In trying to understand the analysand, the analyst is confronted on a daily basis with lying, more through force of resistance to hidden truth than through malice on the part of the speaker. The opinions of Aristotle, Plato, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Rousseau are called to mind. Lying is often seen as a fiction wherein the subject abuses him or herself. But the psychological aspect concerns not only the lies one tells oneself, it may also involve a refusal of the truth, a refusal to know, or a mode of relating where the prime intention is to deceive. Four kinds of lies are described. The plain lie is a mild, furtive lie by someone who normally does not lie. It appears in neurotic patients, a symptom of transference following activation of a source of conflict during treatment. The outrageous lie is pernicious, a sign of character disturbance, associated with psychopathic characteristics. O'Shaughnessy