You may come to suspect a friend, family member, or co-worker is habitually stretching the truth. Pick apart the suspected lies and consider what they have in common. Pathological liars may lie to gain sympathy, boredom, or insecurity.Part of the reason the pathological liar feels compelled to lie is because he or she may feel as though being in spotlight has eluded them.This person feels that he or she should be the center of everyone s universe and will do what he or she can to make it happen. Upon tasting the spotlight it becomes self-reinforcing and the lies grow bigger each time just to keep on being the center of attention. Some pathological liars may be actively trying to gain sympathy in a situation. They may tend to exaggerate or make up pains and illnesses, for example, or exaggerate small issues in their lives to ridiculous proportions in order to gain sympathy from anyone within earshot.
Pathological liars may also have low self-esteem. They may lie to make themselves look more important than they truly are. They may exaggerate accomplishments in personal or professional areas in order to make their lives seem impressive and worthy. In this case, they may be lying to convince themselves rather than to mislead you.
Some pathological liars simply lie out of boredom. They will fabricate events and make up lies to hurt others. This creates drama, alleviating boredom in the pathological liar's life.
Some pathological liars may enjoy the attention that they get from others by telling extravagant stories about themselves. In order to keep up appearances, they may spin larger and more complicated lies.;
, Pathological liars may often get caught lying. Frequently, you may hear someone else's story retold as if it happened to a pathological liar. If something about a story sounds familiar to you, stop to consider whether you've heard that story before.You may hear a pathological liar repeat the story of a friend or family member. They may also repeat stories from movies or television shows. The stories may be embellished slightly in the pathological liar's version.
For example, your co-worker tells a story that sounds familiar to you, but you're unsure where you've heard it before. Later, you see a similar story on the news. If your co-worker is a pathological liar, they may very well have lifted the story from the news and presented it as their own.
 When confronted, a pathological liar may find a way to avoid answering a question. Pathological liars are manipulative by nature, so you may think they've answered something when they really have failed to do so.For example, your friend reveals she had a falling out with her best friend fairly recently. You've been having issues getting along with this friend, and wonder whether her relationship difficulties may be a pattern for her. You ask her something like, "Why did you and Eliza stop talking?"
The friend may respond with something like, "We haven't really talked for a year." She's not really answering the question. She may dodge more direct questions. For example, you ask her something like, "Did you used to blow off Eliza the way you blow me off a lot?" She may reply with something like, "Do you really think I'm that kind of person?"

, Pathological liars are experts at manipulating others. They tend to study others to find ways to divert their attention away from their lies. Pay attention to how a pathological liar interacts with you. You may detect subtle manipulation.Pathological liars frequently use sexual tension as a means of emotional manipulation. If you're attracted to the suspected pathological liar, they may flirt with you when confronted about their lies.
They will also study you carefully and learn where your personal limits are. Pathological liars have a good sense of which people will believe which lies. They may realize, for example, you will not believe lies about sickness, but may believe lies about emotional problems. If you hear the liar talking to someone else, they may fabricate claims of aches and pains but not mention these ailments to you.
 No two pathological liars are the same. However, most of them will react aggressively when caught in a lie. If someone seems to get angry in response to accusations of lying, you may be dealing with a pathological liar.A pathological liar may become very defensive. They may blame someone else for their lies. For example, "The only reason I had to make that up was because our boss is so difficult."
They may also come up with another lie to cover up the first one. For example, "No, I did use that money to get the car fixed, but I also used half of it to pay for those groceries. I forgot to tell you I stopped at the store."
They also may become angry when caught lying. They may become angry and begin yelling, or start crying in order to elicit sympathy.
 Lying can be associated with some mental health issues, such as borderline personality disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder. If you are close to this person, you may be able to learn about their history of associated mental health issues and encourage them to get the right help.

You may be able to use this history to discover the patterns of their lying. Are they only lying in certain circumstances? Do they try to reinvent themselves or impress others with their lies? Are they lying to avoid talking about certain situations?
Consider the nature of suspected lies.
Listen for other people's stories being retold.
Observe whether the person dodges questions.
Watch out for manipulation.
See how a person reacts when caught lying.
Consider their mental health history.
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