Kleptomania is a psychological disorder, which is classified as an impulse control condition. Kleptomania is characterized as a behavior in which a person steals items as a compulsive behavior. A kleptomaniac will not sell or use the stolen items and there are no monetary gains involved.


Kleptomania was noticed in the 1800s, but it was only in the 1950s, when it was classified as a psychological disorder. There has not been much study on the disorder itself, and though there is not much neurobiological information available about the condition, there are some clues to its biological roots. The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) has listed a few criteria according to which the condition can be diagnosed.


These criteria are essentially kleptomania symptoms.

The first of kleptomania symptoms is that the individual performing the behavior is subject to impulse and cannot hold back the behavior to steal things. In fact, even if the person has absolutely no need of the item or no intention of selling or pawning it, they may find themselves repeatedly stealing such items. There is considerable tension before the act of stealing actually takes place. This impulse control disorder can cause considerable feeling of guilt and anxiety to the kleptomaniac. However, after the act of stealing has been performed, the person may feel relieved or even gratified to some extent. There is no particular reason for a kleptomaniac to steal. Since this is an impulse control disorder, the kleptomaniac simply has an unstoppable impulse that does not get relieved till the act of stealing is performed. There are no feelings of anger, hate, or revenge associated to it. In fact, kleptomaniacs do not have impaired judgments and are not hallucinating or delusional.

The true condition of kleptomania is very rare, and only an undersized population of people are thought to be kleptomaniacs. There is no perfect guess of the incidence of kleptomania. Research studies have found the kleptomania symptoms are usually seen in more women than men. Though there are no concrete numbers out on the percentage of men and women, it is believed that women are more prone to this condition. There is a slight controversy to this belief though. It is a fact that women who would steal out of impulse, look for help, and therefore visit a psychologist to discuss their problem. On the other hand, most men who are caught stealing, are sent to prison for it. There is no particular ethnic group that could be tagged with a higher number of kleptomaniacs being present.

Most kleptomaniacs begin showing their first symptoms when they are in the mid-twenties or their teens. There are no particular studies that would point to a genetic component of kleptomania. However, there have also been several studies that have shown that kleptomaniacs have a close relative or associate in their childhood environment who has had a substance abuse problem. There have been similar observations about kleptomaniacs having close associations with obsessive compulsive people and people suffering from any kind of mood disorders when they are growing up. Kleptomaniacs may not always enter the stores intending to steal. However, when the opportunity of stealing something becomes evident, they can get anxious and tense. If however they realize that the conditions are not very favorable and the chances of being caught are many, they would prefer not doing it all. A lot of kleptomaniacs tend to horde their stolen items, while there are a lot of others who simply give these items away, return them, or simply dispose them off.

There are no medications or permanent treatments for kleptomania. Counseling and cognitive behavior therapy are two of the most common ways of approaching this condition. The neurological basis of the condition has not yet been found. The cause of kleptomania, which is referred to as an impulse control disorder has also not yet been found. There are a lot of people who wonder what is kleptomania, and it is one of the most misunderstood psychological conditions that doctors deal with. Some of the possible causes of the disorder include disruption of the normal transportation of serotonin, head trauma which may damage the frontal and orbital lobes of a person’s brain, and low flow of blood towardsthe temporal lobe of the brain.

Some doctors prescribe antidepressants to treat this condition. However, the results are at best inconclusive and inconsistent. Kleptomania in children can be treated with the help of behavior therapy given at an early age. Aversion therapy is one of the most common forms of reinforcing behavior during the young age. There are many impulse control disorders in children. However, kleptomania remains one of the most common of these. Kleptomania symptoms in children are just like those of adults, but could manifest more severely. Kleptomania symptoms in adults are often accompanied with guilt and regret, but children do not have completely formed superegos and therefore are in danger of becoming addicted to the sense of gratification.

Though behavior therapy works very well with children, behavior modification is not always the best way to deal with adults. Treatments for Kleptomania in adults include a combination of therapy and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Using therapy or the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in isolation of each other have shown mixed results. These have also not really helped in providing relief from kleptomania symptoms. However, what has really helped in seeing an improvement in kleptomania symptoms is an intervention which offers a combination of therapy and drugs. There have been efforts to care for kleptomania symptoms with mood stabilizers and opioid antagonists. However, these have not worked out very well, and the studies concerning these as valid methods of treatment for the condition have remained inconclusive.

Some of the techniques that are included in the therapy for kleptomania include covert and systematic sensitization and aversion therapy. In covert sensitization, the patient is urged to imagine the various harmful consequences of stealing. The patient should continue to imagine this till the urge to steal completely passes. In the systematic desensitization program, the patient is taught how to substitute the stealing urge with feelings of relaxation. The patient may be asked to undergo relaxation therapy for this.