What is kleptomania? Mental disorders

Kleptomania has existed for a very long time, and even the most famous personalities suffered from this vice. So, King Henry IV, being at receptions and just visiting, deftly hid in his pockets and sleeves some little things. And returning them to the owners, he enjoyed the effect produced. His petty theft he committed solely for the sake of pleasure. This motive leads and most of the current kleptomaniacs, although some steal completely for other reasons. Therefore, the question of what is kleptomania is difficult to answer. Let's try to understand.

Definition of kleptomania

In Greek, a thief is κλέφτης (cleftis). The meaning of the word "mania" is a disorder of the psyche, consisting in the concentration of all the impulses of consciousness to a certain idea or action. Consequently, the question of what is kleptomania, you can answer: this is a mental disorder, consisting in inducing theft. Because of what happen mental or mental disorders? The main reason is the inability to accept the existing living conditions and the inability to cope with daily major and minor problems, as well as the inner conflict of the individual, when a person feels that he is getting something out of life, something does not reach. In such situations, a disturbed mental balance causes a person to violate behavior, thinking, and so on. Unfortunately, every fourth inhabitant of the Earth has mental disorders. For every second woman and every tenth man, it is expressed in kleptomania.

Little Thieves

It's not a secret for anyone how widespread kleptomania is in children. How often our kids bring home other people's toys and things, and from our pockets or just from the table take a trifle! Some parents, having caught the heir in the deed, literally knock out the rudiments of this vice. Other popes and mothers pretend nothing has happened, believing that the child will forget about his misdeed. Both are wrong, both. Having found out in the house a foreign object, it is impossible to beat the child, equally it is impossible not to pay attention to it. With the baby it is necessary to talk, find out why he took someone else's, and explain the inadmissibility of this action. In cases of permanent petty theft, it is desirable to refer to a child psychologist. And for themselves, parents should understand what their child lacks, and try to fill the gap. If the time is not taken, children's kleptomania will consolidate in consciousness and grow into adulthood. And there already and before the crime is a stone's throw away.

Why children steal

The child was barely born and a little grown up - but already a person with all the qualities inherent in it. This means that a small man is able to experience, be jealous, resent, envy, even revenge. Although his life has just started, he is already sensitive to any attitude towards him and perfectly observes indifference to his person, dislike, preference for his other people. On the basis of all this, kleptomania can develop. The reasons why babies take someone else's are very different. Here are just some of them:

- desire to attract attention;

- jealousy (when children take things from people with whom mom or dad spend too much time);

- envy (mainly observed in children from poor families);

- ignorance of the fact that theft is bad;

- the desire to show oneself as a hero before other children;

- just because the thing (money) caught my eye;

- the desire to imitate someone (for example, movie heroes);

- strong emotional and psychological stress;

- hidden or obvious mental illness.

How to cure children from theft

Psychic in childhood is only formed and almost always amenable to correction. If you correctly understand the state of mind of a little man, you can remove the reasons for which his hands are drawn to other people's things. If the child does not have enough attention, you need to try to find more time for him. If this desire to possess what he does not have, you can buy the desired thing for the child or replace it with another, more suitable for the financial possibilities of the parents, or shift the interest of the child from this thing to something else, no less interesting. It is easy to stop child theft, if the child did not know that this is bad. In this case, a simple quiet conversation is enough. It is more difficult to eradicate kleptomania in children caused by mental disorders. In front of a girl, my father was shot. She felt a great desire to steal something whenever she remembered this picture. Another boy took someone else's memory when a vision of the accident that he had experienced with his parents arose in his mind. In such and similar cases, only a specialist psychotherapist can help a child.

Kleptomania in adults

With theft in children is relatively simple. It's quite another thing with adults. Almost every one of them understands that taking someone else's is evil. And they still take it. And many kleptomaniacs absolutely do not need the little things they kidnap! For example, Britney Spears pulls cigarette lighters from gas stations and wigs from stores. Sellers see this, but they are silent. Vijona Ryder takes out clothes from boutiques. The famous Nile Cassidy "snarled" cars. They had almost five hundred. In fact, with the assumption that there is such a disease - kleptomania, every thief can tell the representatives of the law about his innocence and calmly continue his business. In Britain, it was estimated that approximately 100 billion dollars are being poured out by the kleptomaniacs every year. Here is an innocent mental disorder. Ideally, every law-caught guard should be sent to a special examination. But in reality this happens rarely.

Test for mental disorders

Many psychologists and psychotherapists of the world are developing tests to identify various types of mental disorders in a patient. The most famous of them is the Sondi test, first published in 1939. It consists in the patient's choice of positive and negative (in his opinion) individuals from the proposed photo gallery. Professor Sondi, developing this test, was based on the inherent propensity of each person to visual images of the negative. He has long investigated large groups of people with mental disabilities and analyzed the medical history of relatives of these people.

In addition to the Sondi test, there are others. All of them are based on a group of questions of various categories. But really with the help of tests it is impossible to prove 100% that the subject has this mental disorder - kleptomania. Treatment of caught and unconvicted thieves mainly consists of psychological training. However, in America, a cure for this ailment has been developed. The drug acts on specific receptors in the brain and causes a sense of relaxation, neutralizing the desire to steal. True, it does not work on imaginary patients.

Why steal adults

Among the adults who call themselves kleptomaniacs, there is a large group of those who steal as needed or for profit. Those who in material goods do not need something to curb spodvigayut different reasons. The most characteristic of them are:

- passion, love of risk;

- head and brain injuries;

- the desire to have fun (that's why at one time he stole books by Jimmy Morrison);

- disorders of the nervous system (some people with the help of theft relieve stress);

- revenge the whole world for their troubles;

- Feeling like a certain fighter for justice. One wealthy man every time pulled something from the supermarket, explaining this by compensation for too high prices (as it seemed to him) or for disgusting service. He always found a reason to punish shop workers and never considered it to be kleptomania. Treatment of such mental disorders is conducted in a specialized clinic Malibu. It costs about twenty thousand dollars.

Theory of the skin vector

Trying to explain what is kleptomania, the so-called theory of skin vector associated with the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan. It is based on the assertion that our body is part of the universe, which is separated from the rest of the world and protects from external influences the skin. She is able to react to any changes in the environment and is the coordinating beginning for humanity. "Skin" people are always by nature organizers and engines of progress. At the same time, they are calculating economists, clearly defining the boundaries of their property and seeking to fill it with material goods. Once the vector of the skin helped to survive and its owner and his entire family. Now he helps to occupy a certain position in society. According to this theory, only a person having a cutaneous vector can become a kleptomaniac.

How to help a real kleptomaniac

What is kleptomania for the kleptomaniacs themselves? Some people perceive it as a way to get the desired dose of adrenaline or as an amusing adventure, while others experience severe mental suffering. At the time of theft, such people do not realize what they are doing. Understanding, and with it repentance and shame come when the action has come to pass. Most of all, fear is aroused that family, friends, colleagues learn about the theft. Too impressionable such torments lead to suicide. It turns out, not so harmless kleptomania. How to treat this ailment? In addition to the drug developed in America, antidepressants are widely used (preparations "Prozac", "Luvox", "Paxil"). Good results are given by lithium preparations, anticonvulsants (Tomopaks), and also Naltrexone. Together with the appointment of medications, the patient is provided with psychotherapy courses.