Does bipolar cause a sufferer to lie ?

I have read that according to Derek Wood at Mental-Health-Matters.com, "Bipolar Disorder can be associated with low serotonin levels, which has been implicated in impulsivity, which...makes a person more prone to lie."

I have also read that the lies that are told as a result of the bipolar condition vary on a case-by-case basis. Some lies are harmless and others can be devastating.

Is it the illness or is it the person's character that causes loss of control and to tell lies ?

Hi Gareth,

I think there will be different responses here.

So please read mine as my personal opinion only.

Episodes in Bipolar can impair judgment. And we can do things we wouldn't do when stable. Could this possibly involve "lying"? Maybe, I'm not sure. Depends. Is the lie as in not necessarily disclosing EVERYTHING one has done during an episode to protect one self or others? For me, yeah probably. I'm not TRYING to lie. I just choose not to necessarily disclose absolutely everything unless people are on a need to know basis. Depends on the circumstance for me and depends on the people.

Impulsivity - sure - I'm impulsive as hell. Am I honest? Yeah, I pretty much am to be truthful. But I do do stupid things. And I don't exactly put my hand up and say "Hey, it was me Hooligan!" Classic Example: During one of my manic episodes I thought it was totally awesome to superglue coffee mugs on all the staffs desks at work. Just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Did I ever own up afterwards and say hey it was me? No. [Footnote: I wasn't asked if it was me, no one was asked who it was actually, and I did not feel the need to go to my boss and say Hi, I'd just like to tell you I was the reason nobody could removed their coffee cups ]

Yes.

These "lies" I would assume are on a case by case basis.

My non disclosure of super gluing coffee cups - meh - my business I was never asked so I never told.

I don't think it's my "character" that makes me do impulsive silly things. It's stuffed up brain chemicals in my head when I'm manic. I don't get to choose the dosage of chemicals being pumped in my brain during an episode. But I do get to choose to work closely with my pdoc in order to work out which meds will suit me best during an episode in order to dilute the stuffed up brain chemicals.

Just my opinion.

Lies are not typical to me.

I am honest to a fault. even when very unwell.

Same here.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm a very honest person. I am diagnosed with bipolar 2.

If I lie it's the same kind as anyone else - I'll lie about how I'm feeling. If someone goes "How are you?" I'm likely to go "Oh I'm well, you?" even when I'm very depressed.

When I'm hypomanic, my impulses tend to make me MORE honest..... I once messaged an ex-turned friend, who lives across the ocean from me, and I ended up going "You know, I want to have sex. If I was over there I would totally be ok with having sex with you right now." Which... is NOT the sort of thing I would ever say normally!

Impulsiveness comes with bipolar. Lying does not, although for some individuals it may come along as part of their impulsiveness. But that's more the person.

It isn't really any different than people who do not have bipolar - some people are honest to a fault, some people lie constantly, and then there are many variations in between.

Hooligan you crack me up,,you have totally made my day.....

and on topic I sometime brag and bend the truth a little but it is not a bp thing just a character flaw....

When I was in my teens, I told heinous lies. This is outside of my character and was done during a manic episode. At the same time I was lying, I was cutting and writing evil letters in my own blood. There is no doubt I was out of my dam mind.

I think that mania can so inhibit you that you make terribly poor decisions including, sometimes, lying. I am honest and I have not lied during any episode since.

Wiretwister for you:

I have told the occational lie about how I feel, and why I am not going to attend some get-together or social event. Cant tell the truth about what is going on with me all the time, because I know some people will put a stigma on me. So I am guilty of lying some times. When I was a teenager, I could tell stupid lies to get attention. (I see that now, wont do that anymore!). So I dont know what that makes me. A dishonest person?

May I ask why you keep asking this question?

I have struggled with this same question. When I said I told heinous lies, I meant lies as heinous as claiming someone abused me when they didn't. While I'm sure I did this for attention (such as the time I caught my hair on fire), I am also certain I was out of my mind. Because I am certain I would neither have told then nor tell now any of these lies if I was sane, I know that it is not because I am dishonest but because I was extremely unwell. While the responsibility of and repercussions from the lies fall on me, I simply was insane. I do not lie now, whether manic or otherwise.

