What is the difference between stealing and kleptomania

He or she often feels great remorse after the anxiety and lots of anxiety before and during. There is a great deal of tension before committing theft and a sense of relief after the theft is complete. However this relief is often tempered by guilt and regret. Like other mental health disorders, kleptomania may be accompanied by a substance use disorder as a person tries to relieve pre-theft anxiety or post-theft guilt.

Although individuals with kleptomania may not initially be able to control their impulses to steal, they can make the choice to get professional help and change these automatic behaviors. A shoplifting addiction is similar to kleptomania. A person with a shoplifting addiction will experience the following:. Behaviors like shoplifting can be as or even more addictive. As with any addiction, a primary symptom is continuing to use a substance or engage in a behavior despite experiencing negative consequences.

For these people, stealing things is all that gives them pleasure or enjoyment. There is a yawning difference between kleptomania and ordinary stealing in the sense that in kleptomania, the theft is not motivated by the monetary value of the item being stolen whereas in ordinary stealing, the theft is motivated by the usefulness or monetary value of the item in question.

This is what makes kleptomania different from ordinary stealing or theft. Posted on: July 26, Time to read: 2 minutes. Both kleptomania and traditional stealing are serious problems that are very harmful for both individuals and businesses.

However, many people do not understand the fundamental differences between kleptomania and stealing. In this blog, we will break down each and explain the primary differences between the two. Stealing is the act of taking something that belongs to someone else or to a business without permission. Stealing, when it involves taking goods from a store is commonly referred to as shoplifting.

It is estimated that there are approximately 27 million shoplifters in America. The most common items that are stolen by shoplifters in America are:. Kleptomania is relatively rare, and only afflicts about. Kleptomania and stealing both involve people taking items that do not belong to them without permission.

However, despite the fact that they involve similar actions, there are actually some important differences between them.