Kleptomania is a disease (mental illness). What is it, causes in children, treatment

Kleptomania is a type of mental disorder, which is characterized by the patient's pathological attraction to commit theft of other people's property. According to the International Classifier of Diseases (ICD-10), this ailment received an individual designation code - F63.2.

The first cases of detection of kleptomania were recorded back in 1816. a group of French psychiatrists who studied monomania. During this period of time, the pathological attraction to theft was considered a manifestation of mental illness.

The desire to commit theft was equated with the propensity to commit murder or to set fire to houses.

In the early stages of the study of this disease, it was believed that kleptomaniacs may suffer from a constant desire to commit theft, regularly engage in theft of various things and objects, but at the same time do not have any other symptoms of mental disorders.

At the same time, in psychiatric practice, there are occasional cases when a person who is sick kleptomania, shows signs of hysterical seizures, mental retardation, has organic lesions of the central nervous system.

Currently, the pathological thirst for theft is referred to as disorders associated with a violation of personal control over the function of motivation to action.

Kleptomania is a disease that is directly related to similar mental illnesses in the form of collecting and hoarding various things, littering an apartment or the entire territory of the yard, oniomania.

Some psychiatrists express their professional opinion that the pathological attraction to commit theft is one of the forms of manifestation of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Recent scientific studies have shown that kleptomania is quite often accompanied by the presence of concomitant diseases of the psyche and nervous system.

Namely:

• chronic alcoholism and drug addiction;
• anxiety disorder;
  
• eating disorder.

The scientific community has officially recognized kleptomania as an independent disease of the human psyche. At the same time, there are skeptical opinions that perceive this diagnosis as an attempt to justify the criminal actions of individuals in order to avoid punishment.

According to medical statistics, the majority of patients with kleptomania are women, with an average age of 36 years. At the same time, it was found that the patients undergoing the examination suffered from a pathological tendency to theft for 10-16 years.

During this period of time, patients constantly committed theft to obtain a sense of spiritual satisfaction. A distinctive feature of kleptomania is that the initially sick person has no criminal intent to take possession of someone else's property.

Thoughts about the need to commit theft come spontaneously at the moment when the kleptomaniac saw a certain thing or object. At this stage, a motivational impulse appears in the patient's central nervous system, prompting him to commit theft.

The main goal of a kleptomaniac is to take possession of the desired thing, but at the same time not be noticed.

People suffering from this disorder are not interested in the material value of a stolen item or any other benefit. Most kleptomaniacs, immediately after committing theft, throw away the trophies they have obtained, or give them to random passers-by.

Due to the fact that people with this mental disorder do not carefully plan their illegal actions, they are often detained right at the scene of the crime.

Many kleptomaniacs are financially secure, have a good job, a stable income above the average level, and occupy a significant social position in society. At the same time, they cannot cope with the pathological attraction to commit theft, which will subsequently bring them a sense of psycho-emotional satisfaction.

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Kleptomania is a mental illness that can manifest itself at some stage in life.

The table below describes in detail the main types of pathological attraction to theft:

Types of kleptomania	Distinctive features of a mental disorder
Kleptomania of sexual perversion	This type of mental illness is characterized by the fact that at the time of theft, a person experiences joy, strong emotional excitement, as well as increased sexual arousal. People suffering from this type of kleptomania have enough money with them to pay for the stolen thing, but their main goal is to obtain a certain type of pleasure, which can be achieved only during theft.
Oral impulse kleptomania	This type of kleptomania occurs in people who have stopped at the oral stage of psychosexual personality development. At the time of the theft, the consciousness of a small child turns on from a person, who is not able to realize the illegality of his actions. This affect lasts for several seconds, during which there is a theft of the thing you like. In the presence of this type of kleptomania, toys, shiny and bright objects that excite consciousness are often stolen. Adults who committed theft are unable to explain the motive for their actions.
Kleptomania of neurotic urge	This type of mental disorder occurs in adult men and women who suffer from a pathological desire to master the thing they like. In this case, people suffering from kleptomania of neurotic aspiration believe that if they like the given object, then they have the right to possess it. Achieving psycho-emotional satisfaction is achieved not through sexual arousal, but through self-affirmation in one's strength and unlimited power to take what one likes.

