Kleptomania - Anatomy of Psych

What is kleptomania?

Kleptomania is a disruptive disorder involving the recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal items even though the items are not required for personal use or are of little value to the individual. The prevalence rate of kleptomania is between 0.3 and 0.6%, with women more commonly affected than men, at a ratio of 3:1. The age of onset is typically adolescence.

What does kleptomania look like?

Signs & Symptoms

DSM-5 Criteria

Criterion A. Recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal objects that are not needed for personal use or for their monetary value.

Criterion B. Increasing sense of tension immediately before committing the theft.

Criterion C. Pleasure, gratification, or relief at the time of committing the theft.

Criterion D. The stealing is not committed to express anger or vengeance and is not in response to a delusion or a hallucination.

Criterion E. The stealing is not better explained by conduct disorder, a manic episode, or antisocial personality disorder.

Risk Factors

First-degree relative with kleptomania, addiction issues, or obsessive-compulsive disorder

Prognosis

Three typical courses of kleptomania:
- Sporadic with brief episodes and long periods of remission
- Episodic with protracted periods of stealing and periods of remission
- Chronic with some degree of fluctuation

Differential Diagnosis

Ordinary theft
Malingering
Antisocial personality disorder
Conduct disorder
Manic episodes
Psychotic episodes
Major neurocognitive disorder

How is kleptomania investigated?

Kleptomania Symptom Assessment Scale (K-SAS)

Client rater
11-item scale to measure symptoms of kleptomania experienced in the last 7 days

How is kleptomania treated?

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI)
Naltrexone

References

[1] American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA.

[2] Boyd, M. A. (2019). Psychiatric & mental health nursing for Canadian practice. Wolters Kluwer.

[3] Townsend, M. C. (2015). Psychiatric mental health nursing. F.A. Davis.