Alcohol Drug Naltrexone May Help Kleptomaniacs
As implausible as it is for some people to comprehend, a kleptomaniac can often feel the same obsessive impulses as someone who is addicted to drugs or alcohol. For the individual who deals with the obsessive urge to steal, the struggle is real and help is not always available.
Kleptomania is an often misunderstood condition that leaves its victims embarrassed and even behind bars because of the inability to control impulses. The NPR has announced the findings from a new study that may bring relief to those that have been unsuccessful in controlling their urge to steal.
This study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, suggests that the drug naltrexone, which has been used for years to treat alcohol dependence – can also reduce the craving to steal.
According to Dr. Jon E. Grant, a psychiatrist at the University of Minnesota and the lead researcher on this study, kleptomania was traditionally seen as different from substance abuse disorders. In challenging this assumption, Dr. Grant discovered that kleptomaniacs describe their problems in nearly identical terms as alcoholics and drug addicts. In a small double-blind study, most of the people with kleptomania responded to the pill. Before the medication, most participants were spending on average an hour per week stealing. After receiving medication, two-thirds had stopped stealing altogether and the rest reduced their habit considerably. Dr. Grant noted that the success of the pill was largely due to the fact that it took the thrill out of stealing. Because naltrexone is an opioid antagonist, it kills the buzz. Kleptomaniacs who get no intense high or rush from stealing have little motivation to continue the behavior.
