There are numerous amounts of shoplifters caught in the act of stealing almost everyday in the United States. Although stealing is recognized as a crime, what distinguishes kleptomaniacs apart from any ordinary common theft would be their impulsive, illogical, and voluntary nature of stealing. ( Yagoda, Ben) Kleptomania is a rare disorder in which one has the inability to resist impulses to steal. (Alan, Rick)
An article was released by Ben Yagoda in February’s 1994 issue of SELF magazine, “Addicted to Stealing” about a young women who had the kleptomaniac disorder. Twenty year old Kate was forced by pregnancy into a marriage she was not sure she wanted. She began to shoplift without knowing why. Her shoplifting brought her sexual thrills, as to why they became recurring. Psychiatrists tried shock therapy and even psychoanalysis on her. For a while she would seem fine until stressful events came in her life like when her husband left her for instance, she began to steal again. (Yagoda, Ben)
An exact causes for kleptomania are unknown. Emotional shortcomings during youth can be a result. It often arises along with these psychological disorders: depression, anxiety, substance abuse (with alcohol or drugs), eating disorders (such as bulimia or anorexia), or other impulse control disorders. Psychological conditions are sometimes the result of chemical imbalances in the brain. Impulse control is specifically in the frontal lobe. (Alan, Rick) Each time the impulse occurs, the thief goes through a series of steps: the selection and stalking of the desired object, the tension leading up to the act, the climactic moment, the blissful release, and then finally the feelings of guilt and shame the next morning. The items that are stolen are not even for monetary value. They do it simply for the act of stealing. “One significant obstacle to a full understanding of the disorder is the fact that, as a rule, kleptomaniacs would rather spend a month of Sundays in jail...