Ricerc@Sapienza

The argument of the present article is the case of a 52 year-old male suffering from compulsive
disorders (cocaine addiction, gambling, kleptomania) since adolescence, with behavioural
and clinical features changing over time and poorly influenced by pharmacological
treatments.
At present the patient shows kleptomanic behaviour pharmacologically treated with antipsychotics,
antidepressants and anxiolytics. No specific treatment for compulsive spectrum
appears to have been effected along the clinical history of the patient.
In agreement with international literature, according to which Pathological Gambling, Kleptomania
and Substance Abuse share elements of both Obsessive-compulsive Disorder spectrum
and affective spectrum disorders, the authors hypothesized for the case a not specific
pharmacological treatment which might in time have led an evolution of the disorder symptoms
to other forms of Impulse Control Disorders, with severe implications for his social
dangerousness.
The analysis of the case suggests that a specifically targeted therapy, also included in the
general legal system organization, may be effective to contain such an evolution in patients
with Impulse Control Disorders.
Specific measures are thus needed for the rehabilitation of clinically similar subjects and for
the recovery of their mental functions and normal behaviour.