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Can Medication Cure Kleptomania?

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Can Medication Cure Kleptomania?
Sardorbek Primkulov
Hudson County Community College

Author Note
This paper was prepared for Psychology 101, Section 05, taught by Professor Cuellar.
Abstract
In recent years, law enforcement agencies and medical experts have expressed concern about the stagnant problem of kleptomania in the United States. While most agree that Kleptomania, as an impulse control disorder, deserves deeper medical research and cohesive legal reassessment, consensus weakens around how to treat the disorder fairly and successfully. The literature review examines one approach to treating Kleptomania: medication. With no FDA-approved medication for Kleptomania, the research paper presents the effectiveness for …show more content…

If untreated, it can often cause much emotional pain to the kleptomaniac and those around him as the disorder is often accompanied by problems with emotional and behavioral self-control. As one of psychiatry’s most poorly understood diagnoses, despite recognition in the literature for 200 years, Kleptomania remains misjudged by the public and the law or goes undiagnosed and untreated despite causing notable distress and impaired functioning, Kleptomaniacs often experience the humiliation of repeated arrests, which may lead to internal guilt, depression, mood instability, and an overall congestion of anger. Although there is no FDA-approved medication and clinically proven cure for Kleptomania, certain psychologically and psychiatrically driven treatments with medication may be able to help reduce or even end vicious cycles of compulsive stealing.
Literature Review In 2009, The National Association of Shoplifting Prevention reported that an estimated 1 in 11 people have committed shoplifting during their lifetime, and that the rates of shoplifting between men and women were fairly close. The Association reported that, “in fact, more than $13 billion worth of goods are stolen from retailers in the United State each year.” Such gross shoplifting, the report

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