Does bipolar / psychosis cause people 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.

here in america we do have a mental disorder category called fictitious disorder where pathological lying is a symptom but its not a necessary one for being diagnosed with a fictitious disorder. what that means is yes some mental disorders do have the symptom of telling lies and others do not.

bipolar disorder is not listed with the fictitious disorders and is not a mental disorder that causes a person to lie. the symptom of impulsive in reference to bipolar disorder means the person acts before thinking about the consequences, acting before thinking the situation out...going shopping for food and end up buying new clothes, a person with bipolar disorder still has the choice whether to say I bought new jeans versus saying I needed a new pair of jeans my other ones are ripped out (when in fact they are not)

Im guessing that statement you read was that writers ....opinion...... and interpretation ..... of what the word impulsive means to them rather than taking the literal psychological definition included in diagnosing a person with bipolar.

I think psychosis certainly can. In that case BP I can as well because it features psychosis.