Kleptomania

Kleptomania

Kleptomania is a psychological disorder in which a person feels an overpowering urge to go out and steal items which have no real use or value to them. A person who suffers from kleptomania generally will feel an urge or tension to steal a vast category of items ranging from paper clips to laptops.  When a person with kleptomania steals an item the tension that they feel is suppressed for that moment, but often sufferers find that the urge will just come back stronger.

Kleptomania can be debilitating to a person.  It arises as an urge, feels like it needs to be suppressed and the only way to suppress or relieve oneself from the urge is to get a “thrill” from stealing objects.  This is harmful to a person because it is not only against the law, but often after a person steals an item they will feel guilty which can have an effect on their self-esteem and self worth.  The act of stealing is also often against the persons moral code.

Another disorder which shares similarities with kleptomania is hoarding.  This disorder of hoarding, like kleptomania, involves acquiring objects, but a person with compulsive hoarding will find it difficult to discard items that they have.  A sufferer of hoarding will often feel an urge to go out and purchase items they may perceive to be of value, or could potentially be of value, and can often purchase the same type of items numerous times.  A person who hoards items will buy items they do not have yet, however after a while they can forget or not realise how many items they have acquired and purchase items they already have stored somewhere.

Hoarding greatly affects a person in that they can acquire so many objects or items that they start to build up to great numbers, and in extreme cases can take over a person’s entire home.  The objects that the person obtains can soon build up a sentimental value to them which can make the item very hard to throw away.  Not only space consuming, but hoarding can be financially straining and time consuming to the sufferer which can be very debilitating.

Though both of these disorders can over-run a person’s normal way of living, treatments are available and can reduce the urges that a person with either of these disorders may feel.  With the aid of a psychologist a person can learn how the disorder affects them, understand their pattern of urges and urge relieving actions and in turn begin breaking the belief of needing to hold onto an item or steal an item.

The most common and most effective form of treatment is systematic desensitisation, which involves gradually coming to terms with identifying when the urge arises and what can be done to suppress the urge without having to acquire/steal or hold onto items.  For a person who hoards items, systematic desensitisation would gradually ease into discarding unneeded items until the urge a person feels to hold onto items is reduced.  And for a person experiencing kleptomania, systematic desensitisation would aid them to imagine themselves in a situation in which an urge could arise and gradually assist them in relaxing themselves in such situations to avoid the action of theft.  Both these approached allow a person to develop more helpful patterns of managing their urges.