Pathology of Lying [8]
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
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