The type of kleptomania is determined by a psychiatrist or psychotherapist based on the results of a diagnostic examination of the patient. After that, an individual patient treatment regimen is developed.

Stages and degrees

Kleptomania is a mental illness that has 4 stages of realization of the impulsive drive to steal.

Prodromal stage

The prodromal stage of kleptomania is the manifestation of the first signs of a painful desire to commit theft. At this stage, a person may have obsessive thoughts, a manic thirst to take possession of a certain thing, but without the realization of a pathological drive.

Kleptomania, diagnosed at the prodromal stage of its development, lends itself much more easily to psychotherapeutic treatment, and also does not have a traumatic effect on the patient's psyche. In fact, at this stage, the emergence of a future mental disorder occurs.

Stage of affect

The stages of affect are a special psychoemotional state of a sick person, which is accompanied by strong emotional excitement. In this case, a motivational impulse grows inside the kleptomaniac, pushing to commit theft.

At the same time, the person is not aware of his actions, does not understand that he can be caught by the guards or the owner of the stolen item. The stage of affect is characterized only by the presence of an irresistible desire to commit theft.

Stage of realization of attraction

At the stage of realization of a pathological attraction, actions are performed aimed at stealing an object.

A person commits theft of the thing that interested him, receives spiritual satisfaction, sexual arousal, or feels his power, unlimited power in the possession of everything he wants.

Post-implementation stage

The post-realization stage is a period of time when the kleptomaniac has already committed theft, received psycho-emotional satisfaction, and is currently comprehending all the actions that happened to him.

At this stage, a sick person can take measures to conceal the consequences of a crime, get rid of the stolen thing, experience sincere remorse for what he did.

A few days later, the post-realization stage ends, and the kleptomaniac's psyche is again exposed to irritation of motivational impulses to commit a new theft.

Symptoms and Signs

Kleptomania is a mental illness that is always accompanied by strong emotional excitement, as well as internal contradictions.

This neuropsychiatric disorder has the following symptoms of its manifestation:

• inability to cope with the pathological drive to commit theft (in fact, a person does not control his actions);
• an object or thing that acts as an object of theft does not represent any material value for the kleptomaniac himself or his family members;
• the theft is carried out not for the purpose of personal enrichment, but for obtaining psycho-emotional satisfaction and re-experiencing strong emotional excitement;
• at the time of theft, a person feels sexual arousal, or he has a feeling of strength, unlimited power to take whatever he likes for free;
• immediately before the theft, the kleptomaniac begins to develop a feeling of psychological pressure, signs of irritability and a sharp change in mood may appear;
• maintaining a pronounced sense of inner satisfaction that appears immediately after committing theft (the sick person becomes absolutely calm, the effect of enjoying the trophy obtained as a result of theft);
• the theft of a thing is not due to a feeling of revenge or a feeling of hostility towards its owner;
• theft is always committed alone, without a preliminary plan of action and the involvement of accomplices;
• during the time interval between the next thefts, kleptomaniacs are in a psychologically depressed state, feels despondency and sincere repentance, which is not an obstacle to re-taking possession of someone else's property;
• at the time of theft, the kleptomaniac is not in a state of delirium, does not experience auditory or visual hallucinations;
• the act of theft takes place in public places where there is a large crowd of people (shopping centers, shops, restaurants).

All of the above symptoms are determined by a psychiatrist or psychotherapist during a conversation with a patient. Based on the results of the examination, an appropriate medical report is drawn up.

During diagnostics, a person with signs of kleptomania may have manifestations of other neuropsychiatric diseases.

Causes

Most psychiatric specialists are inclined to believe that kleptomania develops in people who are still in childhood have suffered severe psychological trauma, humiliation, an act of sexual violence by adults or their own peers.

