IMPULSE CONTROL DISORDERS Flashcards
What is Kleptomania?
It the repetitive, uncontrollable stealing of items not needed for personal use. It is different from shoplifting as shoplifters plan the stealing of objects, and usually steal because they do not have the money to purchase the items
State the diagnostic criteria for kleptomania
i. Recurrent failure to resist stealing impulses unrelated to personal use or financial need
ii. Increased tension right before the theft
iii. Increased pleasure or excitement, gratification or relief when carrying out the theft
iv. Thefts are not committed in response to delusions or hallucinations or as expressions of revenge or anger (must not have any other motives)
What is Pyromania?
- This is where a person has the urge to deliberately start a fire and often to watch the fire destroy property or experience the emergency services.
state the criteria for pyromania
- Specifically before setting the fire, he person must have/experience a sense of tension or arousal, must show attraction to the fire, must feel a sense of relief or satisfaction from setting the fire and witnessing it, and must not have no other motives for setting the fire
Criteria for pathological Gambling disorder
1) Tolerance: The individual needs to gamble with increasing amounts of money in order to achieve the desired excitement
2) Psychological Withdrawal: The individual is restless or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop gambling 3) Relapse: The individual has made repeated unsuccessful attempts to control, cut back or stop gambling 4) Salience: The individual is often preoccupied with gambling eg: having persistent thoughts of reliving past gambling experiences, handicapping, planning the next venture or thinking of ways to get money with which to gamble 5) Conflict: Often gambles when feeling distressed eg: helpless, guilty, anxious or depressed 6) Euphoria: After losing money gambling, often returns another day to get even (chasing ones losses) 7) Lies to conceal/hide the extent of involvement with gambling 8) Interpersonal Conflict: Has jeopardized or lost a significant relationship, job, educational or career opportunities because of gambling
Relies on others to provide money to relieve desperate financial situations caused by gambling
What tool is used to assess if an individual has kleptomania?
Kleptomania Symptom Assessment Scale
State features of the tool.
1) It is a 12-item self report (questionnaire)
2) It utilises a 5-point rating scale from 0 to 4 or from 1 to 5
3) Patients are normally rated for the past 1 week
4) Some of the items may include:
i. “during the past week, how many times did you experience urges to steal”
ii. “during the past week, how many hours were you preoccupied with urges to steal”
“during the past week, how much were you able to control your thoughts of stealing”
5) The higher the score, the higher the chances that the person has Kleptomania
What are the psychological explanations of impulse control disorders
Behavioural: Positive reinforcement
Cognitive: Millers Feeling State Thoery
Describe the Positive Reinforcement
when someones behaviour is as a result of previous successful trials of that behaviour. Eg: if you buy a scratch card and win, you are more encouraged to buy more scratch cards, and the winning counts as a positive reinforcer
Describe Millers Feeling State Theory
- He argues that there is often an underlying negative thought/experience that leads to impulse control disorders, making the feeling-state achieved when carrying out the action, more desirable. There are further negative beliefs when the behaviour becomes out of control
EG: a person with pyromania who has the feeling state “I am powerful” when setting fires may have underlying negative beliefs about themselves, such as being weak or inimportant, which would make the feeling-state achieved during the fire-setting even more intense and desirable
