Very strange and confusing situation.

LegacyUser

SORRY FOR LONG POST!

ok, i have this friend called hannah.
i first met hannah about 2 years ago, when she came to our school. at first she seemed, nice friendly, happy-go-lucky kinda girl, whom everyone really liked and got on with. anyway, she got aquinated wqith my group of friends, and we all got on really well and enjoyed her compnay etc etc. we started to notice that she'd start to lie about things now and agin, for example, telling us that there were people at her old school that wanted to 'get her', made out that she had been 'kind of' raped (had sex with a guy who was 20, but didnt really want to) would get phone calls all the time from people that she knew, we would check the phone and realised no-one had rung etc etc. then she started to get more bizzare, she had a blog, and wrote on it stories about some boyfriend she had and had messed her about yadayadayada. basically she created these three differnet accounts, one for ehr, one pretending to be her boyfriend, one pretending to be a 'friend' of hers. my friend hacked into these accounts just by guessing the password, and they were all the same and had the same e-mail. anyway we all found out about it and she didnt go to school for about 4 days after. she said she had mexamatosis? we met up with her at the weekend, and three of the people started to really lick her arse again, completely ignored the fact that she was lieing all the time, and those who tried to question her about it were told to leave it, so the matter was never raised again.

so she stopped lying for a really long time, but then started to faint an awful lot. one time in aprticualr she had to be taken off to hospital. anyways, after a while she strated to tell little white lies again. one day, shortly after the bomb attacks in london, she told me

HANNAH: oh yeah, my friend yvonne (who is real, ive met her) might have died in the bombings in london the other day, i havent heard from her since.
ME: why was she down there?
HANNAH: oh a school trip she was with a friend
ME: hannah why would a school let her and a friend aged 15 out in kings cross on the tube on their own at 8:30 in the morning?
HANNAH: well i dunno, all i know is that i havent heard from her sicne and she rings me every night!

so i just got annoyed by this because she went round telling her friends that this had happened. of course it's not impossible but extremely unliekly, especially for two girls aged 15 from bristol. so, about a week or so after i checked the papaer, which had a list of all the dead nd there was no yvonne. so i just thought oh well she's just lying again who cares.

then around late july, hannah faints again, i went to get the nurse while my friend and a teacher looked after hannah. the nurse came down and hannah came round. we were outside when she came round, and my friend hugo called over to her, asking how she was. she looked properly scared and didn't know who he was. i asked my friend what happened later and she said that hannah woke up and didnt know who anyone was.

we found out a week later that hannah had lost all of her memory. she only remebred being in this hosue making ice cream, or so it seemed.

we all individually introduced ourselves to her again, very awkward and emotional for some. she then started to hang around with different sorts of people, get friendlier with soem and distance herself from others.a couple of weeks ago she said to me and soem others, "oh yeah i had this friend called yvonne who died in some sort of london bombings, i have to go for a memeorial servcie this weekend" people stareted to get really suspicious now, thinking did she make evrythign up, or is she starting to lie again just now? my friend sarah asked hannahs sister,"oh how was yvonnes service?" her sister asked what she was on about and sarah told her that hannah said she had died in the bombings, so her sister said, "oh no, hannah and us went to see haer at the weekend. so i talked to hannah later that day and asked her hwo the service was, and she said "oh it was quite sad. it wasnt a funeral, just a memorial, i had to do a reading but i didnt want to."

she also seems to be lieing about other things. really stupid things as well. for instnace, she said she was going to a party one night, and told us it was this guy who she met in hospital whos "really fit". she ujsed to be right handed but now writes with her left, but really badly but sometimes we catch her writing with her right and so on. shes still amazing at art and so on. argh. and also she found out that her boyfriend had cheated on her, went crazy (no problem with that) and started going on saying "three times!!" he had cheated on her with the same girl twice rpeviously. hiw could she have known that if shed lost her memory and no-one told her. so she was angry about this. we went for a walk, and started to tell em about the rape story, about how she was bullied (which i COULD beleive) and how she thinks she was adopted (she looks so much like her parents) and how she wasn't living at home, how she was kicked out for being such a burden (thats bollox, she was still lving at home, i knwo this for a fact). so she started talking to her boyfriend afterwards, saying "i just want to be alone and talk to him ok? " and so on. she sat on a bench where we could see her and started chatting, anyways we heard a scream, me and someone else went runnign over all she kept on saying was " can we go, we must go yadayadayada" and wouldnt say why. she then kept doing it at random occasions all the time.

