Seek help for stealing problem as soon as possible

Advertisement

Advertise with us

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I caught myself “waking up” after shoplifting again, and it was the smallest thing, not even worth $2. I don’t know why I do it, but it’s happening more often now that I’m under stress with big exams looming this year.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/07/2019 (2585 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I caught myself “waking up” after shoplifting again, and it was the smallest thing, not even worth $2. I don’t know why I do it, but it’s happening more often now that I’m under stress with big exams looming this year.

Can you help me understand this? I’m afraid to research on the computer and find out I’m a certified weirdo. Where can I go for private help? I don’t want to lose my dream career before I even graduate, but I don’t have much money.

— Scared Older Student, Manitoba 

Dear Student: Kleptomania is the recurrent inability to stop yourself from responding to urges to steal items you often don’t even need, or have little value — like the $2 item you stole. It’s still on the spectrum of impulse-control disorders. You need to see a psychiatrist or psychologist about this ASAP, as your education and career are in jeopardy and you seem to be “on edge” with pressure. 

Shoplifting can provide a bit of theatre, a distraction from other worries, a thrill or a feeling of winning a prize. As with any win at a video lottery terminal, one may feel momentarily “rewarded,” but shoplifting can cost you far more than that reward! 

Talk to your physician frankly and request a referral to a psychiatrist (covered by provincial health care, but there are lineups) or a recommendation to a good psychologist (you must pay for this yourself, but they may see you immediately).

You can phone a psychologist and make your own appointment privately.

 

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: This is for Too Much For These Eyes about the neighbour who wanders around his backyard at dusk in the nude. If this neighbour were as you suggest, an exhibitionist, I don’t believe he’d be waiting until dusk to be wandering around the yard in the buff. He’d simply do it in the light, where he’d be assured to be spotted by others.

He could well be a considerate and legitimate naturist who waits for dusk out of respect for his neighbours. He can’t wait for the skies to completely darken, as he wouldn’t be able to accomplish the gardening tasks he is undertaking. Perhaps he works a full day and then makes dinner and is not even able to tend to his yard until dusk.

To suggest that he is an exhibitionist getting a thrill from titillating his neighbours is an unjust assumption.

— Naturist Diva, Winnipeg

 

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: You were right on with your message to Ready to Blow (to let go of her outrageously flirting husband who rubs other women’s backs, sits too close and lavishes compliments on them). You suggested she consider leaving him before she has any babies with him. I agree, but she must get on it now! 

I lived with that kind of husband for many years. I changed from a confident, popular young woman to a pitiful wife who sat on the sidelines. He changed from an overly attentive boyfriend (I mistook it for love) to a “rooster in the henhouse” right after we were married. I became the housekeeper, not someone he wanted to be with.

Because of religious and economic situations, I stayed in the marriage.

I endured the circumstances by promising myself I’d leave him when the situation changed. Years later, after my nervous breakdown and professional counselling, he has changed to being a thoughtful husband. 

However, I still need to take medication to control the PTSD and nightmares from the past. My biggest regret is not dealing with it when it was happening.

— Been There, Winnipeg

Dear Been There: You’re still there. It’s not surprising you have PTSD when the guy who tortured you with his flirting is still in your life and sleeping in your bed. He may be more thoughtful now, but it’s like sleeping beside a physical abuser, even though he’s sworn he’ll be a nice guy. 

Why are you still with this man? If you are right now saying “because I love him,” you should know that some people we love are toxic to our health, and we can’t stay with them and expect to fully recover. 

Love does not trump emotional and mental health.

 

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6.

 

Miss Lonelyhearts

Miss Lonelyhearts
Advice Columnist

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Frustration mounts as drug raids sweep problems out of downtown, into West End

Scott Billeck 7 minute read Preview

Frustration mounts as drug raids sweep problems out of downtown, into West End

Scott Billeck 7 minute read Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

West End business owners say their neighbourhood has been under siege for months, and some believe downtown police drug sweeps have made things worse by pushing more street disorder in their direction — and pushing customers away.

Read
Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

Cool spots for more summer sweets

AV Kitching 3 minute read Preview

Cool spots for more summer sweets

AV Kitching 3 minute read 6:00 AM CDT

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream. Missed seeing your favourite ice cream joint in last month’s Chill Out feature? Cheer up: we’ve compiled our reader suggestions below.

Despite the cooler weather and slight drizzle, it’s still summer and there’s time to to grab a scoop or two of your favourite flavours. So what are you waiting for?

