What else do we know about the disorder? How does it manifest itself? Why does it appear? And how can it be treated? Find out! What is kleptomania? However, it can be underdiagnosed, as few people go to therapy out of shame and many others are arrested. At the same time, between 4 and 24% of people arrested for shoplifting and department stores suffer from kleptomania. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), its prevalence in the general population is 0.3 to 0.6%. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), kleptomania is the tendency toward pathological theft that consists of a disorder in which one repeatedly fails to resist the impulses to steal objects that aren’t acquired for personal use or for the monetary gain that they entail.