anyways, after we found out about the london bombings thing, she didnt come into school for three days, and then came back with a 'lazy eye', really badly done, it would come and go whenever the conversation wasnt on ehr. my friend in aroundabout way questioned her about it and she said she just "got confused". her dad told this to sarah, the girl who wasked hannahs sister. sarah also told hannahs dad, who sorta rasied his eyes to heaven and said " oh no"

i asked her once what her physciatrist said, and she told me that he thinks that one half of her didnt loose her memory, and knows she's lieing about it all, and one half beleives she has actually lost her memory.
by the way she hasnt fainted since the time she 'lost' her memory.

so anwyay, what do people think is she lying asbout eveything? i dont know? could she be a compulsive liar, or schizophrenic? how should we act around her? i know this isnt a medical board, but i was wondering what would you do in my situation? this is really wreckign all of our minds, and we dont knwo what to do around her. she seems not to have picked up on it yet. any advce?

cil_aine

SORRY FOR LONG POST!

Ok, I have this friend called Hannah.
I first met Hannah about 2 years ago, when she came to our school. At first she seemed, nice friendly, happy-go-lucky kind of girl, whom everyone really liked and got on with. anyway, she got acquainted with my group of friends, and we all got on really well and enjoyed her company etc. we started to notice that she'd start to lie about things now and again, for example, telling us that there were people at her old school that wanted to 'get her', made out that she had been 'kind of' raped (had sex with a guy who was 20, but didn’t really want to) would get phone calls all the time from people that she knew, we would check the phone and realised no-one had rung etc. then she started to get more bizarre, she had a blog, and wrote on it stories about some boyfriend she had and had messed her about. Basically she created these three different accounts, one for her, one pretending to be her boyfriend, one pretending to be a 'friend' of hers. My friend hacked into these accounts just by guessing the password, and they were all the same and had the same e-mail. Anyway we all found out about it and she didn’t go to school for about 4 days after. She said she had mexamatosis? We met up with her at the weekend, and three of the people started to really lick her arse again, completely ignored the fact that she was lying all the time, and those who tried to question her about it were told to leave it, so the matter was never raised again.

So she stopped lying for a really long time, but then started to faint an awful lot. One time in particular she had to be taken off to hospital. Anyways, after a while she started to tell little white lies again. One day, shortly after the bomb attacks in London, she told me

HANNAH: oh yeah, my friend Yvonne (who is real, I've met her) might have died in the bombings in London the other day, I haven’t heard from her since.
ME: why was she down there?
HANNAH: oh a school trip she was with a friend
ME: Hannah why would a school let her and a friend aged 15 out in kings cross on the tube on their own at 8:30 in the morning?
HANNAH: well I don’t know, all I know is that I haven’t heard from her since and she rings me every night!

So I just got annoyed by this because she went round telling her friends that this had happened. Of course it's not impossible but extremely unlikely, especially for two girls aged 15 from Bristol. So, about a week or so after I checked the paper, which had a list of all the dead and there was no Yvonne. So I just thought oh well she's just lying again who cares.

Then around late July, Hannah faints again, I went to get the nurse while my friend and a teacher looked after Hannah. The nurse came down and Hannah came round. We were outside when she came round, and my friend Hugo called over to her, asking how she was. She looked properly scared and didn't know who he was. I asked my friend what happened later and she said that Hannah woke up and didn’t know who anyone was.

We found out a week later that Hannah had lost all of her memory. She only remembered being in this house making ice cream, or so it seemed.

We all individually introduced ourselves to her again, very awkward and emotional for some. She then started to hang around with different sorts of people, get friendlier with some and distance herself from others. a couple of weeks ago she said to me and some others, "oh yeah I had this friend called Yvonne who died in some sort of London bombings, I have to go for a memorial service this weekend" people started to get really suspicious now, thinking did she make everything up, or is she starting to lie again just now? my friend Sarah asked Hannah’s sister, "oh how was Yvonne’s service?" her sister asked what she was on about and Sarah told her that Hannah said she had died in the bombings, so her sister said, "oh no, Hannah and us went to see hear at the weekend. So I talked to Hannah later that day and asked her how the service was, and she said "oh it was quite sad. It wasn’t a funeral, just a memorial, I had to do a reading but I didn’t want to."

