Kleptomania: what is it and how to get rid of it?

Recently, the names of many psychiatric ailments are included in our usual vocabulary and remain there. It happened with the "kleptomania" - a pathological burden of theft. Today, kleptomania is called any recurrent thief, and this fact cannot but surprise, because true kleptomania is a rather rare mental illness.

Kleptomania is not a bad habit and not a challenge to society, not strange fun, but a mental illness, the name of which comes from the ancient Greek words κλ? Πτειν - “to steal”, “theft” and μαν? Α - “pathological attraction”. The disease actually exists, it is listed in ICD-10 under the code F63.2. This type of disorder is often also called theft mania. The first that this disease, French doctors guessed, and it happened in 1816. And until the last century, their version was basic: doctors all over the world recognized kleptomania as a painful craving to steal something as a manifestation of hysteria, dementia, brain damage or menstrual cycle disturbance in women (and this relationship was seriously considered by the greatest scientists in the world and even its reasonable!).

Modern doctors look at kleptomania as a maniacal state that proceeds in violation of self-control. This means that the kleptomaniac cannot resist the obsessive desire to steal. There is also a scientific hypothesis that completely denies the existence of such a disease. Those who deny kleptomania, in principle, argue that the disease was “invented” by mankind to justify the most ordinary ordinary theft (patients can avoid prison).

Official medicine today has a different opinion. Kleptomania is referred to as impulse disorders. Often, it is accompanied by other mental illnesses, for example, anxiety disorder, eating disorders, alcoholism. Kleptomanes are impulsive, they do not pursue any personal or other benefit by their actions. (the fact that they steal things that they don’t even know where to apply is unnecessary for them speaks in favor of this). The theft is done in order to just get pleasure from the adrenaline rush (after all, the process of theft itself is closely linked to a strong release of stress hormones).

There is no way to tell how many kleptomania lives on the planet. Diagnosis of the disease is very difficult, patients do not go to the doctors, for fear of losing social status, reputation. In Russia, psychiatrists see patients with such a diagnosis in isolated cases, in the USA - more often due to a different mentality. And American psychiatrists from the National Association claim that up to 7% of the country's inhabitants are latent or open kleptomanes. Their Canadian colleagues complemented the data with a picture of the average portrait of a classical kleptomana: a woman aged 30 to 40 years. It is believed that kleptomania is not inherited, but this has not yet been proven.

In history as the most regal kleptoman forever will remain the French monarch Henry of Navarre.The richest man of his time could not resist the temptation to steal a knickknack at a party. Realizing that he does not act like a king, then Heinrich always sent a messenger with a trinket back to the owners. Heinrich tried to make fun of his subordinates, explaining that he so easily manages to circle them around his finger.

American writer Neil Cassidy (one of the founders of the bit generation) suffered from kleptomania all her life, but she was “narrow-profile”: stole the writer only cars. From 14 to 20 years old, he was able to snitch about 500 cars. Kleptomania was not the only problem for the writer, he had signs of various mental disorders, and he tried to alleviate his obsessive thoughts with drugs, psychoactive substances and a disorderly lifestyle.

Kleptomanka is a Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan, she was even sentenced for shoplifting. But even after practicing the correctional hours imposed by sentence, Lindsay was repeatedly noticed in petty and large-scale theft. The same diagnosis was made along with oniomania (shopaholism), drug addiction and depression singer Britney Spears. She stole only lighters and wigs from sex shops.

Another Hollywood diva Winona Ryder was officially recognized as a kleptomaniac about 10 years ago. She steals items of clothing from stores, for which the police have already punished her. But all in vain. In the criminal chronicles of Winona got and then.

Like most manic craving disorders, kleptomania has very mysterious causes. Scientists and psychiatrists are still arguing about them. Nevertheless, it has been established quite precisely that in the overwhelming majority of cases, kleptomania goes hand in hand with other mental disabilities, that is, it is found in systemic combinations. It is believed that the painful craving for theft is manifested as a result of existing psychopathy or schizophrenia. From other mania kleptomania differs in some characteristic features:

• kleptomania more often than other patients suffer from eating disorders, nutrition;
• people with clinical kleptomania have a high tendency to depression;
• in such patients, as a rule, there is one or more phobias (pathological irrational fears).

Quite often, the occurrence of kleptomania, according to doctors, is affected by bad habits, especially alcoholism and drug addiction, as well as gambling addiction. Kleptomania for quite a long time can remain hidden, latent. And the debut usually falls on situations in which a person has experienced prolonged stress. Psychiatrists tend to see in this a kind of subconscious desire to pity themselves, as they did in childhood: to reward themselves for suffering and hardship.