I never lie. I actually should lie more often. I would be nicer and less apt to hurt people's feelings.

I am blunt, tactless, honest and less caring than I should be.

This is me. Even in the worst of my episodes I do not lie but the truths I tell should never have been uttered.

I lost a decent job last year because of my inability to keep my mouth shut. I was rehired and the place had changed for the worse since I had been there. If could have been quiet I would have been fine, but my mouth ran away from me and I started criticizing what I felt was wrong and ended up in front of my supervisor be dressed down for not being part of the team and demoralizing everyone. I still couldn't manage to shut up and ended up telling her what I thought of her, her managerial style and her team.

Even though I was right, she was running the place into the ground, I should have shut my big mouth and gone about my business.

I have done this, and then just gave up my friends so I could stop lying about it. How could I tell them I wasn't well enough to keep up with the group w/o lying about it?

So you can have some "control" when you are manic. You have learned impulse control in order to remain true to your character. IMO others can do the same. It depends on how important it is to them not to lie.

Bipolar or character flaw? I do not know. I think it can be either one. But I think if lying continues over time, the more likely it is a character flaw.

JMHO

I think lying to get attention is something other than bipolar. JMHO

Perhaps this is true. But, like I mentioned, I would not have done this if I was well and I was doing other things at this time that would implement me as out of my mind. I just think that I have such poor judgement while manic that i have made and I'm sure will continue to make some very poor decisions, including this one.

Gareth,

Along with Velouria I've noticed that in three different posts you've asked about whether dishonesty or criminality are symptoms of bipolar disorder or personality flaws; are you trying to understand or judge your own behavior, or someone else's? Do you believe that someone can be pardoned from wrongdoing because an illness compromised their ability to control their impulses or their sense of right and wrong? Do you believe that someone's personality is an innate quality that can't be contaminated by mental illness? Please tell us your story.

Lying is more of a symptom of a personality disorder, I have read.I think you can have bipolar plus some other diagnoses.

If so, no pdoc in the 17 years I've had symptoms has ever caught it and I don't display any symptoms as such. I don't do this anymore.

Ouch.

I'd be interested to hear more on this one if you have access to the written information please.

Thanks Valentina

I think there's a spectrum when it comes to lying. If everyone who lies has a personality disorder, I'd better call my brother up and tell him to go get help, lol. My brother told lies when we were children, more frequently than I did likely, mostly in embellished stories and when he wanted a "Ferris Bueller" kind of day off from school, but he is certainly not bipolar, nor does he have a personality disorder...

I read somewhere that people with personality disorder lie without purpose. Just because they can pretty much or because they enjoy manipulating others, and people without, have a purpose for their lying.

In my brother's case, we egged him on with the tall tales because they were quite entertaining. He enjoyed telling them as much as I enjoyed hearing them, and wanting a day off from school is something I think most kids have wanted at some point. He was far from a pathological lier, though, and never lied to hurt anyone else.

I've told similar lies. Most are to protect myself in some way. I, too, pretended to be "sick" on occasion, which is half true, considering I was mentally ill during all those times. I also have lied by omission several times. I know it would greatly hurt my mother to know all the things I've done while in manic episodes, so I've chosen not to tell her everything. Some of the lying by omission was more that I was in denial to my condition. When doctors asked me about various symptoms, I downplayed them.

when I am in hyper mania I seem to tell stories that are false "lie" when I come down from it I admit it or get caught in the lie itself its quite embarrassing

It was on here. I didn't mean it in a derogatory way. Sorry. I read it under personality disorders. Hold on, I will look for it. So there is no "ouch" to it.

And I did not say she had a personality disorder. I said, people with bipolar can also have personality disorders. And they frequently do.

Here is one source-http://www.bpdcentral.com/blog/?Why-Do-Narcissists-and-Borderlines-Lie-So-Much-24

I am not suggesting that anyone of here is a liar. I am reporting what I have read in response to the OP question about bipolar.

Here is something from this site-http://blogs.psychcentral.com/mental-health-awareness/2015/02/how-to-spot-a-pathological-liar/