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Kleptophobia is an abnormal and intense fear of stealing or becoming a thief. Kleptophobia is a type of specific phobia. A phobia is an abnormal and intense fear of something. The main feature of a specific phobia is that it is a significant and persistent fear of a clearly known, specific situation (such as stealing) or specific object (such as a snake). In specific phobias, the feared situation or object is avoided or endured with intense anxiety and distress. Exposure to the feared object or situation almost always causes anxiety. People with specific phobias realize their fear is excessive or unreasonable.

To be diagnosed with a specific phobia, the person's avoidance, anxiety, or distress needs to significantly interfere with his/her normal routine, job functioning, school functioning, or social functioning. Alternatively, to be diagnosed with a specific phobia, the person needs to have significant distress about having the phobia.

It is estimated that between 4 and 8.8% of people have a specific phobia. However, it is not known what percent of people have kleptophobia. One of the reasons we do not know this information is because the topic has not been studied well. Another reason is because many people never tell anyone else about their fears and as a result, never get diagnosed. Kleptophobia comes from the Greek word "klepto" meaning "to steal," and the Greek word "phobos" meaning "fear. Put the two words together and you have "fear (of) to steal."

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