Kleptomania

What is Kleptomania for real? Is it a diseases? Habbit? Or maybe a real thief but act hidden behind this 'kleptomania'? Kleptomania is the irresistible urge to steal items that you generally don't really need and that usually have little value or is an impulse control disorder characterized by a recurrent failure to resist stealing. From what I've heard and read Kleptomania is a serious mental health disorder that can cause much emotional pain to you and your loved ones if not treated. It is a type of impulse control disorder, a disorder in which you can't resist the temptation or drive to perform an act that's 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 medication or psychotherapy may be able to help end the cycle of compulsive stealing.

Causes and symptoms

Cause of kleptomania is unknown, although it may have a genetic component and may be transmitted among first-degree relatives. There also seems to be a strong propensity for kleptomania to coexist with obsessive-compulsive disorder, bulimia nervosa, and clinical depression.

Kleptomania symptoms may include:

Powerful urges to steal items that you don't need

Feeling increased tension leading up to the theft

Feeling pleasure or gratification while stealing

Feeling terrible guilt or shame after the theft

Very important to know there is a difference between ordinary theft and kleptomania:

"ordinary theft (whether planned or impulsive) is deliberate and is motivated by the usefulness of the object or its monetary worth,"

whereas with kleptomania, there

"is the recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal items even though the items are not needed for personal use or for their monetary value."

The handbook used by mental health professionals to diagnose mental disorders is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Published by the American Psychiatric Association, the DSM contains diagnostic criteria and research findings for mental disorders. It is the primary reference for mental health professionals in the United States. The 2000 edition of this manual (fourth edition, text revision), known as the DSM-IV-TR, lists five diagnostic criteria for kleptomania:

• Repeated theft of objects that are unnecessary for either personal use or monetary value.

• Increasing tension immediately before the theft.

• Pleasure or relief upon committing the theft.

• The theft is not motivated by anger or vengeance, and is not caused by a delusion or hallucination.

• The behavior is not better accounted for by a conduct disorder , manic episode , or antisocial personality disorder.

Source :

http://www.minddisorders.com

http://www.wikipedia.com