Kleptomania

 Kleptomania

Overview

Kleptomania (klep-toe-MAY-nee-uh) is a mental health disorder that involves repeatedly being unable to resist urges to steal items that you generally don't really need. Often the items stolen have little value and you could afford to buy them. Kleptomania is rare but can be a serious condition. It can cause much emotional pain to you and your loved ones — and even legal problems — if not treated.

Kleptomania is a type of impulse control disorder — a disorder that involves problems with emotional or behavioral self-control. If you have an impulse control disorder, you have difficulty resisting the temptation or powerful urge to perform an act that's excessive or harmful to you or someone else.

Many people with kleptomania live lives of secret shame because they're afraid to seek mental health treatment. Although there's no cure for kleptomania, treatment with medicine or skill-building therapy that focuses on dealing with urges may help to end the cycle of compulsive stealing.

Symptoms

Kleptomania symptoms may include:

Inability to resist powerful urges to steal items that you don't need

Feeling increased tension, anxiety or arousal leading up to the theft

Feeling pleasure, relief or satisfaction while stealing

Feeling terrible guilt, remorse, self-loathing, shame or fear of arrest after the theft

Return of the urges and a repetition of the kleptomania cycle

Features

People with kleptomania usually have these features or characteristics:

Unlike most shoplifters, people with kleptomania don't compulsively steal for personal gain, on a dare, for revenge or out of rebellion. They steal simply because the urge is so powerful that they can't resist it.

Episodes of kleptomania generally happen suddenly, without planning and without help from another person.

Most people with kleptomania steal from public places, such as stores. Some may steal from friends or acquaintances, such as at a party.

Often, the stolen items have no value to the person with kleptomania, and the person can afford to buy them.

The stolen items are usually stashed away, never to be used. Items also may be donated, given away to family or friends, or even secretly returned to the place from which they were stolen.

Urges to steal may come and go or may occur with greater or lesser intensity over the course of time

Causes

The causes of kleptomania are not known. Several theories suggest that changes in the brain may be at the root of kleptomania, and that learned patterns of stealing items strengthens the problem over time. More research is needed to better understand these possible causes, but kleptomania may be linked to:

Problems with a naturally occurring brain chemical called serotonin. Serotonin, a neurotransmitter, helps regulate moods and emotions. Low levels of serotonin are common in people prone to impulsive behaviors.

Addictive disorders. Stealing may cause the release of dopamine — another neurotransmitter. Dopamine causes pleasurable feelings, and some people seek this rewarding feeling again and again.

The brain's opioid system. Urges are regulated by the brain's opioid system. An imbalance in this system could make it harder to resist urges.

Learned habit. Urges are very uncomfortable. Responding to these urges by stealing causes a temporary decrease in distress and relief from these urges. This creates a strong habit that becomes hard to break.

Risk factors

Kleptomania is not common. But some cases of kleptomania may never be diagnosed. Some people never seek treatment. Other people are jailed after repeated thefts.

Kleptomania often begins during the teen years or in young adulthood, but it can start later. About two-thirds of people with known kleptomania are female.

Kleptomania risk factors may include:

Family history. Having a blood relative, such as a parent or sibling, with kleptomania or addictive disorders may increase the risk of kleptomania.

Having another mental illness. People with kleptomania often have another mental health disorder, such as anxiety, depression or a substance use disorder.

Complications

Left untreated, kleptomania can result in severe emotional, family, work, legal and financial problems. For example, you know stealing is wrong but you feel powerless to resist the impulse. As a result, you may be filled with guilt, shame, self-loathing and humiliation. And you may be arrested for stealing. You may otherwise lead a law-abiding life and be confused and upset by your compulsive stealing.

Other complications and conditions associated with kleptomania may include:

Other impulse-control disorders, such as compulsive gambling or shopping

Alcohol or other substance misuse

Personality disorders

Eating disorders

Depression

Bipolar disorder

Anxiety disorders

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors

Prevention

Because the causes of kleptomania aren't clear, it's not yet known how to prevent it with any certainty. Getting treatment as soon as compulsive stealing begins may help prevent kleptomania from becoming worse and prevent some of the negative consequences.

Diagnosis

Kleptomania is diagnosed based on your symptoms. When you decide to seek treatment for symptoms of possible kleptomania, you may have both a physical exam and psychological evaluation. The physical exam can determine if there are any medical causes triggering your symptoms.

Because kleptomania is a type of impulse control disorder, to help pinpoint a diagnosis, your mental health provider may:

Ask questions about your impulses and how they make you feel

Review a list of situations to ask if these situations trigger your kleptomania episodes

Discuss problems you have had because of this behavior

Have you fill out questionnaires or self-assessments

Use the guidelines in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association

Treatment

Although fear, humiliation or embarrassment may make it hard for you to seek treatment for kleptomania, it's important to get help. Kleptomania is difficult to overcome on your own. Without treatment, kleptomania will likely be an ongoing, long-term condition.

Treatment for kleptomania typically involves medicines and psychotherapy, or both, sometimes along with self-help groups. However, there's no standard kleptomania treatment, and researchers are still trying to understand what may work best. You may have to try several types of treatment to find what works well for you.

Medicines

There's little scientific research about using psychiatric medicines to treat kleptomania. And there is no FDA-approved medicine for kleptomania. However, certain medicines may help, depending on your situation and whether you have other mental health disorders, such as depression or substance misuse.

Your provider may consider prescribing:

An addiction treatment medicine called naltrexone, which may reduce the urges and pleasure associated with stealing

An antidepressant — specifically a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)

Other medicines or a combination of medicines

If medicine is prescribed, ask your health care provider or pharmacist about potential side effects or possible interactions with any other medicines.

Psychotherapy

A form of psychotherapy called cognitive behavioral therapy helps you identify unhealthy, negative beliefs and behaviors and replace them with healthy ones that can be used in different situations when needed. Cognitive behavioral therapy may include these skill-building techniques to help you control kleptomania urges:

Systematic desensitization and counter-conditioning, in which you practice relaxation techniques and other strategies while in triggering situations to learn how to reduce your urges in a healthy way

Covert sensitization, in which you picture yourself stealing and then facing negative consequences, such as being caught

Aversion therapy, in which you practice mildly painful techniques, such as holding your breath until you become uncomfortable, when you get an urge to steal

Avoiding relapses

It's not unusual to have relapses of kleptomania. To help avoid relapses, be sure to follow your treatment plan. If you feel urges to steal, contact your mental health provider or reach out to a trusted person or support group.

Type of Doctor Department : A psychiatrist or a psychologist