Kleptomania: Clinical Characteristics and Relationship to Substance Use Disorders

Abstract

Research investigating kleptomania (and other behavioral addictions) and its relationship to substance addiction holds significant promise in advancing prevention and treatment strategies for addiction in general.

A Targeted Review of the Neurobiology and Genetics of Behavioural Addictions: An Emerging Area of Research

“…Lower numbers of platelet-derived serotonin transporters have been reported in kleptomania 123,124 , suggesting serotonergic dysfunction; however, negative findings from a small double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial involving open-label responders were reported for escitalopram 125 . Positive results in a small double-blind trial of naltrexone 126 suggest possible opioidergic involvement.…”

Las personas con trastorno de juego en Internet tienen deficiencias neurocognitivas y disfunciones sociocognitivas similares a los pacientes con dependencia de la metanfetamina

“…Previous studies have reported that some behavioral addictions, such as pathological gambling, pathological kleptomania and pathological shopping, show similarities with substance addictions (Bosc, Fatseas, Alexandre, Alexandre & Auriacombre,2012;Grant, Odlaug & Kim, 2010;Kreitler & Kreitler, 2015). Further studies have indicated that substance use disorders, mainly including alcohol and drugs, are associated with cognitive dysfunction (Hagen et al, 2016).…”

From My Arm Rising to Me Raising It: a Taxonomy of Behaviors and Actions

“…It is defined in the DSM-5 as the 'recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal objects that are not needed for personal use or for their monetary value'. It is currently considered to be a chronic disease, with exacerbations and remissions (Grant & Kim 2002: 378), the phenomenology of which is very similar to what addicts experience during craving and substance use (Grant et al 2010), as well as to the Tourettic need to release the urge to tic: stealing episodes are characterized by the experience of an 'increasing sense of tension immediately before committing the theft' as well as 'pleasure, gratification, or release at the time of committing the theft' (DSM-5) and the periods of voluntary abstinence are characterized by increasing urges. The kleptomaniac's behavior is impulsive, repetitive and expresses an impaired inhibition that patients resent.…”