Kleptophobia (fear of theft): symptoms, causes and treatment

The idea of ​​being the victim of a robbery or a robbery is not pleasant for anyone, and in fact it is among one of the most frequent fears.

It is an adaptive fear, given that, after all, it poses a risk to physical integrity and at least involves the theft of something that belongs to us. Now, despite the fact that it is a real risk, most people live their lives without this possible fear limiting their functionality.

However, for some people the idea or fear of being robbed can become a barrier that prevents them from living in peace and even carrying out a normative day-to-day life. This is what happens to those who suffer from kleptophobia, something that we are going to talk about along these lines.

• Related article: "Types of Phobias: Exploring Fear Disorders"

What is kleptophobia?

It is known as kleptophobia phobia or irrational fear of being robbed, stealing or being accused of such action. It is a specific phobia of the situational type, which implies that the fact or even the idea of ​​experiencing or being close to the type of stimulus or situation feared (in this case theft) generates an extreme and even irrational level of panic in relation to the real risk that the stimulus entails or the probability that happen.

• You may be interested in: "Kleptomania (impulsive theft): 6 myths about this disorder"

Symptoms

The idea of ​​exposing yourself to theft generates high levels of anxiety that can trigger physical symptoms such as hyperventilation, tremors, tachycardia, sweating, tingling or even trigger a anxiety crisis. As long as they do not feel it, the person with a phobia will escape or avoid any situation that puts them at risk of facing the feared situation.

In the case of kleptophobia, the fear in question is how we have seen the experience of a robbery. However, although the fundamental fear is usually that of doing it as a victim (a condition also known as harpaxophobia when it comes to specifically the fear of being robbed or thieves), kleptophobia also includes the fear of embracing the reverse role: stealing/becoming in thief. And it even includes the fear of being accused of theft.

Affectation in daily life

Kleptophobia is a condition that can have a great impact on the day to day of the person who suffers from it, especially in severe cases.

And is that someone with this phobia may avoid doing things like going out at night (whether in a leisure, work or personal context), do not go to places where there are minimal possibilities of being victim of a robbery or robbery (banks or public transport, for example) or could become a thief.

You may also have difficulty going to stores, as someone might interpret that you are trying to steal something.

This phobia too can cause social difficulties, to the point that some people may avoid physical contact or keep away from others (especially if there are large groups) in order to avoid possible risks of heist.

It is even possible that this fear affects the home itself, and that the person has difficulties staying home alone, especially at night and sleeping. And it is that kleptophobia has the peculiarity that even if there is no type of stimulus that leads one to think about stealing or being robbed, can persist and generate great anxiety.

In addition, also at the work level, the need to justify each act that has to do with dealing with money or objects may appear in order not to be accused of wanting to steal.

In short, there are many possible facets that a phobia like kleptophobia can limit.

Possible causes

As with the rest of the phobias the causes of kleptophobia are not fully known, although there are hypotheses about it. It is relevant to bear in mind that there is no single cause, but that the origin of this phobia depends on the interaction of multiple factors.

To begin with, we must bear in mind that kleptophobia is based on a fear with a real basis: being robbed is dangerous. A mugging and robbery could end in injury, rape, or even homicide in some cases. And even the idea of ​​stealing or being accused of doing so has its implications: the thief is judged and despised at a social level and even sentenced to jail terms, which is not a positive either.

Now, it is not so common to be the victim of a robbery or to commit it (much less a violent one) in addition to most of those that exist are thefts that sometimes are not even perceived by the victims until a long time after.

This fear has a certain explanation at the evolutionary level, at the phylogenetic level: for all animals, the fact to suffer theft can mean in nature losing resources that we need to survive, such as meal. In this way, those people who were afraid of theft they would tend to keep a closer eye on things and might have an easier time surviving. This fact could cause us to have inherited the predisposition to fear the loss of our possessions, to end up taking them from others or to be accused of doing so.

But one of the main hypotheses regarding why kleptophobia is based on conditioning, the acquisition of a learned reaction to certain stimuli after associating them with consequences or stimuli aversives.

This learning can be done through culture or through the experience of aversive or traumatic situations that have caused fear to appear. For example, having experienced a robbery or robbery (or being accused of one), especially if it has led to severe consequences or has mediated some type of aggression or violence. It is also possible that it did not happen to us but to someone close to us, or that we have conditioned ourselves vicariously from the reactions of others to it.

Likewise, they can also mediate different aspects at the personality level. The fear of stealing may also be indicating the existence of a high level of insecurity in oneself, one's capacity for self-control or one's moral values.

In addition, in the case of fear of being accused, we can see the existence of a sensitivity to punishment and concern for the judgment or consideration that others have for us.

Regarding the fear of being a victim, there may also be a low sense of control over what surrounds us, in addition to the aforementioned insecurity.

Treatment of fear of theft

As a general rule, phobias are some of the disorders whose psychological treatment is more effective and relatively simple to carry out, existing diverse techniques that allow to combat them.

One of the most used techniques to treat phobias is exposure therapy, in which the subject must face a hierarchy of feared situations elaborated together with the therapist in order to reduce the anxiety and fear that generate.

Obviously, the exposure itself will not be to being robbed in real life, but to situations in which a robbery could occur. Among them could be going to withdraw money from an ATM, taking a car out of a parking lot, going to a concert or going out at night.

Yes indeed, exposure should be gradual and keep in mind that after all there is a risk of a robbery occurring. It is also possible to carry out exhibitions in imagination or in virtual reality to recreate and work on the fear of certain situations.

One of the fundamental elements to work on is the cognitive aspect, in which aspects such as what is the fear that the subject has, to what he attributes it and what beliefs he has about himself, others and the world in which he lives we live.

can be worked for modify existing beliefs in this regard towards more adaptive ones and that allow the person to live normally. If there is any previous traumatic event, it should be worked on and reworked in such a way that it can be processed adaptively.

Since part of the fear is due to felt insecurity, it may be necessary to work on personal security and the ability to manage stress and uncertainty. In some cases, it could help to carry out activities such as self-defense training, since they would contribute to improving the feeling of competence in the event of a physical confrontation.

Bibliographic references:

• Hamm, A.O. (2009). "Specific phobias". The Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 32 (3): 577 - 591.
• Rogers, K. "Fight-or-flight response". Britannica.com.