the current literature that exists on the issue of pathological lying. I wish that there was more of an explanation of the etiology of pathological lying and while the authors review some of the limited academic literature on the question that exists, they don't ultimately propose much in the way of an explanation themselves. Perhaps admirably and perhaps frustratingly, Curtis and Hart are careful not to outpace the academic literature that exists on their subject matter and stay away from conjecture for the most part. This may make the book less than satisfying in some ways for those like myself who has always wondered why some otherwise normal seeming individuals seem to have such a problem with telling the truth even when no incentives seem to be at play that would encourage deceitfulness.
I wish that more detailed case studies had been included in the book. One of the most interesting cases that was included involved a woman who lied habitually about the victim of serious violent crimes, leading to major legal problems for friends, coworkers, and acquaintances that she claimed she held no ill will toward. For a long time, I've been fascinating by the problem of people whose lies are absolutely outlandish and pose real harms to others - parents who make up stories about their children being deathly ill and have them subjected to abusive and unnecessary medical treatments, people who lie about being victims of violent crime, people who lie about relatives dying, people who lie about having serious illnesses they do not have, and the like. All of the pathological liars I have known have mostly lied about relatively harmless things. But there is a subset of pathological liars that pose a real danger to their families, their communities, and anyone that crosses their path and they place a great burden on the medical, criminal justice, child welfare, and other systems designed to deal with social problems. More research needs to be done on recognizing these sorts of liars so that the harm they do can be mitigated or avoided.
It would have also been helpful had the authors discussed in more depth the impact that pathological lying has on those affected by the liar's behavior. This issue is alluded to throughout the text, but drawing it out more clearly could have added a great deal in my view.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the state of academic psychology's current approach to pathological lying. The authors of "Pathological Lying: Theory, Research, and Practice" are currently at work on a book entitled "Big Liars: How Pathological and Compulsive Deceivers Hurt, Gaslight, and Exasperate Everyone Around Them." Judging by the title, it looks as if this book will fill in some of lacunas I noticed in the present text and it sounds as if it is likely to take a more narrative and less clinical approach than the present volume. I'm excited about the project and look forward to reading it when it comes out.
January 18, 2025
A great and well-researched book on Pathological Lying. It describes in great detail the need for Pathological Lying to become an official diagnosis, with many supporting arguments and examples. The book is very well written so that people who are not a trained psychologist, like myself, can understand everything going on.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews