Pinocchio Syndrome: what it is, symptoms, causes and treatment

You are a liar, your nose is going to grow from all the lies you tell! And how easy it would be to be able to detect the lies because we see someone whose nose has grown, just as it happened to the young Pinocchio. We have all told a lie from time to time, or even some of us have embellished a past story in a false way. retrospective when explaining it to make it more attractive and that they pay us more attention when being listened to.

But what if this begins to become the normality of everything we say and explain? We would become pathological liars and we could fit into the Pinocchio syndrome or mythomania. So if you are interested in knowing more about it, keep reading! In this Psychology-Online article we inform you in detail about what is Pinocchio syndrome, its symptoms, its causes and its treatment.

Index

1. What is Pinocchio syndrome
2. Pinocchio syndrome symptoms
3. Causes of Pinocchio syndrome
4. Treatment of Pinocchio syndrome

On many occasions, Pinocchio syndrome is mentioned as a symptom of gelotophobia for presenting emotional coldness, gestural petrification of the face, as well as "clumsy" movements with the body as an association with the physical characteristics of a wooden doll that came to life thanks to Carlo Collodi's story published between 1882 and 1883.

Without further ado, Pinocchio syndrome is also used in psychiatry to designate mythomania or pathological lying. Definition on which we will focus in this article: the mythomaniac person or that presents the Pinocchio syndrome, usually lies spontaneously in order to get benefits such as attention or admiration, or to avoid punishment.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition (DSM-V) tends to frame it within the antisocial, histrionic, "borderline", narcissistic or even Munchausen syndrome, without considering it a nosological entity of its own.

Dupré (1990), on the other hand, gives us some Pinocchio syndrome keys or mythomania:

• The story may be probable and have some relation to reality.
• The "imaginary adventure" can manifest itself in various circumstances and in a lasting way.
• The themes are varied but the hero or the victim is always the subject who narrates it.

People who suffer from Pinocchio syndrome or mythomania, in addition to the main symptom that would be spontaneous lying, usually have other associated symptoms:

• Very high anxiety levels.
• Recurring thoughts that incite lies.
• Low self-esteem. Feelings of inferiority and low tolerance for frustration.
• Difficulty controlling impulses seen in difficulty controlling lies
• Positive reinforcement by not being discovered, making them feel satisfied and proud of it
• Lack of social skills.
• Progressive increase, as a result of positive reinforcement, of the number of lies emitted.
• Judgment ability preserved. Although it is true that there has been controversy about whether or not these people are capable of recognizing their own lies, for now it is believed that despite the lack of impulse control, if the ability to judge remains preserved.
• Lack of acceptance of one's own reality and difficulty coping with it in another way.
• Escape in situations of culpability or feeling of emotional loss.

The onset of the typical symptoms of compulsive lying usually has its origin in adolescence, so that positive and social reinforcement makes the behavior chronic. In addition, as we always say from psychology, mental disorders have a double causality resulting from the interaction between genetics and environment.

In this particular case, up to approximately 40% of cases have seen CNS disorders and abnormalities (central nervous system), such conditions may include:

• Epilepsy.
• Traumatic or infectious history, such as tonsillitis.
• Altered electroencephalograms.
• Higher proportion of white matter in the frontal lobe of the brain, associated with greater disinhibition and less concern for moral aspects.
• Right hemitalamic dysfunction.

The treatment for Pinocchio syndrome or mythomania, since it is generally found within a major clinical picture associated with other disorders, the treatment should be focused on these, being paramount a psychotherapeutic treatment which, in some cases, could go accompanied by pharmacological treatment if there were associated anxious or depressive symptoms to treat.

In any case, it is important to make a special mention of Schineider's idea about the difficulty of treatment in this pathology. The author alludes to the difficulty that appears to work with these people since the falsity of his stories hinders the therapeutic relationship. In addition, on many occasions the consultation to a professional has a medical-legal reason to be able to protect yourself from her acts.

If you have found this article on Pinocchio syndrome or mythomania interesting, take a look at our posts on How to detect a liar? Y Psychological profile of a lying person.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Pinocchio Syndrome: what it is, symptoms, causes and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

• American psychiatric association, (2014). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM – 5. Madrid Spain. Pan American Medical Publishing.
• Casas, R., Zamarro M. L., (1990). The mythomania in the current clinic. About a clinical case. R.A.E.N 34(X), 345-353.
• Mythomania in adolescents, Inmens. Recovered from: https://www.inmens.es/articulo/mitomania-adolescentes