A recent study in Japan found that when viewing pictures of stores and store merchandise, thieves show similar brain activity to drug addicts who view images of drugs. I understand.
From the outset, it’s important to note that kleptomania is different from shoplifting. Shoplifters are usually motivated by the usefulness or value of the items they steal, whereas kleptomaniacs act impulsively and steal items regardless of their use or value.
Kleptomania is a rare but serious mental disorder that affects 0.3% to 0.6% of the population. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) is a diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric Association that classifies kleptomania as an impulse control disorder similar to substance use disorders and gambling.
Addiction used to refer only to substance abuse. Since the 1990s, however, the definition has expanded to include any activity that provides a reward, such as gambling, dining, shopping, and more. It can depend on behavioral patterns so that a person becomes addicted to drugs.
Behavioral addiction involves an urge to engage in challenging, substance-free behavior. This is sometimes called a natural reward. Compulsions lead a person to engage in behavior regardless of its negative consequences, whether mental, physical, social, or economic. Actions often bring rewards in the form of pleasure.
A new study by researchers at Kyoto University in Japan used eye-tracking technology to monitor participants’ gaze patterns when presented with “symptom-related environmental cues” such as a store or its products. . Brain activity was measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) while they viewed the images.
Researchers found that showing static and video images of a store altered the gaze patterns and brain activity of kleptomaniacs. There was no change even when I showed the image of nature.
Subjects not diagnosed with kleptomania showed no such change when viewing images of the store or its contents.
The researchers acknowledge that the sample size of the study was small, consisting of 11 diagnosed kleptomania and 27 control subjects. It seems that it is suggested to process with .
“Although the sample size was small and still preliminary, our study also implicated mechanisms that may be similar, if not identical, to those associated with kleptomania in drug addiction. This is the first time that we have reported that there is a possibility that the
Further research is needed to better understand impulse control disorders such as kleptomania and drug addiction.
“Our research may lead to the development of treatments for maladaptive learning not only in drug addiction, but also in impulse control disorders such as kleptomania,” Goto said.
This research International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Source: Kyoto University by EurekAlert!