She also seems to be lying about other things. Really stupid things as well. For instance, she said she was going to a party one night, and told us it was this guy who she met in hospital who’s "really fit". she used to be right handed but now writes with her left, but really badly but sometimes we catch her writing with her right and so on. She’s still amazing at art and so on. Urgh. and also she found out that her boyfriend had cheated on her, went crazy (no problem with that) and started going on saying "three times!!" he had cheated on her with the same girl twice previously. How could she have known that if shed lost her memory and no-one told her? So she was angry about this. we went for a walk, and started to tell em about the rape story, about how she was bullied (which I COULD believe) and how she thinks she was adopted (she looks so much like her parents) and how she wasn't living at home, how she was kicked out for being such a burden (that’s bollix, she was still living at home, I know this for a fact). So she started talking to her boyfriend afterwards, saying "I just want to be alone and talk to him ok?” and so on. She sat on a bench where we could see her and started chatting, anyways we heard a scream, me and someone else went running over all she kept on saying was “can we go, we must go yadayadayada" and wouldn’t say why. She then kept doing it at random occasions all the time.

Anyways, after we found out about the London bombings thing, she didn’t come into school for three days, and then came back with a 'lazy eye', really badly done; it would come and go whenever the conversation wasn’t on her. My friend in a roundabout way questioned her about it and she said she just "got confused". Her dad told this to Sarah, the girl who asked Hannah’s sister. Sarah also told Hannah’s dad, who sort of raised his eyes to heaven and said " oh no"

I asked her once what her physiatrist said, and she told me that he thinks that one half of her didn’t loose her memory, and knows she's lying about it all, and one half believes she has actually lost her memory.
By the way she hasn’t fainted since the time she 'lost' her memory.

So anyway, what do people think is she lying about everything? I don’t know? Could she be a compulsive liar, or schizophrenic? How should we act around her? I know this isn’t a medical board, but I was wondering what you would do in my situation. This is really wrecking all of our minds, and we don’t know what to do around her. She seems not to have picked up on it yet. Any advice?

Victor

Can I have no speculation on this one please?

I have my ban stick in hand.

Master...Card

Yep, she is a compulsive liar. This is one of the most annoying disorders anyone can have. She seriously needs to see a doctor. Also sounds like a case of obsessive compulsive disorder- which is when people need savage amounts of attention or they just crack up. This girl needs to be confronted and you and your normal friends should just tell her there is no need to lie because you like her for who she is and if she keeps it up everyone is going to end up hating her. Firstly she really needs to admit to all of you that she has been compulsively lying. Make sure she is not in denial- e.g the first way to beating alcoholism is to admit that you are an alcoholic.( off the subject but just an example) Good Luck:)

c - 13

Wow, heavy reading.

Ok, it looks like IMHO, that originally she made up these small white lies like the boyfriend/blog thing for example to make herself seem more interesing to the group or to try and fit in perhaps, this then escalated when she realised she enjoyed the attention, the lies became more outrageous and more frequent, which lead to her being caught out more often.

When she realised that ye were copping on to what she was up to, she had her little memory lapse episode with the intention of starting with a clean slate, but somehow got caught up in her lies again.

Moral of the story : Everyone is different, some people get along easily, some people embelish stories to make themselves more interesting etc. etc.. Your friend is one of these latter types of people who took it a little too far.

People do stupid things when they are young and she will more than likely cop herself on as she gets older.

the other option is that she has a bit of a mental issue and actually belives her own lies.

Anyway, my 2 cents.

Shabadu

Master...Card wrote:

Also sounds like a case of obsessive compulsive disorder- which is when people need savage amounts of attention or they just crack up.

WTF? Eh, no.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCD

Nasty_Girl

She probably was bullied at school as she says and maybe doesn't really get on with her parents very well and so she may have a very low opinion of herself and just started making up stuff so to be more interesting and maybe get attention and sympathy.

Then ye found out it was lies so she had to make up worse ones so ye'd be like : Oh poor Hannah she's so unwell no wonder she acts the way she does etc.
And then the London bombing thing was just to really push the sympathy vote.

I'm curious about why ye were going through her phone and so on, its not really a nice thing to do, liar or not.
She obviously knows ye don't really trust her now anyway, if she avoided you after you rumbled her.
She's probably trying to dig herself out of the hole of lies with more lies.

