Kleptomania Has No Cure

No hope for Winona Ryder ...

A small clinical research at the Stanford University School of Medicine investigating kleptomania did not find any effective benefit for patients with the impulsive stealing disorder (guilt-ridden, impulsive stealing of inexpensive and unneeded items), even if an open possibility remains that some drugs, including the one in the trial, could still have some effectiveness in treating some individuals.

Over 1.2 million people in the US are believed to experience kleptomania, a different condition from shoplifting, a planned action motivated by monetary gain.

Kleptomania impedes patients from seeking treatment for fear of legal repercussions in most cases.

This research employed escitalopram (traded as Lexapro), an antidepressant that acts like a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI).

SSRIs result effective in treating some impulse control disorders, like skin picking.

In a previous research on kleptomania, when the subjects were aware that they were offered escitalopram and not a placebo, 78 % of the patients responded to the drug.

In the second phase of the study, a double-blind, placebo-controlled check in 15 subjects found the effects were absent.

"When we randomized people to drug vs. placebo, the same proportion of people relapsed on drug as relapsed on placebo, suggesting that it was really a placebo response in the initial phase of the study," said lead author Dr. Lorrin Koran, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

The relapse rates in both drug and placebo patients were effectively the same, with 3 out of 7 patients on the drug relapsing, compared to 4 out of 8 on the placebo sample.

"The small number of subjects in the study makes it impossible to know with certainty whether the results of the trial are really indicative of the effectiveness of escitalopram. For some people, I think these drugs really do work. And for others, maybe not, but until you have large studies you can't tease that out," said Koran.

Finally, psychological treatment seems surer and could be better improved in combination with medication.

"But regardless, people with this disorder should definitely seek treatment," he said.