Trust A Liar? by Art Smukler, MD, author & psychiatrist

Decades ago as a young psychiatrist, my patient Jeremy, a 16 year-old boy who I hospitalized on an adolescent unit because of rampant drug use, running away from home, and stealing, was doing well. He participated in group, individual, and family therapy, did his school work, followed the adolescent unit rules, and told me how he was “a changed person”.

His mom warned me numerous times that whatever came out of Jeremy’s mouth was a lie. Nevertheless, after 4 weeks of excellent behavior, I made plans to discharge Jeremy and see him as an outpatient.

That night I got a call at 4 AM. Jeremy was in full restraints because he had tried to burn down the hospital and then violently attacked staff members.

To sum up a frustratingly long story, after many months of intensive inpatient therapy I again believed that Jeremy was improving and transferred him from the closed unit to the open unit. The next day, a few hours after a therapy session with Jeremy in which I silently congratulated myself on how well my approach was going, I got an emergency call from the hospital. Jeremy had run away.

Months later he was caught robbing a convenience store and placed in Juvenile Detention.

Years later I ran into his mother. She reported that he never returned home and was currently in prison for assault and breaking and entering. She said that from the beginning she hoped that I could help Jeremy but deep down knew that it was hopeless. He was a liar from the time he was a little boy and that never changed.

So, my honest and focus-on-the-positive readers, what is the moral of this true Tale From Smukler’s Couch?

Don’t trust liars.

Whether they are spouses, politicians, investment counselors, or “friends”, liars lie. One important characteristic of sociopaths (people with no conscience) is that many of them are really likable. They are great con men and their lies are very, very believable.

Most of us want to see the best in our fellow humans, but that doesn’t work with liars.

Does this remind you of anyone I’ve been railing against?

Happy reading.

Art

#conmen, #liars, #sociopaths, #sociopathicpoliticians, #treatingsociopaths