Mythomania: when lies build a parallel reality

Published on July 6, 2025 – by editorial team

If you've never heard of a mythomaniac, this is essentially a person who tends to reshape reality with a strong dose of fantasy. In simpler terms, reality is altered, distorted, through the creation of situations, events, and scenarios that have no real foundation. This results in a fictional world, and the person tends to consistently tell lies. But what drives someone to fabricate fantastic, illusory, or false events that replace their real daily life? This is in fact a recognized disorder, officially included in the diagnostic manual of mental illnesses.

Hidden reasons behind the lies

Are there genuine psychological reasons why someone develops a pattern of telling more or less elaborate lies? Yes—these lies serve specific purposes. Let’s examine them:

• They act as a way to hide personal weaknesses from others.
• The person may fear judgment from others and thus lies to protect themselves.
• Lies can serve to reinforce their own self-esteem.
• Lying becomes a tool to evoke compassion or admiration from others.

Another typical trait of a mythomaniac is bragging. They often exaggerate stories and boast openly about their experiences. Over time, this behavior may develop into a deeper psychological issue.

As the person continues to invent stories in which they star, they may eventually start believing in their own fabrications. At that point, the lies are no longer seen as falsehoods but as true experiences they genuinely believe they have lived.

Possible causes

What might cause someone to become a compulsive liar? It could stem from a past loss or from a family environment where the parents placed overly high expectations on the individual. It may also develop as a defense mechanism used to hide one’s fragilities and vulnerabilities.

Such individuals often fear that others will take advantage of their perceived weaknesses, so they create an alternative version of themselves—stronger, more successful, admired.

Understanding the disorder

Mythomania is fundamentally a psychological condition in which the individual alters reality for personal comfort. Lies become a lifestyle, a constant means of self-expression. People with this condition build fantastical narratives as a coping strategy and seek validation by portraying themselves as superior.

It can even begin in childhood—when some children, afraid of disappointing their parents, begin lying to avoid punishment or criticism. The condition becomes pathological when the individual truly believes there are no consequences to creating fictional stories and manipulating reality.

Pleasurable sensations involved

Interestingly, mythomaniacs may feel a sense of pleasure when others show interest or curiosity in their tales. This attention, especially in a social context like the workplace, reinforces their behavior. The more they feel accepted or admired, the more elaborate their lies become.

Unlike megalomania—where the person actively seeks real-world validation—the mythomaniac avoids facing reality. Real-life confrontation could be too harsh and could lead to emotional collapse.

Psychiatry and mythomania

In psychiatric terms, mythomania is defined as a consistent and habitual use of lies. These lies may span various areas of life. For example:

• Exaggerated accounts of sexual performance.
• Fabricated romantic adventures.

The individual constructs elaborate and increasingly unrealistic stories. This voluntary distortion of reality allows the person to escape from a disappointing or painful real life.

The goal isn’t material gain—it’s about appearing impressive in the eyes of others. Over time, the fictional stories begin to replace actual memories.

Possible root causes

Pinpointing the causes isn’t simple. Often, these individuals experience:

• Low personal self-esteem.
• A strong internal sense of insecurity.

Looking into their past often reveals a strict, overly critical upbringing. As children, they may have been harshly judged or frequently corrected by their parents.

Key traits of the disorder

Some defining traits of mythomania include:

1. Profound inner fragility, often hidden by exaggerated self-promotion.
2. The construction of fictional scenarios where they play the hero or central figure.
3. Constant manipulation of reality to maintain their fabricated persona.
4. Over time, these fabrications become real in the individual’s mind.
5. Despite lying, they may feel guilt toward those close to them.

Diagnostic process

Diagnosing mythomania requires a psychological evaluation by a trained psychotherapist. According to the mental disorders manual, it falls within the spectrum of narcissistic and histrionic personality disorders.

Psychotherapy can help uncover the roots of the problem and identify the internal conflict fueling the behavior. What thought is disturbing the person’s psyche? The therapist must explore this dynamic and reduce the individual's psychological dependence on the opinions of others.

When necessary, pharmacological treatment with antidepressants or mood stabilizers may be used.

← Read also: Paranoia e percezione distorta dell'intenzionalità altrui

For more information, see the Wikipedia page on Pseudologia fantastica.

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