If this individual experiences minimal or no negative consequences (punishment), then the likelihood that the behavior will reoccur is increased. As the behavior continues to occur, stronger antecedents or cues become contingently linked with it, in what ultimately becomes a powerful behavioral chain. According to cognitive-behavioral theory (CBT), both antecedents and consequences may either be in the environment or cognitions. For example, Kohn and Antonuccio (2002) describe a clients antecedent cognitions, which include thoughts such as "I’m smarter than others and can get away with it"; "they deserve it"; "I want to prove to myself that I can do it"; and "my family deserves to have better things". These thoughts were strong cues to stealing behaviors. All of these thoughts were precipitated by additional antecedents which were thoughts about family, financial, and work stressors or feelings of depression. "Maintaining" cognitions provided additional reinforcement for stealing behaviors and included feelings of vindication and pride, for example: "score one for the little guy against the big corporations". Although those thoughts were often afterward accompanied by feelings of remorse, this came too late in the operant sequence to serve as a viable punisher. Eventually, individuals with kleptomania come to rely upon stealing as a way of coping with stressful situations and distressing feelings, which serve to further maintain the behavior and decrease the number of available alternative coping strategies.
This could be as a consequence of kleptomania being a rare phenomenon and the difficulty in achieving a large enough sample. Facts about this issue come largely from case reports or from bits and pieces gathered from a comparatively small number of cases enclosed in a group series. History
In the nineteenth century, French psychiatrists began to observe kleptomaniacal behavior, but were constrained by their approach. By 1890, a large body of case material on kleptomania had been developed. Hysteria, imbecility, cerebral defect, and menopause were advanced as theories to explain these seemingly nonsensical behaviors, and many linked kleptomania to immaturity, given the inclination of young children to take whatever they want. These French and German observations later became central to psychoanalytic explanations of kleptomania. Etymology
The term kleptomania was derived from the Greek words κλέπτω (klepto) "to steal" and μανία (mania) "mad desire, compulsion". Its meaning roughly corresponds to "compulsion to steal" or "compulsive stealing". First generation of psychoanalysis
In the early twentieth century, kleptomania was viewed more as a legal excuse for self-indulgent haut bourgeois ladies than a valid psychiatric ailment by French psychiatrists.Sigmund Freud, the creator of controversial psychoanalytic theory, believed that the underlying dynamics of human behaviours associated with uncivilized savages—impulses were curbed by inhibitions for social life. He did not believe human behaviour to be rational. He created a large theoretical corpus which his disciples applied to such psychological problems as kleptomania.