Hello, I am new to this site and new at forums but allow me to introduce myself, I am a 17 year old girl and have become aware of a problem I have with lying. I am really desperate for help. I always catch myself telling lies to my friends but i continue telling them anyways. I've always been embarrassed about my personal and social life because I have a lot of family problems and due to my introvert personality, I don't have many friends. I tell lies that won't affect anyone except my conscience. When I lie, I make myself believe it a little in order to escape from my depressing life for a while and make myself seem better in my own eyes as well as the other persons'. It makes me feel better when my lies make me seem less pitiful. I the most irrelevant lies, like for example if my friend from school were to tell me she had fun with her friends over the weekend, I would feel pathetic because I spent mine alone watching movies so therefore I would proceed to tell her how I spent time with my "other friends" and "boyfriend" (which is of course a lie). If a boy started to hit on me I would let him down by saying I have a "boyfriend". No one ever questioned or doubted me so I just let it be and continued lying and giving "relationship advice" to my friends from school since I have a "boyfriend". Recently, I've started to feel really guilty about these lies, bringing me even lower in my own eyes. I want to be reassured that I'm not a bad person that should feel ashamed. Am I really a compulsive liar? Whenever I think back to these lies, I feel really pathetic. Any advice? Thank you for reading.