do i have it?

I'm new Well, i'm sure you guys are used to analysing people and telling them if they have klepto etc. etc. but please do it one more time for me??

The idea that i might've had kleptomania occured to me only a short while ago. When i was about 9 'til i was about 12 i used to steal things. A lot. And for no reason! Stupid, small things that i didn't even have a need for!

I used to steal anything and everything from friends. Pens, hairbands, elastics, paperclips, tins, blank books, you name any insignificant thing and i would've taken it! Marbles, prestick, anything!

Then i started in shops too. i stole a dummy (pacifier) and a lipgloss. I don't even know why! i hate lipgloss! I stole one of those drawer freshner scent things. I still have it and feel guilty whenever i see it. Gift cards from shops, practical jokes like powder you put in water so it'll look like beer etc. i also still have all those, unopened, after like 3 years! Bubblegum, fake jewellery.

I eventually got "caught" by my parents and my friends parents. i stole 2 DVDs from her house for no reason. I didn't even plan on watching them. i didn't even know what DVDs they were! i just took them and shoved them in my drawer at home and didn't look at them again. My parents searched my room when her parents phoned and said some DVDs had gone missing. This is all my parents have ever known about my stealing. Since then i realised i really had a problem and tried to tone it down a lot.

I also used to steal money. i know that kleptomania is stealing non-monetary things but i didn't ever steal money to use. It was weird. i'd steal odd coins from people and put them in a jar in my cupboard and every now and again look at them, but never spend them. i still haven't, so it wasn't like i wanted them to benefit me. i refused to spend them, just to look at.

I've never ever told anyone about this, not even my psychologist, who i tell most things to!

xxx

Hi, scarred_cutter! Welcome to our forum! We can't give you a diagnosis, but it does sound like you have a problem. Do you do it when you're stressed? I think you should tell your therapist about it and post here as well, as much as you like.
You could try to put it in a letter if you don't know how to tell them, or just copy what you wrote here in a letter and give it to your psych.

well i don't do it anymore so it's not really a problem? so do i need to tell her? i'd be so embarassed

If you don't do it any more and you were able to stop by yourself, I guess you don't have to tell her.

yes, definitely, the described stealing process has crucial kleptomania pattern and elements > stealing for no reason and no purpose.

when a kleptomaniac goes into a therapy, after a long-term thorough psychoanalysis, the therapist often finds a symbolic meaning in the the stolen things and stealing method. E.g. your stealing coins and putting them in a jar just to look at them may be symbolically interpreted as your urge to hunt and get someone else's trophy.. and it often dates from the childhood or stems from the way your parents treated you.

there was a case of a kleptomaniac who kept stealing knives from his work place. he never needed those knives for anything, but would just keep them at home, and thus collected more than 1 000 knives... after he went into a 1-year therapy about this and got deeply analyzed, they found out the knife was a phallic symbol and he had sexuality issues. Voila !

scarred_cutter wrote:well i don't do it anymore so it's not really a problem? so do i need to tell her? i'd be so embarassed

Even if you don't do it now the thought of what you did is obviously still bothering you (otherwise why else would you post here?) so I think it's a good idea for you to tell your therapist, psychologist, or whoever you talk to about it. Understanding why you did it may help with some of the guilt you are experiencing. Also, it will give you a much better sense of "what was wrong" than what you'll ever get from reading posts on a compulsive stealing forum.