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Kleptomania: clinical characteristics and relationship to substance use disorders
Jon E Grant1, Brian L Odlaug, Suck Won Kim
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota Medical Center, Minneapolis, 55454, USA. grant045@umn.edu
Background:
Although categorized as an impulse control disorder, kleptomania has many features in common with substance use disorders.
Objectives:
This paper sought to examine the mounting evidence supporting the phenomenological, clinical, epidemiological, and biological links between kleptomania and substance addictions.
Methods:
A review of the literature examining family history, genetics, comorbid psychiatric conditions, neuroimaging, and phenomenology was utilized to examine the relationship of kleptomania to substance addiction.
Results:
Kleptomania and substance addiction share common core qualities, including similar treatment successes, as well as etiologic and phenomenological similarities.
Conclusions:
Future research investigating the relationship between kleptomania and substance use disorders holds significant promise in advancing prevention and treatment strategies for addiction in general.
Scientific Significance:
Research investigating kleptomania (and other behavioral addictions) and its relationship to substance addiction holds significant promise in advancing prevention and treatment strategies for addiction in general.
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