You might start here: Pathological lying - Wikipedia
Liars range from simple exaggerators (“I invented the internet”) to fancy exaggerators (Baron von Munchhausen) to psychotics unable to distinguish their delusions from reality.
Clinically speaking, a key point in categorizing them is whether or not they know their lies to be false, or actually believe them (delusions of grandeur, e.g.).
An odd question that I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve always wanted to ask somebody who has had such delusions: do you remember your manic phases and delusions? By that I mean 'do you remember actually believing that whatever impossible claim you believed at the time, or do you just remember the time itself (if that makes any sense at all)? If so is it like remembering a dream when you remember it or is it more like remembering “that time when I was really into Roy Orbison” clarity?
A guy I knew once set me up with a blind date with a woman who worked in his office. She was very good looking, dressed very well and was a good conversationalist. I was having a great time with her until she decided to tell me why she hated dentists. Every time she visited a dentist, he would give her some drug that “sort of” knocked her out and then he would molest her and/or have intercourse with her. She vowed to never return to that office and made an appointment with another dentist, who did exactly the same things except he brought his nurse in to participate-----these were long stories and full of lurid details; when I asked how she knew these things happened if she was unconscious, she told me she was in like a dream state from the drugs and she was fully aware of what was going on but was helpless. She never reported these dentists because she “didn’t want to get anyone in trouble.” She told these stories with a perfectly straight face and she sounded as if she really believed them. I took her home and never saw her again but every now and then, I remember her and I’ve often wondered about her motives for telling me, a stranger, all these intimate details as to what had happened. I guess I’ll never know now.
Incidentally, the guy that set me up with her told me later that she told her dentist stories in the office to anyone who would listen; he said there were days when she would do nothing but talk about the dentist and what they had done to her. One of the strangest people I’ve ever met.
I actually remember believing my claims…I think. It was a pretty painful time in my life. I’m not sure if I believed it to be fact, or if it was something that I knew I was on the verge of, or knew that I could make it fact. At any rate, I spoke with such authority that it was true to me. In other words, I’m not entirely sure.
Perhaps some of this comes from goals I set for myself. Some were insanely high, and I vocalized them. This process was something I used to drive myself to succede. Back in those days, failure of any kind was mortifying to me. I was able to accomplish a good many of these goals, and got a major rush out of proving my doubters wrong. The stress was incredible, and I loved every minute of it. I’ve only had a true sense of stability for the last 7 or 8 years.
When I reflect on my past, I usually see the good. I have friends and family members to remind me of the bad. hehehe I’m thankful that my behavior was, for the most part self-destructive, but understand that it was painful for loved ones to endure. I thank God they hung in there with me.
I hope it answers your question. I’m not sure it did.
Tons of disorders can cause things like this.
Pathological lying, sociopathy, delusional disorder, bipolar, schizophrenia, NPD, etc.
I used to run a “Long John Silvers” low-grade fish-n-chips place and I was interviewing for a new minimum-wage-monkey one day when “D” showed up, he was 18 or 19 years old and continually told “the first liar does not stand a chance” stories but the funniest one was when I asked him about the recent past he told me “I have been making Corpes for the U.S. Air Force in Granada” (I had the overwhelming feeling that he had practiced this line in front of a mirror MANY times).
I did not hire him, but that’s still one of the funniest lines I’ve ever heard.
Unclviny
Heck, in this day and age, he might even be telling the truth.
In my son’s high school, there are many entrepreneurs. My son was involved in at least two ventures. There were several doing delivery services, setting up people’s home entertainment systems, and even being Internet service providers. My son got me in contact with his friend who did the ISP service, and he was pretty damn good at it. Great service, and with my son’s connections, cheap prices. Then, he went off to college and sold his ISP to some conglomerate and the service went down hill.
My son was involved with one venture importing smart phones from China. An unknown company at that time called HTC (google them and see). Stupid kid now has more in savings than I do in my 401K.
How did he pronounce that? What did he mean by it exactly?
Sorry for the typo, he STRONGLY implied that he had been making dead bodies for the USAF, I resisted the urge to ask him if they were Sheep bodies.
Unclviny
And you try and tell the young people of today that … they won’t believe you.
You know they say that “just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you”? Although that isn’t actually the medical definition of paranoia.
Well, just because you’re manic, doesn’t mean you don’t have special abilities.
A fascinating article about a real-life manic street preacher who really did hold world records and black belts in several martial arts.
Sadly, it requires registration and payment.
Anesthesia can give rise to sex illusion: "“In the patient’s mind, such hallucinations can seem very real upon waking from sedation. In several recent, well-documented cases, physicians have been accused by patients of sexual misconduct, even though witnesses were present throughout the entire procedure.”
But why she would tell a stranger all this is another matter.
My brother says this can happen with newly minted military officers, too. He took pains as a U.S. Army 2nd LT to ask, “How does that sound to you, Sergeant? [approval] Sounds like a plan.”