Kleptomania

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Definition Symptoms Causes Risk factors When to seek medical advice

Tests and diagnosis Complications Treatments and drugs Prevention Coping and support

Definition

Kleptomania is the irresistible urge to steal items that you don't need and that usually have little value. Although kleptomania is often the butt of jokes, it's a very real and serious mental health disorder that can tear your life apart if not treated.

Kleptomania is a type of impulse control disorder — a disorder in which you can't resist the temptation or drive to perform an act that's harmful to you or someone else. People with kleptomania know that their actions are harmful. Yet the urge to steal is so powerful that they can't resist it. This urge makes them feel uncomfortably anxious, tense or aroused. To soothe these feelings, they steal. During the theft, they feel relief and gratification. Afterward, though, they feel enormous guilt, remorse, self-loathing and fear of arrest. But the urge comes back, and the kleptomania cycle repeats itself.

Many people with kleptomania live lives of secret shame because they're afraid to seek mental health treatment. Although there's no cure for kleptomania, treatment with medication or psychotherapy may be able to help end the cycle of compulsive stealing.

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Symptoms