Does OCD cause 'compulsive lying' or 'compulsive honesty'? The idea that OCD makes you or a loved one more likely to compulsively lie is generally false. It's much more typical for people with OCD to struggle with a compulsive need to tell the truth, sometimes called “compulsive honesty.”
People with OCD may have obsessions and related compulsions about lying. To address the anxiety these obsessions cause, they may be compelled to tell or confess, in detail, even innocuous information.
Personality disorders and pathological lying
Pathological lying or lying compulsively can also be a symptom of antisocial personality disorder or narcissistic personality disorder. People with these personality disorders may lie to gain sympathy or social status, or to preserve a false sense of self.
The person with OCD may go to great lengths to pursue the person to ask their relentless questions, and I have seen several cases where they would even manipulate to the point of threatening to harm themselves or do desperate things if their questions went unanswered.
A person with OCD might engage in maladaptive daydreaming because they feel that it is the only time they can escape the fear and anxiety caused by OCD. Because of their OCD obsessions and fears, they may feel that the real world is too scary or dangerous, and believe they can only feel safe in their daydreams.
The clinical characteristics of OCD include behavioural, emotional and cognitive symptoms. Behavioural characteristics include compulsions (e.g. excessive hand washing). Emotional characteristics include anxiety and distress caused by obsessions, which consist of persistent and/or forbidden thoughts.
Not only do OCD sufferers have to deal with being perceived as selfish and likely annoying, they themselves often feel guilty for “having” to manipulate people and situations in order to follow what their OCD is dictating.
Background: People who have an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) tend to manifest a need for excessive control over their partners and other relatives, which then constitutes a principal problem in their relationships. This behaviour probably relates to an unmet need for safety in their childhood.
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
These individuals tend to be overly controlling of their environments or relationships, wanting others to conform to the strict rules they set.
The ICD-10 disorder Haltlose personality disorder is strongly tied to pathological lying. It has been shown through lie detector tests that PF (pseudologia fantastica) patients exhibit arousal, stress, and guilt from their deception.
Understanding what causes the lying is the only way to change a pathological liar's behavior. Treatment, which can include psychotherapy, medication, or both, will depend on whether or not the pathological lying is a symptom of an underlying psychiatric condition.
Common compulsive behaviors in OCD include:
Repeatedly checking in on loved ones to make sure they're safe. Counting, tapping, repeating certain words, or doing other senseless things to reduce anxiety. Spending a lot of time washing or cleaning. Ordering or arranging things “just so”.
Compulsions can include avoidance, reassurance seeking, mental review, rituals, and other repetitive acts. Once done, the sufferer gets a false sense of security that unfortunately reinforces the anxiety cycle. OCD's deception is that you have to struggle with and resolve the content of the thought.
OCD and False Memories
People with False Memory OCD experience frequent doubts about things that have happened to them and can become convinced they've done something wrong despite there being no evidence these memories are accurate.
This means that someone experiencing this mental health condition might display patterns of alternating clingy behavior and a tendency to push their partner away. They might fluctuate between praising their partnership and considering their relationship doomed to fail or riddled with problems.
Because symptoms usually worsen with age, people may have difficulty remembering when OCD began, but can sometimes recall when they first noticed that the symptoms were disrupting their lives. As you may already know, the symptoms of OCD include the following: Unwanted or upsetting doubts.
People with severe OCD have obsessions with cleanliness and germs — washing their hands, taking showers, or cleaning their homes for hours a day. Sometimes they're afraid to leave home for fear of contamination.
There are many links between OCD and narcissism, as they share many of the same risk factors. Furthermore, research suggests that having OCD increases the likelihood of developing NPD later in life.
OCD can make you feel as though you are not good enough for the things you want, or that you don't deserve to be happy. These sorts of behaviors and beliefs are sometimes referred to as self-sabotage.
People with OCD often lack trust in themselves and in whether or not an action has taken place. It can seem as though the parts of the brain that remember past events—even events that took place minutes before—are sometimes hindered.
Specific Personality Traits That Are Prevalent in OCD
Perfectionism: A need to have situations and objects exactly right. Indecisiveness: An inability to make decisions or needing a lot of time to decide. Impulsivity: An inclination to do what feels good at the moment without thinking about future consequences.