Living up to its name Not a Waffle (2-709 Corydon Avenue) serves ice creams not in traditional waffle cones but heaped into Japanese taiyaki, a fish-shaped sturdy cake. Ice cream flavours on offer include the ever-popular ube, sakura and matcha in soft serve and for hard scoops there are vanilla, chocolate brownie, cookie dough and something called heavenly heart, which is a chocolate and almond combo. The soft serves are on until October this year so there’s still time if you’d like to give this a try.

Our readers simply adore Dug & Betty’s (309 Rue Des Meurons) for their ice cream fix. Made in small batches, popular flavours include sour cherry and chocolate, strawberry balsamic honey and black pepper and lemon meringue pie. There are seven dairy-free options, including soy chocolate caramel cookie dough and oatmeal apple caramel crunch.

Read
6:00 AM CDT

Winnipeg team behind national LGBT monument spent six years bringing it to fruition

Nicole Buffie 4 minute read Preview

Winnipeg team behind national LGBT monument spent six years bringing it to fruition

Nicole Buffie 4 minute read Yesterday at 6:05 PM CDT

The Winnipeg team behind a national monument recognizing the LGBT Purge were in Ottawa to celebrate its official unveiling Friday.

Thunderhead is the work of local artists Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, Liz Wreford and Peter Sampson of Public City Architecture, and knowledge keeper Albert McLeod, who served as cultural adviser for the project.

The team beat out 31 international submissions for the project, which is permanently located at 201 Wellington St. in Ottawa along the Ottawa River, in view of Parliament.

“We are a beacon internationally around the world of what democracies can do about inclusion, about human rights,” McLeod said.

Read
Yesterday at 6:05 PM CDT

‘We got attacked’: Carney says retaliatory tariffs on U.S. to take effect next month

Catherine Morrison and David Baxter, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Preview

‘We got attacked’: Carney says retaliatory tariffs on U.S. to take effect next month

Catherine Morrison and David Baxter, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney says retaliatory tariffs will hit the U.S. starting next month after Canada walked away from what he called a "bad deal."

The U.S. introduced new 50 per cent tariffs on billions of dollars in Canadian exports on Saturday after trade talks failed.

"We got attacked," Carney told reporters on Parliament Hill Saturday when asked about the escalating trade war.

Carney suspended talks with the United States late Friday and summoned his negotiators back to Ottawa.

Read
Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026

Five Things: PM Carney explains why Canada left the U.S. negotiating table

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Five Things: PM Carney explains why Canada left the U.S. negotiating table

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026

OTTAWA - Canada is preparing to hit the U.S. with dollar-for-dollar tariffs in response to new 50 per cent duties on $28 billion worth of Canadian products that took effect when talks between the two nations collapsed as negotiations neared the finish line. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney was quiet publicly during the final days of negotiations, but now has now explained his rationale for telling the Canadian negotiating team, led by Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and chief negotiator Janice Charette, to leave the table.

Restrictions on further trade deals

"The U.S. Introduced at the last hours, in the last hours, efforts to restrict our ability to have other trade deals. You heard me say a moment ago, what we've accomplished in the past year, 20 new deals, economic and security partnerships, the prospect of doubling our market access because we believe in free trade. We're the partner of choice in many respects for countries around the world and the Americans wanted to restrict that. They had language that what they wanted to restrict that, unacceptable," Carney said during a press conference on Parliament Hill.

Read
Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026

Senior’s family frustrated by Manitoba Housing’s response to apartment’s bedbug infestation

Malak Abas 5 minute read Preview

Senior’s family frustrated by Manitoba Housing’s response to apartment’s bedbug infestation

Malak Abas 5 minute read 6:00 AM CDT

The family of a senior who left his Manitoba Housing apartment after two years of bedbug infestations is accusing the provincial body of being ineffectual and irresponsible in its treatment of the persistent pests.

The senior had lived at the Columbus Courts building at 253 Edgeland Blvd., since 2011, but when he began getting severe skin rashes all over his body about two years ago, his son began to worry.

They found out the 14-storey building was being sprayed for bedbugs after an infestation had impacted several units. After multiple rounds of pesticide treatments, the problem has not subsided, the son told the Free Press.

“They come in, they spray pesticides and then they leave. And it’s been completely ineffectual,” he said. “My dad keeps seeing the bedbugs even the day after the treatments and continuously, they’ve just gotten worse and worse.”

Read
6:00 AM CDT