Sunday, May 13, 2007

Kleptomaniacs

Sunday Times, “She used to shoplift up to five times a week" dated 6/5/o7, page 10”

A young lady suffering a psychological compulsion to steal was given a third chance at rehabilitation as she was spared from a lengthy jail term for two counts of theft. Judge told Goh she had breached the limits of rehabilitation efforts aimed at keeping her out of jail to treat her condition. Psychiatrists say that kleptomaniacs is a rare conditions often triggered by depression a troubled childhood or dysfunctional families. Goh suffered from poor self esteem since young and often has suicidal thoughts. However the most shocking thing is that she still could be able to cope with her studies and did pretty well for her PSLE, O level and even the A level which land s her into NTU.

Personally I feel that she should be kept in behind bar and be treated in the hospital inside the prison. Such people have the tendency to steal thing when their minds not clear due to their mental problems. Imagine if she happened to steal something very important like the fuse of the electrical appliances or anything that could bring harm to the people. How many people will be suffering from her mental illness and death may even occurs as no one knew that this normal looking lady in the street will steal things due to her sickness.

The people around her also have a part to help her to recover from her mental illness. She developed this type of illness due to her surrounding and she was not kleptomaniacs once she was born. The family members, her loves one and even her friends can help to console her and warned her about the seriousness of stealing and the consequence it could bring to the rest and to her. By doing so, it will slowly cause her to stop stealing and may eventually lead a normal life again. If not the fourth case of Goh will appear pretty soon!

2 comments:

NONE OF UR BUZINESS said...

I don't know if what you said about stealing a fuse, is on purpose or not, but it certainly is humourous.
I still cannot decide if this lady should be put behind bars. Afterall, it's her illness that has caused her to be this way. However, hiding behind an illness and avoiding punishment is never the answer.
I don't think that studying or doing well in studies can be a problem for people with such disorders, as most of the time, they are actually normal people.
I do believe though, that she needs a lot of support, if she wants to recover and more importantly, she should have the will to fight her compulsion to steal.

NONE OF UR BUZINESS said...

i forgot to rate ur article.
*****(5 stars) ^_^