Psychology of kleptomania

Many people know what kleptomania is in general. It is a condition when a person can not resist an urge to steal things, mainly these things have only some value or are ever useless (pens, paper, pencils, pins ect.). But what are main reasons and consequences of being kleptomaniac?

To begin, kleptomania as a disorder was officially discovered in the US in 1960s. As of now kleptomaniacs are sorted from shoplifters (a thief that pretends to a buyer) to ordinary thieves. Statistically, in all shoplifting cases approx. 5 % of these criminals are kleptomaniacs.

Another thing, is that this disorder usually builds up during puberty and may last through whole person’s life (usually kleptomania lasts until late adulthood). Also kleptomania may occur receiving a serious brain injury and inhaling to much (poisoning dose) CO gas.

The last thing is treatment. Usually, this disorder is treated with medication called antidepressants (mood stabilizers, naltrexone, Prozac, Seroxat). Another way of treatment is more likely to have a long-term cure. It’s psychological counseling and it’s main objective is to get to the bottom of the causes of a persons unhappiness. However this way of treatment is more difficult than medical.

To conclude, kleptomania is a disorder that may be caused by psychological of physical injuries. Treating this disorder also leads to physical (medication) or psychological (counseling) cure.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org