“Sometimes I Lie” (post 2) by Alice Feeney: Title may be symptom of Multiple Personality if there are memory gaps or alternative realities

Memory Gaps

“The experience of being called a liar is common for multiple personality patients. Apparent pathological lying or disavowing of observed behavior is one of the best diagnostic predictors in child and adolescent multiples. Adult MPD patients will often recount that they acquired a reputation as liars in childhood. I will ask patients whether they have often had the experience of being accused of lying when they believed that they were telling the truth. This may happen to all of us at some time or other, but MPD patients will have this experience frequently in childhood and fairly often as adults.

“Multiples are perceived by other people as lying when they deny doing things that they were seen to do. In most instances, this is because the personality that is denying the behavior is amnesic for the actions of another personality who actually performed the action” (1, pp. 78-79).

Alternative Realities

Some alternate personalities have an imaginative view of reality, including awareness of other personalities. If the person labels it as fiction and characters, they may become storytellers or fiction writers. If they don’t label it as fiction, they may be seen as liars. Multiple personality is not categorized as a psychosis, because the person usually has some personalities who are in touch with ordinary reality.

1. Frank W. Putnam, MD. Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder. New York, The Guilford Press, 1989.

2. Alice Feeney. Sometimes I Lie. New York, Flatiron Books, 2018.