There are several hypotheses that can explain the causes of kleptomania and other manic states. In particular, it is believed that the imbalance of neurotransmitters (a small amount of serotonin produced, a high level of dopamine) can be a triggering factor. Wherein a person has a biological, unconscious need for increased doses of adrenaline: committing theft is associated with anxiety and risk, and this gives him the opportunity to get adrenaline. Having committed the theft, a person experiences satisfaction, euphoria, but then he realizes the perfect, and he is tormented by a feeling of shame. Gradually, theft becomes a conditioned-reflex connection, which allows you to get pleasure, inaccessible in any other situations.

Psychiatrists set off a triad of symptoms which are necessarily present in true kleptomana:

• compulsion - the need to commit theft, which is guided by the preceding obsessive thought about committing theft;
• getting great pleasure during the commission of a crime and after it for some time;
• a strong feeling of guilt after the offense after some time, which plunges a person into an anxious and close to depression state.

And then everything - in cycles. Depression and guilt cause a lack of serotonin, an increased level of dopamine, there is a strong need to increase adrenaline, but this can only be done in one way: to go and steal something again. At this stage, a person who has recently promised himself never to do so again loses the opportunity to enjoy in any other way: neither sex, nor tasty food, nor other joys of life give him the right amount of adrenaline. There is an obsession about stealing. A person becomes anxious, restless, nervous. He is not happy about anything, he can begin to drink alcohol and drugs simply because at least temporarily at first it gives the illusion of release from a painful inclination.

Reaching the highest point of tension, a person goes and commits theft. He does not plan it never, does not think over ways of withdrawal, sales channels of the stolen - it does not interest him. He commits theft impulsively. And at once the same great and joyful relief comes to replace the heavy oppressive tension. The mood rises, the person is happy, he is really good.

As soon as the level of adrenaline begins to decrease (and this usually happens within 1–2 days), a feeling of guilt appears, sleep and appetite are disturbed, and everything begins anew. Under the influence of the impulse that pushes the kleptomaniac to theft, he can commit theft almost anywhere: in a huge shopping center or in a small shop within walking distance, with relatives, friends or in the workplace. The most unusual cases of kleptomania, described in the medical literature, include a fact that got into the Guinness Book of Records: a man stole a steamer, sneaking up to the pier and cutting down the mount.

It is noteworthy that a kleptoman can safely be entrusted with work related to the responsibility for material values ​​(money, expensive equipment), because usually they take nothing from the area of ​​responsibility, but pens, cups and other trifles will regularly disappear from work. There is a case in which the head coach of a football team, who has access to both the club’s funds and material values, stole from the office of a sports doctor only a centrifuge for blood tests. When asked by the policemen why he needed her, the kleptoman trainer was unable to give an intelligible answer. Later, psychiatrists declared him insane.

In the guilty stage, many kleptomania can return the stolen themselves, throw it back in secret. Either they give the stolen item to someone, or they throw it away. Getting rid of what was stolen at any cost is important to them, because the thing is a reminder of the socially unacceptable act they have committed.

The periods between cycles are gradually reduced, and episodes of theft become more frequent. In case of persistent violation that has existed for several years, complications begin in a person: the anxiety associated with a possible collapse of his reputation rises. Most of the time he is in a bad mood, depressed. He himself sets boundaries and tries to isolate himself from society.

The probability of sleeping or becoming a drug addict increases, suicidal impulses and ideas often appear. But psychological consequences are not the only thing that kleptomaniac can wait for. It is possible to obtain a criminal record, financial difficulties due to the need to pay compensation by the court.

For the diagnosis of the disease, use the list of symptoms described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It means that a person must show certain symptoms.

• Inability to overcome painful addiction for several episodes.
• The lack of benefits for the offender, and the objects he steals should not be a good or value for him.
• Theft brings pleasure and has nothing to do with revenge, hallucinations, or delusions. As well as a person should not show asocial manias, organic brain damage and bipolar disorder (thefts are not related to kleptomania).

Diagnostics is carried out by psychiatrists, and the diagnosis is made by a special commission. The task of the experts of this commission is not only to assess signs and symptoms, but also to identify possible simulations (it is sometimes easier for a recidivist to go to hospital for treatment than to go to prison for a long time, and therefore criminals often try to impersonate kleptomania). There is a whole system of tests that allow to establish the true motives, the reasons for the commission of thefts.

