do i have kleptomania?

im not sure if i have kleptomania or not. the subject was brought to me by my old headmaster. before then i never knew such thing existed.

here's my story:

when i was 11 me & my friend Beth started stealing from shops everytime we went out. at first i only did it when i was with her, we would see something we liked so we took it. then we started to steal 2 or 3 things at a time, leave the shop and return 20 mins later or so n claim that we had 'bought it for a friend but she didnt want it' or something like that, then we got the money back for it. i then started stealing when i went out on my own. i always stole a cd everytime i went out, i would sneakily take it from the case n put it in my bag to prevent any risk off setting the alarms off. it hasn't stopped & i still do it. ive been caught a few times but it doesnt stop me. i even take things i dont want, like plastacine! one time when i was at school when i was 15, i stole my friends mobile phone. she was my friend, but i had the opportunity to take it so i did. i even searched the school ith her pretending to look for it. i got caught & my headmaster asked if i had done this before. i lied & said no, & he went on to explain 'kleptomania' to me, saying some people cant help it. this sounded like me but i wasn't sure. im 17 now, and this friday just passed i stole money from a friend's cash register in her parents hotel. the till was open, i saw my chance, i took it. i felt so guilty afetrwards because she was my friend. this is the only time ive ever felt guilty about doing it. do i have a problem?

Personally, I don't think you do. Kleptomaniacs don't steal for monetary value. They are law-abiding in every other way - they wouldn't steal off friends or family or in houses etc. They feel no guilt, either.

What you do sounds a little like Obsessive Compulsive Shop-lifting... or something. Quite different.

I think your in a first stage of being Kleptomania, because you still feel guilty and feel you still know you what you doing is stealing, Kleptomania is people stealing with no hesitation and never feel embarrass whatevery they done, You still have chance to change, I will advice you to search different websites that will help your problem. try this one http://www.solutionbay.org/?s=kleptomania

I think my best friend might be a kleptomaniac and a lot of thing a point to this reality for me unfortunately. For as long as I can remember every time she is over my house, little things go missing. She carries a large handbag too. Things sucg as a yogurt, a pen, candy, a soda can, paperclip, stationary, hairclips, one dollar bills I may have left on a table, makeup..so these are some examples. I mention to somethings missing and she acts like she's gonna help me look for it next time she's over but then never does. Another thing I've noticed much more lately is sh's currently unempoyed with a boyfriend who buys her most of what she desires (the most expensive items generally being handbags)..but lately she has all this new stuff she claims she won for a deal on ebay but I doubt that highly...there's too much stuff piling up for me to believe it's all her money when she's not working. I suspect she doesn't even use half of what she supposedly "wins" on ebay. I have no proof or grounds to suspect this but I am think either she's running up her own credit card linked to ebay account or even worse someone else's. I don't feel she's the type to run up her own so I'm thinking someone else's. I don't think her boyfriend would be gullible enough to give her his card. Just so worried for her.