[b]Have you ever told a lie?[/b]

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I've lied. A lot. I'm not compulsive, but maybe impulsive about it. I lie to stay out of trouble, to avoid difficult situations, to avoid answering difficult questions. I'm not sure I'm always the most convincing at it, but I've never found it difficult to do either. In fact, I've found it to easy to do - I do it sometimes without even thinking about it. I wish I would stop, honestly, but sometimes I find myself lying before I even think about it, and other times I lie just to try and keep concealed other lies that I've already told - like I'll try not to start any new lies, but I'm too afraid to go back and admit the lies I've already told so I'll keep those going by telling more lies. Sigh...

One interesting aspect about AS and lying, I have to say, is that to tell the truth convincingly, you have to really look someone in the eye. That's tough enough for most of us with AS even when we are telling the truth. I don't know how I ever pull it off when I'm lying. I'm suprised most people don't dismiss those of us who have a hard time with eye contact even in normal situations as compulsive liars.

I've developed some pretty sophisticated social skills for an Asperger -- a lot of NTs wouldn't think I'm autistic. But they took a lot of effort. I spent the past 9 months writing and blogging, all day, every day, just to develop some writing skills.

But I can't lie. Can't keep someone else's corrupt secrets (I can keep appropriate secrets). Can't be evasive convincingly.

I have a theory that the inability to lie comes from the inability to compartmentalize. There are no functional boundaries in my mind. If I have something on my mind that is bothering me, eventually, in some way, I blurt it.

I could never be a criminal... I'd blurt out my crimes talking to some cop while asking directions.

This is totally me. My doctor has stated that I have (over the course of 20+ years) developed really good coping mechanisms. And they did take a lot of effort and time to create. It is still very exhausting just being "one of the guys" and I prefer being alone in my craft room to anything else.

I tell lies constantly even about small trivial things as I think my 'versions' of reality are more interesting that the actual facts.

Must admit I cant lie to save my life.
I also feel compelled to tell the truth anyways

So was George Washington an aspie? Because he didn't lie, or at least that's what people say.

I don't lie unless I'm stressed and feel threatened/verbally abused by another person. I only lie as a defense mechanism in extreme circumstances to avoid that person/take the tension off.

If I'm forced to lie in this way it just rots out the inside of my brain and I feel guilty/angry.

Most of the rest of the time I tell the truth.

Otherwise I keep quiet.
There are lots of things that I've been told not to talk about my past, so I'm virtually silent now. Now I can't talk to anyone any more. They'd run away from me/judge me if I blurted out the truth.

Eight years ago, back when things were going great and I felt good, I told the truth, was polite and no-one (mostly) seemed to mind.

Similar to this, I can "bullsh*t" for entertainment, and do all the time with my friends. But I can't lie for deceptive purposes. I just suck at it, royally.

I'm so sorry to hear this. This is a larger subject for me, too. I tried to keep some corrupt secrets that belonged to someone else and I tried to hide abuse, and the effort to keep those lies also rotted out my brain (along with some other issues of the abuse). This led to me having a massive meltdown and outage from which I am still recovering.

Maybe the things you are told not to talk about aren't as bad as you think...? Maybe you should talk about it until you don't feel the presence of their uncomfortable weight in your mind.

I'm trying to do that. Talk about it enough so that any need to talk about it (that internal pressure that will make me unable to keep the secrets) evaporates.

I lie all the time, though if I try to lie to my sister it's damn near impossible since I end up grinning like a ret*d.

If it's a matter of survival (unfortunately I have encountered more than my share of such situations...) I will lie, and do it as well as I know how, and I build up a slight persona with one or two red-herring details on the Internet (other than such details, I am telling the truth), but other than that...

I'd be lying if I said I never told a lie. And I believe that anyone who says they've never lied is a liar.

I can honestly say I'm not a pathological liar and I've never lied maliciously, successfully anyway.

I don't like to use the word "lie". I prefer to use the term "congressional truth telling" or "truth enhancement" instead. So no, I've never lied, I've just omitted and enhanced facts so that the truth would be more appealing to a target audience.

Seriously though, I suck at lying. Can't do it most of the time. When I can it's usually pretty bad and I have to let the truth out eventually, though there have been a few occasions where I did manage to tell a lie and stick to it (mostly because not having done so would have made things needlessly ugly).

When I was younger, I was a bit of an idiot and would habitually "rat" out some of my friends (on accident!). Adults who knew me could easily pry information and secrets that I was supposed to keep... I think this is where I get my reputation for honesty. The combination of not knowing what's supposed to be kept, and the fact that even if I did have instructions to keep a secret, the plan would be foiled in elaborate interrogations (two or three questions, hehe).

In all honesty however, I of course have lied, and do lie. Recent example was at a friend's house, I was asked how I liked the meal. Of course, I related how I liked this, how I enjoyed that, blah blah blah..., which gets around the question of DID I like it. Until I'm asked point blank, at which point I'm forced to lie, and do.

I'm adept at flat out refusing to answer a question, and avoiding the question at hand.

Only to the police. "I've had two pints of Guiness, Sir." It would seem that the inherent innability to show emotion does have its perks, after all.

I lie all the time - I lie to my family, I lie to my potential friends, I lie to myself; I lie, I cheat, I manhandle and I plunder Just as the world taught me through this 18 years... I am a good apprentice. [The dark side is strong in my family ]