With the naked eye and without the basics of knowing the forms of deviant behavior, it is quite difficult to distinguish a common thief from a kleptomaniac. The main thing is the difference - the motive. Kleptoman - a sick person for whom there is no benefit in the theft. The thief goes to the crime consciously, of his own free will or under the influence of certain life circumstances, he has the benefit of committing theft. The differences are actually more extensive.

• Planning the details of theft. Kleptoman, in addition to the lack of benefits, never thinks out in advance where, when and how the theft should take place. He obeys the impulse "saw - liked - took". The thief thinks over the details, studies the store's plan, knows the time of his work, the location of the surveillance cameras. He looks after what he needs in advance and thinks about how to commit a crime and take out what has been stolen.
• The fate of the stolen. The kleptoman tries to throw away or give the stolen, the thief - to sell it or exchange it for something valuable (again we return to the question of material gain).
• Behavior during police arrest. Kleptomanias are embarrassed by their illness, and many of them are better off going to prison than to make everyone around them know that they have a mental illness. The thief will also seek benefits here: he will declare himself a cleptomaniac voluntarily in the hope of avoiding prison punishment and will diligently simulate the disease.

In Russian practice, it is quite difficult to recognize even a real kleptomaniac as a kleptomaniac. The fact is that the packaging of paper clips has its cost, and convincing the judges that this pack of paper clips does not represent a benefit for a person with high incomes is almost unrealistic. In the US and European courts, the approach is different: they rely on the fact of sales. There was a sale, it means that the person is a thief, there was no sale (even if he had not yet managed to sell it), it means a kleptomaniac.

A social portrait of a thief is difficult to create: thieves are different. But for kleptomania, according to the observations of psychiatrists, there are certain common features:

• usually they are quite wealthy people who can afford to buy what they have stolen without damage to the wallet;
• mostly disease is peculiar to women;
• kleptomaniac sincerely ashamed of what they did;
• in everyday life, kleptomans are usually quite law-abiding citizens.

Thus, the man sitting in front of you with tattoos, without a certain type of activity and two convictions behind him, claiming that he had chosen this store on purpose, grabbed gloves, left the car at the entrance open and took several gold items for kleptomania reason - it is a simulator. A frightened and embarrassed man who was caught on petty and ridiculous shoplifting (he took toothpicks, a glass stand), who claims that he stumbled and is ready to incur punishment, may well turn out to be a kleptomaniac. But he himself would never want to admit that he has a pathological habit-sickness — it's better to go to prison.

Before planning treatment, you need to lure kleptomana to a psychiatrist. And this is not an easy task. The shyness and the feeling of sincere repentance, which are becoming familiar to kleptomania, prevent him from honestly admitting to a specialist in his attraction, to tell his experiences and emotions. But independent attempts to rectify the situation, to change usually have no effect, each time ending with a new attack and a new theft.

Therefore, it is usually the case that the disease becomes known as part of the examination ordered by the court when the patient has already been caught on a series of thefts. Quite rarely do relatives of kleptomans turn to doctors, who at the cost of incredible efforts persuade patients to visit a specialist after all. Such cases are rare.

Kleptomania in adults is treated, as well as many other disorders of desire, in a complex way: they combine drug therapy with psychotherapeutic correction programs. Of the drugs usually give preference to antidepressant drugs. They help increase the serotonin content in the body, due to which the irrepressible need for adrenaline surges begins to decrease.

Psychotherapy is considered the most effective method. A long-term program or a short-term program can be chosen, depending on the type and severity of the disorder. The task of the doctor is to identify negative experiences that could be the main for kleptomania. Then begins the change of attitudes to the correct, behavioral therapy makes it possible to form new reactions to old traumatic situations. Group sessions with a psychotherapist have proven themselves quite well.

Projections regarding kleptomania, unfortunately, are not the most favorable. This disorder (like other craving disorders) is very difficult to correct. If a person does not have the motivation to get rid of addiction, to fight, then the result cannot be achieved either by psychotherapy or drugs - the desire to steal will return.

Children of preschool and school age kleptomania may occur at any time, and it will have its own specific causes and symptoms. Most often, systematic child petty theft is a definite signal that a certain insurmountable problem has arisen in the child’s emotional and psychological state. It is theft that he is trying to draw public attention to her. There are problems that may cause the desire to steal.

• Competition for parental attention (a brother or sister was born in the family, the child began to receive less attention from mom and dad).
• Communicative trouble. There are problems with communication in the team of peers. Making a theft, the child shows his peers that he is brave, strong, smart, and therefore may well be not only a full member of the company, but also its leader.
• Curiosity.The child commits an impulsive, spontaneous theft simply because the subject seemed to him very interesting, attracted his attention.