Inside the mind of a compulsive liar

Childhood coping strategy or attention seeking thrill? A compulsive liar talks about the joy of deception

“There’s no better rush than tricking someone into believing a random bit of bullshit you’ve pulled out of your arse just for the fun of it.”

This confession comes from an articulate thirty-something year-old woman downing her third glass of pinot grigio in a dingy Wetherspoons.

Let’s call her Madeline. This isn’t her real name, but the fake identity she has carefully cultivated for whenever she gets chatting to strangers in pubs or on buses.

“No matter how shitty the reality of my life might be, I get an instant adrenaline high from being someone else for five or 10 minutes,” she says. “She has the life I want — successful theatre critic, 10 years younger than me and engaged to a devilishly handsome heart surgeon.”

For most of us, white lies are an essential social tool to navigate everyday life and, according to research from 20th Century Fox, the average man lies six times a day, while women lie just three.

“The closer we are to someone, the more likely we are to lie to protect a person’s feelings,” says health psychologist Dr Susan Marchant-Haycox. “This is true of women —…