If any of what I've been saying sounds a lot like your grandson's father, then you may have reason to worry about your grandson. People with antisocial personality often start life as hyperactive kids who bully others, who lie, who are constantly in trouble with authorities and get into drugs and alcohol by their teen years, and who often display striking cruelty to animals. And often it doesn't exist in isolation, but is part of a larger pattern of chronic symptoms that clinicians refer to as 'sociopathy.' These symptoms include a tendency toward criminal behavior, an inability to control one's impulses and/or make future plans, explosive anger and tendency toward physical violence, a reckless disregard for the safety of self or others, a pattern of irresponsible behavior and - probably most important - an inability to understand and/or respect the rights of other people. This type of extreme lying does often start at a fairly early age and can be a lifelong tendency and serious problem. Probably the greatest portrayal of this in literature is Willie Loman in the play 'Death of a Salesman' by Arthur Miller. Often people with this affliction seem unable to even recognize that they are lying, and they seem blind to where truth ends and falsehood starts. Officially known as 'pseudologia fantastica,' this condition is characterized by a chronic tendency to spin out outrageous lies, even when no clear benefit to the lying is apparent. There is a type of extreme lying that does indeed appear to have a strong genetic component. However, I was struck by something you said: namely, that his father was also a 'liar.'.This worries me a little. Because of this, I want to be clear that what I'm going to talk about next is likely not applicable to his case. Obviously I've never evaluated your grandson so I don't really have any sense of what his particular situation is. First, people lie for all sorts of reasons - in fact, we all lie at least a little and sometimes out of good intentions, like sparing other people's feelings. Let me try to answer each of your questions as best I can.

Pathological liar vs compulsive liar