Its sad really.
If she's a good laugh apart from the lying I would still hang out with her, she'll grow out of it (hopefully) but if its getting to the stage where you can't get together without some big drama or sob story then maybe its time for a word.

Maybe the story of the boy who cried wolf?

Miguel_Sanchez

I've known girls like that when I was younger. She may very well have some sort of personality disorder or she could just be so insecure in her self that she needs to make stuff up and look for attention all the time. She might know full well what she is doing.

But, to be honest, she's a teenage girl so she'll probably grow out of it.

These things can seem very important and serious when you're around someone doing them but by her father's raised eyes to heaven I'd say she's done this sort of thing before.

Master...Card

Shabadu wrote:

WTF? Eh, no.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCD

Eh, sorry, thats what I thought it was? Enlighten me?

monkeyfudge

Jeff_Lebowski wrote:

But, to be honest, she's a teenage girl so she'll probably grow out of it.

I know someone in their 40's who still goes on like the girl mentioned.

Faking amnesia is pretty extreme though... amnesia is pretty damn rare outside of poorly writen american soap operas.

Miguel_Sanchez

Master...Card wrote:

Eh, sorry, thats what I thought it was? Enlighten me?

Well there's a link there for ya. Try clicking that for a start.

Faith

Before I read the last two paragraphs, I thought "schitzophrenic". Obviously, I'm not a doctor but it sounds like she could be. And it's also possible, if she is, that one of her personalities is a compulsive liar. Whatever it is though, she should get medical help.

Kablamo!

cil_aine wrote:

. Anyway we all found out about it and she didn’t go to school for about 4 days after. She said she had mexamatosis?

isn't that a disease rabbits get?

el Bastardo

Yep. But it's not a disease for rabbits, only for humans AFAIK.

I met a certain someone like this before. Told tall stories about everything, telling other peoples experiences in the first person and generally just being a bit of an attention seeker. Anyway, turned out that the person was a bit wobbly in the mind so I/we cut loose. Suggest you do same.

katiegordon

Oh my god i have a friend just like that!Except the whole amnesia bit, thats very extreme!She lies about everything and anything.she tells us lies that she knows were eventually going to HAVE to find out the truth about.
eg.were shopping-look at that schoool bag thats the one i got for school-monday morning she doesnt have it and has some lame excuse!
The worst was when she told us all her parents were going to be away and she had a free house.We were left with nowhere to stay for the night it was awful i dont know why i believed her!!!:-[
shes a nice girl to purely talk to but its IMPOSSIBLE to be friends with her,everyone in my class finds her extremely annoying because of the stupid lies.its harsh but true....

Zaph

el Bastardo wrote:

Yep. But it's not a disease for rabbits, only for humans AFAIK.

From Wikipedia:

Myxomatosis is a disease which infects only rabbits. It is caused by the myxoma virus. First observed in Uruguay in the early 1900s, it was deliberately introduced into Australia in an attempt to control rabbit infestation there

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myxomatosis

b3t4

cil_aine,

what you need to do is talk to you're school cousellor and tell them everything you have written here. they may be able to setup a session where you can talk with your friend in a safe environment.

nobody,here is qualified to give you a diagnosis of your friend.

A.

pickarooney

I think you/she mean(s) "mythomania".

Zaph

Would make a lot more sense all right, although I had to look it up to see exactly what it was as I'd never heard of it.

Mythomania - an abnormal tendency to exaggerate or tell lies
Oxford English Dictionary

bp

i knew a girl like....she said a lot of things that i cannot really go into just incase someone knows me/ her - including rape, assult, parental abuse, self harm (actually showing it off so people would notice)

in the end i had to stop talking to her cause it just got to be too much - there was always some drama or other

it could be a cry for help, she needs to see someone about that!

Setun

:eek:

Definitely sounds like a mental disorder of some sort. As above, I recommend seeing the school/ college counsellor.
As far as how you and your friends act around her, you should be careful, she sounds quite fragile.

dudara

I've actually encountered a teenage girl who waas like this. She was beautiul, athletic and really pleasant. Except for the compulsive lying.

Your friend really needs some professional help, but I think you know that anyway. Is there anyway you can talk to her parents and express your concerns?

Blondie86Star

Have you thought about going to the principal or something, they have to do something by law to help her and she definately needs help