The Seven Pitfalls Of Lying And Its Diverse Effect On Self-Worth?
- Brainz Magazine
- Feb 28, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 12, 2025
Written by: Ranya AlHusaini, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Sometimes deviating from the truth is painting a false image. You start building on your imagination to satisfy a false ego. Beautifying what you believe is socially disapproved may lead to escapism. You are deliberately deceiving to repeat a false scenario made up by your mind. Repeating toxic pattern of behavior, like lying with no specific reason may lead to pathological lying. On terms, pathological lying is a pervasive, persistent and often compulsive pattern of excessive lying that leads to impairment in social and occupational functioning. Pathological lying can be the result of the following mental disorders: Antisocial, Borderline, and Narcissist Personalities. Remember, your mind perpetuates its perceptive adjustment as a coping mechanism.
On a mere context, lying can signify the false truth of survival. You lie to gain a stand, to polish a face or to escape reality. “I am not lying, but I am beautifying a situation” is a saying depicting the truth of how society can push people to beautify a situation that is not perfect enough. Your mind is a receptive organ to what you repeat – accepting all lies without discriminating. What you repeat negatively to your mind can catalyze the heavy burden of difficult emotions, such as: unworthiness, guilt, shame, stress, and anxiety. With this on mind, chronic pattern of lying can distract your peace of mind leading you to develop negative psychological consequences.
Lying may bolster a false self-image leading you to seek sympathy, justify guilt, undermine your worth, and distrust yourself. The basis of such action is a bottomless feeling of unworthiness. Lying can lead you to seek solace far away from reality. There is no clear logic behind lying except to cover a deep hurting of unworthiness.
Thus, in today’s article we magnify the seven drawbacks from continuously lying and how such behavior can deter your self-worth
Recycling negative emotions: Lying in all context whether it is a white lie or not breeds negative emotions. With time, emotions like nervousness, anxiety, stress, shame, discomfort, and unhappiness dictate your emotional harmony. You may wonder how a white lie can reshape your emotional wellbeing? Lying can increase discomfort and stress after such incident. The main question here – how would a lie cause discomfort when it can save your face from unwanted backfire? Lying can cause cognitive dissonance. By definition, cognitive dissonance is having two conflicting ideas about any matter in life. Opposing beliefs, desires, impulses or feelings can trigger a conflicted mind. Your mind cannot respond or act upon two conflicting ideas. Such conflict can reproduce: angst, frustration, self-doubt, depression, and emotional imbalance. People may lie to hide a raw part they need to conceal from the public.
Stripping down your self-worth: "The essence of lying is in deception, not in words; a lie may be told by silence, by equivocation, by the accent on a syllable, by a glance of the eyes, attaching a peculiar significance to a word, and in countless other ways." —St. Augustinen. The backbone to all lying and self-deception is low self-esteem. Self-deception may simmer on complex justification worked up by your mind. Such Manipulation can reshape reality to fit your desires, and mold the manner you interact with your environment. On real term, self-deception can be the result of motives, emotions, and beliefs urging you to mirror a false image despite some evidence of the contrary. These motivational urges may distort and thwart how you perceive and act on your morals. if lying lower the self-esteem then questions like: What was the motivation behind lying? Extracting the root of lying can take you earlier on time when you adapted such behavior.
The chronic episode of stress and anxiety: How can you remember all the lies you have spread? A one split of a second question resurrecting abruptly amid an interactive social gathering. Will you be able to memorize all false details you have communicated? Exiting a murky situation may push stress to dust off its presence. A negative practice such as lying can wear down your positive self-image. A bravado mask during social gathering concealing a lie may put you under chronic episode of stress. The thicker this mask the weaker your true self becomes. Hiding your authentic presence can cause heavy shifts of emotions. Repeating false stories can leave you uncomfortable battling your mind on “what are the reasons of not presenting your true self?”. Another question like, what is one thought you keep thinking when you start lying? Negative perception about oneself can indicate the need of mental health intervention.
Self-acceptance distortion: The main reason for lying is to get the right type of impression from your social circle. Adapting such strategy in life can lower your self-esteem in the long run. A longer episode of lying can adversely afflict your personality and mental wellbeing. Negative belief on the repeat can deplete you from cognitive resources, increase the sense of guilt and lower your worth. Hiding your authenticity can shake the ground you hold stable on your presence. Questions like, what would you feel and how would you react if people detect all your lies? Are you accepting your lies? Or how you lie? How do you view yourself while lying? Navigating the truth while answering back all questions can satiate the broken void of distortion!
The repetitive pattern of shame and guilt: Lying is forbidden by all laws, because it hurt people’s life. Saying the truth is a virtue taught to you when you were a child. However, to survive amongst the crowd you started to gain a thicker skin and adopt lying to win a stand. With a strong belief that lying is harmful you started to feel ashamed and in constant guilt when lying. Even the most expert in lying can still feel the burden before sleeping.
A sharp indicator of false justification you hold in your mind. Question the fact of what is making you lie? What is driving you to lie? Or what pushes you to lie can support your understanding. All past reasonings initiated by your mind was limiting your progress, to guarantee a safe living. The mission of your subconscious mind is to protect you from unfamiliar situations. Your subconscious mind’s reasoning is not the ultimate truth. Thus, overcoming previous justification can be through reframing your old thinking pattern. Rewriting your old scenarios can reframe your perception to adapt healthy futuristic scenarios.
Limiting belief is a broken record of lying: By definition, limiting beliefs are the thoughts, ideas, opinions, and convictions you believe are your truth. Limiting belief is your comfort zone, a place where you sit to repent and seek solace. You always feel stuck because you believe that it is not meant for you. Now remember – your mind is a very intelligent organ and can take part in justifying certain past events to protect further harm from reaching you. Flipping your unconscious negative behavior to conscious positive reactions is a winning strategy. Questions like: what is limiting you, what is keeping you stuck, and what repetitive thinking pattern you are revolving around? And what is one feeling sink you deep in loops of overthinking? Investigating your negative unconscious reactions can lead you to self-discovery.
Ranya AlHusaini, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
This is Ranya AlHusaini – a mindset transformation guru. My mission is to motivate professional women to unlock their self-worth and live a balanced life. With so much curiosity, and self-awareness I have developed my way with strength and determination. My expertise was well maintained as I took years to understand and develop my own through different modalities, and from there I understood human's nature and reaction. The modalities I use and consult throughout the session are NLP, Rapid transformation Therapy technique, and Hypnosis. So if you want a switch, or a makeover in your life hop in for a mindset transformation session! I have attached a photo of myself as well!
