“Big Liars” by Christian L. Hart PhD and Drew A. Curtis PhD: A Book on Lying, Published by The American Psychological Association

Quote from Psychiatric Textbook (1): “Adult MPD patients will often recount that they acquired a reputation as liars in childhood” (1, p. 78).

Quote from Big Liars (2): “In an anonymous online forum, another man wrote of his 12-year-old daughter:

“She constantly lies….She has been claiming she was in a gang, stabbed someone, was pregnant, was from Sweden….We live in a rural area, there are no gangs here and she isn’t from Sweden. She most certainly hasn’t stabbed anyone. She created 15 different email accounts all with different identities on different chat apps. Each of her alter identities has bad habits, like drugs, violence, stealing or criminal behavior. I am confused and don’t know what to do.” (2, p. 47).

Comment: The child with 15 alternate identities apparently has multiple personality (a.k.a. (dissociative identity disorder), but “Big Liars” doesn’t state the diagnosis.

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

2. Christian L. Hart PhD and Drew A. Curtis PhD. Big Liars: What Psychological Science Tells US About Lying and How You can Avoid Being Duped. Washington, DC, American Psychological Association, 2023, APA Life Tools, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC20002.