ABSTRACT
Nancy and Charley Shore have frequent fights about Charley’s “compulsive lying.” Oddly enough, Charley knows he is lying, claiming that he “doesn’t want to upset” Nancy with the truth. According to the case description, he says he would like to stop, but he doesn’t seem to be able to. From this statement, we could say that Charley is aware of a conflict within his own desires: He wants to tell the truth, but he doesn’t tell the truth. As the case report shows, the Shores have been influenced by psychodynamic theory in their ordinary conversations about themselves. They evaluate each other’s actions and motivations, make self-reflective judgments about their own intentions, and they are sometimes aware of inner conflict.