The following reasons are also distinguished that provoke a pathological attraction to theft:

• hereditary predisposition, when a similar mental disorder was present in one of the blood relatives;
• the negative consequences of traumatic brain injuries, as a result of which the frontal lobes of the brain, which are responsible for controlling desires and behavior, were damaged;
• suicidal tendencies;
• neuropsychiatric disorder associated with the fact that a sick person is not able to determine the identity of his personality;
• isolation and lack of ability to build social connections, communication with people around;
• retardation in mental development, which arose due to concomitant diseases of neuropsychiatric genesis;
• deficiency of the required amount of neurotransmitters, which are necessary for the production of a sufficient amount of the hormone "happiness" serotonin.

Quite often people who have psychological complexes get sick with kleptomania. For example, if in childhood a person lived in extreme poverty, his parents constantly refused to buy clothes, toys and other things.

In this case, in adulthood, the kleptomaniac commits theft to achieve the effect of self-affirmation that he is no worse than all the other people around him. For successful treatment of kleptomania, it is very important that the cause of its occurrence is established.

Diagnostics

Kleptomania is diagnosed by a psychiatrist or psychotherapist. The examination is a conversation between a doctor and a person who has signs of a pathological tendency to systematic theft without the goal of enrichment.

The doctor performing the diagnostics sequentially asks the patient the following questions, on the basis of which he builds further dialogue:

1. Does a person feel a periodically arising desire to steal this or that thing that he does not need, does not represent material value?
2. Does the patient have a drive to steal, which he is not able to resist, but obeys an internal motivational impulse?
3. Immediately before committing the theft, there is a feeling of stiffness, extreme psychological stress, sexual arousal or anticipation of strong joy, happiness?
4. After taking possession of someone else's thing, does a feeling of satisfaction and psycho-emotional relaxation arise?
5. Are thefts committed due to the presence of an accompanying feeling of revenge, personal hostility towards the owner of the stolen items, or is the person not familiar with the owner of the stolen items?
6. Does the patient devote to his illegal actions friends, close relatives, acquaintances, or carries out its activities in secret without witnesses, assistants and persons involved in the cover-up crimes?

During the examination of a patient suffering from kleptomania, it is necessary to carry out a differential diagnosis of other mental illnesses.

For example, the factor of the possible presence of schizophrenia should be excluded, in which behavioral disorders are also observed, accompanied by a pathological tendency to steal. In the latter case, there is always additional symptomatology inherent in schizophrenics.

In addition to being examined by a psychiatrist, the patient is given an MRI or CT scan of the brain to diagnostics of its functional activity, as well as detection of the possible presence of organic damage to the central nervous system.

Treatment methods

Currently, there is no single therapeutic protocol for the treatment of kleptomania.

The main method of dealing with the pathological urge to commit theft is to regularly visit a psychotherapist who helps to develop an effective system for suppressing internal impulses, inciting to commit theft.

To obtain a positive therapeutic effect, you will need to undergo 2-3 psychotherapeutic sessions per week.

A psychiatrist from the United States, Dr. Grant, has developed a drug whose active ingredients act on the centers of the brain responsible for the effect of tension at the time of theft.

It is enough for a kleptomaniac to take this drug for psychoemotional relaxation to occur, and the pathological desire to commit theft disappears for the emergence of emotional excitement. This medication is in clinical trials, and its chemical composition has not been disclosed.

Possible consequences and complications

The main complication of kleptomania is that in the absence of adequate psychotherapy, the disease becomes chronic with the occurrence of periodic exacerbations.

A person suffering from this mental disorder sooner or later is caught at the scene of the theft. In this case, the kleptomaniac awaits compulsory treatment in a psychiatric hospital, or imprisonment.

Kleptomania is a mental illness, which is expressed in the appearance of an irresistible desire to commit theft. At the same time, the act of theft takes place during the daytime in public places with a large number of people.

The reasons for the emergence of a pathological attraction to the theft of someone else's property are associated with a previously experienced psychological trauma, sexual or physical abuse, humiliation and the presence of constant feelings of deprivation desired things.

Attacks of kleptomania are manifested during the period of exacerbation of the disease, and are also accompanied by strong emotional excitement on the part of the patient.

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