kleptomaniac confessions
Have you ever felt compelled to steal gum from the grocery store and gave in? Then you are probably training yourself to become a kleptomaniac or an addictive compulsive thief. Don’t despair, you’re not alone. It is not a threat. And there is a way out.
True kleptomania is viewed by standard psychology professionals as a very rare condition. Lay people often confuse it with the recurring failure to resist obsessive, addictive, or compulsive thoughts or urges to steal objects that they will often use. Kleptomaniacs will steal without ever needing the things they steal. They don’t feel anger, but they don’t premeditate their actions either. On the other hand, compulsive theft is inspired by anger and there is also a degree of premeditation involved, because often the stolen items will be useful to the thief.
The way psychologists cure these illnesses is by trying to find out what is the motivating factor of the person involved and address it. Honest people steal, they say. Not only through theft, but also through embezzlement and fraud.
“A kleptomaniac is someone who steals a lot, but not especially for monetary gain,” says Terry Shulman, who is an admitted former shoplifter. He says most people who shoplift are really crying out for help. His own story shows that it is quite possible for people to outgrow the habit, once a person understands the often complex causes. Where it gets tricky is where stealing has become an addiction. People who engage in theft need specialized treatment.
However, due to the ugly truth and seeking help, the biggest hurdle is already being overcome before anyone can kick the habit. Many thieves who contacted Shulman after he published his book and was interviewed on Oprah later told him they had come to the end of his ideas on how to tackle the problem. Shulman vehemently refuses to believe that people who steal are mean, inhumane, or evil. He condemns the crime but not the person who commits it and says that stealing is symptomatic of something else in most cases.
This is also the opinion of Will Cupchik, a psychoanalyst who has authored a book describing a method for treating normal, honest people with a stealing problem. Claiming that he has found the behavior pattern of ‘atypical robbery offenders’, Cupchik provides some interesting insight into the minds of thieves. He offers treatment courses with certified diplomas for people who have given up the habit for good.
Both Cupchik and Shulman cite cases of high-profile criminals who have lost their jobs after being caught shoplifting and discuss events that are elemental to habit. It appears that the factors that motivate people to steal items are largely similar in nature.
“[My story is not] with the intent to make excuses for theft or shoplifting. I’m not suggesting that shoplifting addicts go unpunished. Any illegal act, whether it is illegal gambling, drug offenses or drunk driving, must have legal consequences,” he says. After his book was published, people grappling with this problem created a series of self-help groups across the country. , mainly theft, fraud, kleptomania and embezzlement.
“Our stories illustrate how good but vulnerable people try to cope with life at crucial moments and how punishment is not enough to stop the thieves. [They] delve deeper than previous reports into the scant bibliography available on thefts or kleptomania. I hope this brings clarity and hope to those who have little of both,” Shulman says.
His website shopliftersanonymous.com cites figures showing how endemic the situation is and what effects it is having on the economy. The shopping style of the proletariat actually runs for quite considerable sums in terms of dollar value. Retailers lose about $25 million a day from shoplifting alone. This is the largest ‘target area’ for thieves; 69% of them steal from department stores; 63% steal in supermarkets; 57% specialized stores; 54% convenience stores; 47% pharmacies and 27% all kinds of stores.
And, interestingly, shoplifting is the only criminal area in which women are involved on a par with men; the split is 50%-50%. It seems that this is also something that people do not give up easily on, because the vast majority of culprits, 75%, are adults.
Many people who steal in one way or another will have less difficulty moving on to different crimes. According to a study by Ernst & Young LLP and Ipsos-Reid in 2002, companies can lose 20 percent of every dollar earned. “[When you] can justify a type of fraud [you] may justify another,” said George P. Farragher, an accountant and certified public fraud examiner in Ernst & Young’s Cleveland office, commenting on his firm’s findings.
Twenty percent of the employees cited in that study said they were aware of fraud at their companies and that the most common form was expense account fraud. Of the 20 percent of people who do know, 37 percent even knew about the theft of office supplies. What is perhaps even worse; 16 percent knew employees who claimed overtime work and 7 percent said they knew people who inflated their expense accounts!