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Kleptomania: Understanding the Urge to Steal and the Healing That Follows

  • 6 days ago
  • 3 min read

What is Kleptomania?

Kleptomania is a rare but serious mental health condition characterized by a compulsive urge to steal items that are not needed for personal use or financial gain. It’s not about greed or rebellion — it’s about impulse control.

People with kleptomania often feel intense anxiety before stealing, followed by relief or gratification after the act, and then guilt or shame. Many want to stop but feel powerless to resist the urge. Kleptomania: Understanding the Urge to Steal and the Healing That Follows

a women stealing from the supermarket

Signs & Symptoms

  • Repeated failure to resist impulses to steal items that are not needed

  • Tension or anxiety leading up to the theft

  • Pleasure, relief, or gratification during or right after stealing

  • Shame, guilt, or depression afterward

  • Items are often hoarded, given away, or discarded — not used

  • Theft is usually unplanned and done alone


DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria (APA, 2013)

To be diagnosed with Kleptomania, the following criteria must be met:

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

  2. Increasing sense of tension immediately before the theft

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

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

  5. The stealing is not better explained by another mental disorder (e.g., Conduct Disorder, a Manic Episode, or Antisocial Personality Disorder)


What Causes Kleptomania?

There is no single cause, but potential contributing factors include:

  • Brain chemistry: Imbalances in serotonin, dopamine, or opioid systems may impair impulse control

  • Genetics: It may run in families, especially those with histories of OCD, anxiety, or substance use disorders

  • Childhood trauma or neglect

  • Personality traits: Perfectionism, guilt, or suppressed anger

  • Co-occurring conditions: Depression, anxiety, eating disorders, or borderline personality traits


Can Narcissistic Abuse Trigger Kleptomania?

While kleptomania is not directly caused by narcissistic abuse, chronic emotional invalidation, control, gaslighting, and fear-based parenting may create internal chaos, guilt, or unmet emotional needs that could contribute to:

  • Impulse control problems

  • Self-sabotaging behaviors

  • A subconscious way to reclaim control or express suppressed anger

At SEVEE, we’ve seen individuals who lived under covert narcissistic households develop compulsions — including stealing — not for rebellion, but for a sense of release or “feeling something” in emotionally numb environments.


Treatment for Kleptomania

Treatment is possible and effective — especially when done with empathy and confidentiality:

✔️ Evidence-Based Therapies:

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): To identify and break the thought-behavior loop

  • Impulse control training & relapse prevention

  • Trauma-informed care if abuse or emotional neglect is present

  • Medication: SSRIs, Naltrexone (for impulse control), or mood stabilizers if co-occurring disorders exist


At SEVEE:

We offer non-judgmental, culturally sensitive therapy for impulse disorders like kleptomania - including for Indians and NRIs who’ve never spoken about it due to shame, fear, or stigma.


Healing Doesn’t Begin With Blame - It Begins With Understanding.


If you or someone you know is struggling with urges to steal - not for gain, but from an inner restlessness or emotional tension - you are not alone. You’re not “bad.” You’re human. And help is available.


Kleptomania: Understanding the Urge to Steal and the Healing That Follows


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