The characteristics of the behaviors associated with stealing could result in other problems as well, which include social segregation and substance use. The many types of other disorders frequently occurring along with kleptomania usually make clinical diagnosis uncertain.There is a difference between ordinary theft and kleptomania: "ordinary theft (whether planned or impulsive) is deliberate and motivated by the usefulness of the object or its monetary worth," whereas with kleptomania, there "is the recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal items even though the items are not needed for personal use or for their monetary value." Cause
Psychoanalytic models
Many psychoanalytic theorists suggested  that kleptomania is a persons attempt "to obtain symbolic compensation for an actual or anticipated loss", and feel that the key to understanding its etiology lies in the symbolic meaning of the stolen items. Drive theory was used to propose that the act of stealing is a defense mechanism which serves as to modulate or keep undesirable feelings or emotions from being expressed. Some French psychiatrists suggest that kleptomaniacs may just want the item that they steal and the feeling they get from  theft itself. Cognitive-behavioral models
Cognitive-behavioral models have been replacing psychoanalytic models in describing the development of kleptomania. Cognitive-behavioral practitioners often conceptualize the disorders as being the result of operant conditioning, behavioral chaining, distorted cognitions, and poor coping mechanisms. Cognitive-behavioral models suggest that the behavior is positively reinforced after the person steals some items.
Psychoanalytic and psychodynamic approach
Several explanations of the mechanics of kleptomania have been presented. A contemporary social approach proposes that kleptomania is an outcome of consumerism and the large quantity of commodities in society. Psychodynamic theories depend on a variety of points of view in defining the disorder. Psychoanalysts define the condition as an indication of a defense mechanism deriving in the unconscious ego against anxiety, prohibited intuition or desires, unsettled struggle or forbidden sexual drives, dread of castration, sexual excitement, and sexual fulfillment and orgasm throughout the act of stealing. The psychoanalytic and psycho-dynamic approach to kleptomania granted the basis for prolonged psychoanalytic or psycho-dynamic psychotherapy as the core treatment method for a number of years. Like most psychiatric conditions, kleptomania was observed within the psycho-dynamic lens instead of being viewed as a bio-medical disorder. However, the prevalence of psychoanalytic approach contributed to the growth of other approaches, particularly in the biological domain. Behavioral and cognitive intervention
Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) has primarily substituted the psychoanalytic and dynamic approach in the treatment of kleptomania. Numerous behavioural approaches have been recommended as helpful according to several cases stated in the literature. They include: hidden sensitisation by unpleasant images of nausea and vomiting, aversion therapy (for example, aversive holding of breath to achieve a slightly painful feeling every time a desire to steal or the act is imagined), and systematic desensitisation. In certain instances, the use of combining several methods such as hidden sensitisation along with exposure and response prevention were applied.