Neurobiology of Kleptomania: an overview

Abstract

Kleptomania is a psychiatric manifestation frequently encountered in neurological conditions, especially Parkinson’s disease. This disorder has traditionally been considered to be a part of the obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder, but recently the focus has shifted to possible associations with addiction disorders. There are no FDA approved medications for the treatment of kleptomania. While serotonergic medications form the mainstay treatment, questions have been raised regarding their effectiveness, especially with reports emerging about these medications paradoxically inducing kleptomania. Keeping these points in perspective, a short review of literature was performed about the neurobiology of kleptomania, and a treatment algorithm is suggested based on the findings.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljpsyc.v5i2.7305 SL J Psychiatry 2014; 5(2) 2-4

Keywords

• kleptomania
• serotonin
• dopamine
• opioid
• glutamate