18-year-old has created a false background/life

My 18 year old daughter was hospitalized in September. She had attempted suicide, but the ER sent her back home. A few weeks later, I got a call from a high school 20 minutes from here informing me she had registered there, and asking for info and school records. I was stunned. I had been under the impression she was enrolled in our local high school. Evidently, she did not register. I took her back to ER, and she was sent to a psych center for 2 weeks. At the high school she attempted to register at, she had produced a fake drivers license, birth certificate, etc., claiming to be Latina. She speaks Spanish fluently, but is of Scottish descent. This time, she has created a myspace site in which she claimed to have been born in Mermansk Russia and adopted by me and her father at age 8. Raised in an orphanage, all kinds of horrible things happening to her there. None of this is true. Her name this time is Sonja. She announced she and a young man she has been dating for only 6 weeks are getting married prior to his being deployed to Iraq in February. He is stationed at Scott AFB in IL. I sent him a card. trying not to alienate him, as she said he did not want anything to do with me. I could not understand, but now I do. He truly believes she is Sonja, was adopted from Russia, etc. She called me Saturday while I was at work at an estate sale and screamed at me for contacting him. I said I thought it was a nice gesture to send an ecard. Prior to my arriving home, she had packed up all her things and moved them out of the house to her sisters. My other daughter told me this young man had stopped out front of her house and she left with him. Said I had snooped through all her belongings and ruined her life. His email is on our desk in plain sight! I called her counselor today, and she said since she is 18 there is little I can do. I love her very much. Her father, my ex-husband, was abusive to me. She was hurt emotionally, as kids see a lot more than one realizes. This is very wrong. I am scared for her. What is the name of a disorder like this? I need information, but do not even know where to look. Please, I need help ASAP.

hello,

thank you for sharing.

I'm sorry to hear about what your daughter (and yourself, as well as others who are affected) is experiencing. The lying part sounds like it's compulsive lying disorder. It's a disorder where one lies constantly, and no matter how much they might want to stop, it still happens... hence, the compulsion. People feel the need to tell lies. In your daughter's cause, however, I'm not sure if she wants to make up these lies or not. Another part of the disorder is that the individual also comes to believe in some/all of the lies they tell as well.

But... because she has attempted suicide, it might be depression, or something else that's very debilitating for her. Did the hospital not provide therapy for her, who refer her to anyone who would? Has there been any diagnosis for her?

take care*