Lying and self-deception in health and disease

Deceit and the need to detect deception are prevalent in the animal kingdom, and reaches their highest evolutionary development in Homo sapiens. Deceit is an intricate part of human communication involving, via a dynamic process, selfdeception and the deception of others. When used in “normal” ways, we are often unaware of our deceptive communications to others. Deceit serves to promote social support and helps to sustain mental and physical health. However, blatant (pathological) forms of deceit may, to the contrary, be destructive to the self and others. The sophisticated person uses deceit in a subtle manner while, in contrast, crude and pathologic deceit is frequently associated with neurocognitive dysfunction or distorted developmental processes.