Kleptomania I chose kleptomania as my topic because it’s a problem that a lot of people suffer from and they don’t know about it. Bringing attention to each factor of the disorder is a good way to help people realize they have a problem.
Kleptomania is the inability to refrain from the urge to steal items for reasons other than personal use or financial gain. First described in 1816, kleptomania is classified in psychiatry as an impulse control disorder.
Some of the fundamental components of kleptomania include recurring intrusion thoughts, impotence to resist the compulsion to engage in stealing, and the release of pressure following the act. These symptoms suggest that kleptomania could be regarded as an obsessive-compulsive type of disorder. Persons diagnosed with kleptomania often have other types of disorders involving mood, anxiety, eating, impulse control, and drug use. They also have great levels of stress, guilt, and remorse, and privacy issues accompanying the act of stealing. These signs are considered to either cause or intensify general comorbid disorders. The characteristics of the behaviors associated with stealing could result in other problems as well, which include social segregation and substance abuse. The many types of other disorders frequently occurring along with kleptomania usually make clinical diagnosis uncertain.
The cause of kleptomania isn't known. There are several theories that suggest that changes in the brain may be at the root of kleptomania. Kleptomania may be linked to problems with a naturally occurring brain chemical called serotonin. Serotonin helps regulate moods and emotions. Low levels of serotonin are common in people prone to impulsive behaviors. Kleptomania also may be related to addictive disorders, and stealing may cause the release of dopamine (another neurotransmitter). Dopamine causes pleasurable feelings, and some people seek this rewarding feeling again and again. Other research has found that kleptomania can occur after someone sustains a head injury. More research is needed to better understand all of these possible causes of kleptomania.
Kleptomania is considered uncommon. However because many people with kleptomania never seek treatment, or they're simply jailed after repeated thefts, many cases of kleptomania may never be diagnosed. It's thought that fewer than 5 percent of shoplifters have kleptomania. Kleptomania often begins during adolescence or in young adulthood, but in rare cases it begins after 50 years of age.
Kleptomania is considered uncommon. However because many people with kleptomania never seek treatment, or they're simply jailed after repeated thefts, many cases of kleptomania may never be diagnosed. It's thought that fewer than 5 percent of shoplifters have kleptomania. Kleptomania often begins during adolescence or in young adulthood, but in rare cases it begins after 50 years of age.
Kleptomania risk factors may include having a first-degree blood relative with kleptomania or obsessive-compulsive disorder may increase your risk of kleptomania, being a woman, having other mental illnesses (bipolar disorder, eating disorders, substance abuse, or personality disorders), or experience. With the lack of clear neurobiology and pharmacological evidence for kleptomania, psychiatrists have used cognitive behavioral therapies. Like drug treatments, these cognitive behavioral therapies have achieved mixed results. Clearly, there needs to be more controlled behavioral, neurological and pharmacological studies for kleptomania, as well as other impulse control disorders. But a major problem is that many of these behaviors occur so rarely in the general population that getting enough subjects to obtain convincing scientific evidence may be difficult.