Why ADHD Can Cause Compulsive Lying
Channel: adhdspecialists
Date: 2011-08-16

Having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can be a challenge. There are a number of different ways that symptoms might manifest from individual to individual. The most common symptoms include inattentiveness, forgetfulness, mood swings, and a decreased capacity to listen to others. However, there's another symptom that many don't often think of as being related to ADHD: compulsive lying.
First of all, what is compulsive lying? The word "compulsive" has to do with feeling compelled to behave in a certain way, even if you consciously don't want to. Most natural human processes like hunger, drowsiness, or arousal come about outside of your control. This is how you might consider compulsive lying to be -- it's more like an automatic response than something that you can consciously affect.
So, how does compulsive lying occur in ADHD patients? Whereas someone without ADHD has the ability to formulate a decision about whether to tell the truth, those with ADHD often react in one of the following ways:
1) They tell an exaggeration of the truth.
2) Their mind mistakes the truth for something else entirely.
3) They repeatedly lie in the hopes of avoiding punishment, rejection, or other negative consequences.
The Exaggeration
Because of the nature of ADHD patients' minds, they are more likely to find the truth to be too simplistic or dull. Especially in ADHD children, their view of the world may be more colorful, impulsive, or spontaneous than it would be as they mature. This is not necessarily their attempt to lie about something, but rather, an impulse to make something more exciting or fun. 
The Mind's Mistake
Sometimes, the problem is that the ADHD patient is genuinely mixed up or confused about something that took place. For example, if a patient were to tell a story about visiting Mexico and seeing polar bears, he or she might be met with, "What polar bears? There aren't any polar bears in Mexico!"
It's not even that the patient is exaggerating; instead, the patient misfiled the information or only took in enough information to make an educated guess. In this instance, the patient remembered that there was an animal in the story, and that the animal was part of an endangered species. With this key detail, the patient's mind attempted to fill in the gaps, and made a slight mistake. This isn't to say that the patient is bad or wrong, but simply that ADHD makes it more likely that he or she will "misfile" information and then be convinced that that is correct.
The Avoidance of Punishment
No one likes to be punished or rejected, but in ADHD patients, this concern is heightened. They are more likely to be forgetful, inattentive, or unfocused, and this all means that they will slip up or make mistakes more frequently than others. ADHD patients learn early on that it's bad to do something wrong, but since it's sometimes out of their control to correct what they've done wrong in the future, it seems easier just to try to convince an authority figure that they did nothing wrong. If they did nothing wrong, they don't deserve punishment.
From the perspective of an authority figure, unfortunately, this looks like compulsive lying. But it is possibly a number of other things. A nervous ADHD individual may be hoping to save face after saying or doing something objectionable; he or she might be getting mixed up accidentally; he or she might be keen on avoiding punishment.
What To Do
It can be difficult as a parent dealing with an ADHD individual to instill in children the importance of telling the truth. ADHD kids learn pretty quickly that they can sometimes avoid punishment by lying, and it can be counterproductive to accuse them of being "liars" or show hostility of some sort. You have to show them what to do and praise them when they do it correctly, instead of just punishing them for lying.  This isn't always an easy process, so you might need to enlist the aid of a professional, such as a school counselor or a psychologist.
You might also consider treatment options. Using medication may not completely reverse an ADHD individual's compulsive lying habit, but it can definitely help provide a solid foundation for learning new, socially acceptable behaviors. It's unfortunate that some of these social skills are not natural to individuals with ADHD, so you have to do what you can to overcome the inborn inclination to lie as best as you can. Whenever possible, praise them profusely after they have told the truth, so you reinforce positive behaviors and avoid dwelling on negative ones.