When a female corporate executive steals clothes from a shopping mall, is this kleptomania?

Recently, Guanghan police arrested a young woman suspected of theft in a residential area in Chengdu. The white-collar worker from a large company in Chengdu stole clothes worth more than 4,000 yuan from a shopping mall in Guanghan while in Guanghan for business negotiations.

The picture comes from the Internet

As a female executive with a considerable salary, why did she "talk business during the day and steal clothes at night" and end up in prison? Perhaps she may have "kleptomania".

01

Forbidden Pleasures: The Uncontrollable Desire to Steal

There is no clear cause of kleptomania. Generally speaking, kleptomania will be fully exposed between the ages of 17 and 20, and it has no necessary relationship with the family's economic situation or personal education. Many people with kleptomania have high intelligence and education. When their psychological pressure accumulates to a certain extent, they will use stealing to relieve the pressure in exchange for a sense of security and satisfaction.

Kleptomania has a critical process of stress accumulation and release. For example, before a person with kleptomania steals, he will feel as if he has been pressing a spring with his hands, and the tension will increase dramatically; when stealing, it is as if the spring flies out as soon as the hands are loosened, and he will feel very relieved, with a sense of pleasure that makes him sweat and feel hot all over.

"Kleptomaniacs" enjoy the release of stress after extreme tension. | Tuchong Creative

The core of kleptomania is not stealing, but the accumulation of stress that cannot be relieved through normal means. Therefore, some compulsory and punitive measures, such as locking up and not letting people go out, or beating people for stealing, may be useful for ordinary thieves, but for patients with pathological theft, since the root problem is not solved, it is useless and may even make the situation worse.

02

Kleptomania is unusual, but it is not a disease!

It should be noted that the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in the United States has deleted kleptomania and no longer considers it a mental disorder. For adults, whether or not they are kleptomaniacs, they must bear legal responsibility for stealing. However, although kleptomania and malicious theft are both illegal, they are actually different in nature: kleptomaniacs have the urge to steal things from stores or private homes, but the stolen things are neither kept nor sold for cash, but are just to satisfy the impulse or pleasure of stealing.

Even if you have a "kleptomaniac," it cannot be used to excuse illegal behavior. | Tuchong Creative

In many cases, kleptomaniacs take things they don't need. Most kleptomaniacs will eventually throw away the stolen goods, or give them to others, and some will even secretly return the stolen goods to the original owner. In other words, they enjoy the process of stealing, not for profit or use, nor for venting anger or revenge. They do not have conduct disorders, antisocial personality or manic episodes, but they take inappropriate actions driven by an overly strong desire to steal.

03

Behind the addiction to stealing is the desire to be "discovered"

Kleptomaniacs usually have the characteristic of escalating, starting with small thefts, then becoming bigger and bolder, and even developing into open robbery, and finally being caught. A common explanation for this phenomenon is that every success is a reward for the theft, so the interest in stealing becomes higher and higher, and the courage becomes greater and greater. In fact, this is only a superficial phenomenon, and the real reason is probably that they hope to be caught.

It must be mentioned that most kleptomaniacs actually have strong moral values. Isn't it counterintuitive? They know that stealing is wrong and will be punished, but they can't control themselves. For them, not being punished for doing bad things is like not being praised for doing good things. They feel uncomfortable. Only when they receive the punishment they deserve will they feel at ease. The escalation of stealing behavior is to expose themselves and finally be punished.

People with kleptomania may actually want to be caught. | Tuchong Creative

Many times, kleptomania may be related to a harsh family environment. Children are very curious and want to touch everything. However, some parents are too self-disciplined and have very high requirements for their children. They do not allow their children to touch anything that does not belong to their own home. As a result, the child's desire to explore is suppressed. When he was a child, he would listen to his parents, but as he grew older, the severely suppressed desire emerged uncontrollably, so he was eager to touch and feel things that belonged to others. Stealing for oneself is a concentrated expression of this desire. The desire to be "discovered" is the inner desire to embarrass parents and fight back against harsh discipline.

Generally speaking, kleptomania is more common in women. This may be because parents who are too self-disciplined have stricter requirements for their daughters. Kleptomania is occasionally accompanied by depression or anxiety-related phenomena. For some people with depression, stealing may be their way of coping with negative moods. Perhaps the female executive with depression in the news is in this situation.

04

Relieve stress and say goodbye to the urge to steal

Strong psychological pressure is a risk factor for aggravating kleptomania, so properly channeling pressure can help the person control the impulse to steal more effectively. When you encounter pressure, don't bear it alone, be sure to share it with family and friends.

Feeling stressed? Talking to others is a better choice than keeping it to yourself. | Tuchong Creative

Many people don't want to cause trouble to others or express negative things, so they bear the pressure themselves. However, according to a study by British scholar Kana in 2010, the communication link we generally believe in is not as strong as we think. In many cases, the other party will not be deeply affected by the emotions of the speaker, but for the person who expresses emotions, this is a very good way to relieve pressure.

In addition, every time you have the urge to steal, you can twist your muscles hard, or smell a harmless but bad smell, or force yourself to do something that makes you disgusted (such as vomiting), etc. If family members can cooperate to give the person some disgusting stimulation, it may be easier to correct it.

Finally, if you have tried all kinds of efforts, but still have recurring and uncontrollable desire to steal, and if you take coercive measures to control it, you will feel very uncomfortable, such as palpitations, tremors, sweating, or even being unable to control your behavior and having difficulty breathing, then you need to go for a relevant diagnosis. At the same time, you can cooperate with psychological counseling and aversion therapy to carry out behavioral correction. Timely psychological counseling will not only help alleviate their recurring stealing behavior, but also help restore their self-confidence, free themselves from the abyss of negative emotions, and live a positive life.

Author | Tang Yicheng Beijing Science and Technology Mental Health Promotion Center

Review | Fan Chunlei Associate Researcher, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Editor | Jiang Fan

Editor | Ding Zong

References

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[2] Paulo, B., & Oliveira-Maia, AJ. (2016). Impulsecontrol disorders in parkinson's disease: crossroads between neurology,psychiatry and neuroscience. Behavioral Neurology, 27(4), 547-557.

[3] Faouzi, J., Corvol, JC, & Mariani, LL. (2021). Impulse control disorders and related behaviors in parkinson'sdisease: risk factors, clinical and genetic aspects, and management. CurrentOpinion in Neurology, Publish Ahead of Print.