Got a Stalker? I Do.
Have you ever seen the movie Swimfan? The following is from the Wikipedia entry for stalking: Psychologists tend to group stalkers into two categories: psychotic and nonpsychotic. Many stalkers have pre-existing psychotic disorders such as delusional disorder, schizoaffective disorder, or schizophrenia. Most stalkers are nonpsychotic and exhibit disorders such as major depression, adjustment disorder, or substance dependence, as well as a variety of Axis II personality disorders, such as antisocial, avoidant, borderline, dependent, narcissistic, or paranoid. The nonpsychotic stalkers’ pursuit of victims can be influenced by various psychological factors, including anger and hostility, projection of blame, obsession, dependency, minimization and denial, and jealousy.
In “A Study of Stalkers,” Mullen et al (2000) identify six types of stalkers:
Rejected stalkers: pursue their victims in order to reverse, correct, or avenge a rejection (e.g. divorce, separation, termination). Resentful stalkers: pursue a vendetta because of a sense of grievance against the victims - motivated mainly by the desire to frighten and distress the victim. Intimacy seekers: The intimacy seeker seeks to establish an intimate, loving relationship with their victim. To them, the victim is a long sought-after soul mate, and they were meant to be together. Eroto-manic stalker: This stalker believes that the victim is in love with them. The erotomaniac reinterprets what their victim says and does to support the delusion, and is convinced that the imagined romance will eventually become a permanent union. They often target a celebrity or a person of a higher social status (though it is important to note, not all celebrity stalkers are erotomaniacs). Incompetent suitor: despite poor social/courting skills, possess a sense of entitlement to an intimate relationship with those who have attracted their amorous interest. Predatory stalker: spy on the victim in to prepare and plan an attack - usually sexual - on the victim.
The 2002 National Victim Association Academy define an additional form of stalking. The Terrorism stalker also known as the political stalker, uses stalking as a means to accomplish a political agenda, often by using threats and intimidation to force their target to refrain and/or become involved in some particular activity, regardless of the victim’s consent.
Many stalkers fit categories with paranoid disorders. Intimacy-seeking stalkers often have delusional disorders that are secondary to preexisting psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. With rejected stalkers, the continual clinging to a relationship of an inadequate or dependent person couples with the entitlement of the narcissistic personality, and the persistent jealousy of the paranoid personality. In contrast, resentful stalkers demonstrate an almost - pure culture of persecution, - with delusional disorders of the paranoid type, paranoid personalities, and paranoid schizophrenia.
Gender Studies in Stalking Pathology
Most stalkers are male, but women can also be stalkers. The demographic characteristics of the male and female stalkers do not differ, although more male stalkers report a history of criminal offenses and more report substance abuse. The psychiatric status of male and female stalkers do not otherwise differ. The duration of the time invested in stalking and the frequency of associated violence were equivalent between male and female stalkers. Women are more likely to target someone they have known such as a professional contact, and are more likely to target other females. Men, on the other hand, do not usually target other men. Women are also much less likely to target a stranger.
In “A Study of Women Who Stalk”, by Purcell, Pathé and Mullen, the authors concluded that the two major psychiatric variables that differentiate female from male stalkers is motivation for stalking and choice of victim. Female stalkers seek intimacy with the victim, who usually is someone already known. The victim is most often chosen from those who assume a professional role of helper. This could be a doctor or nurse, a therapist or counselor. Context was found to differ, but the conclusion was the intrusiveness and harmfulness did not. In other words, female stalkers are potentially as dangerous as any male stalker. A Study of Women Who Stalk. AJP 2001
I think more studies should be done on female stalkers and the public should be made more aware of this growing epidemic of the female stalker. It is my belief that victims of female stalkers whether they are male or female are in most cases not taken seriously. I am a 38 yr old female and I was a victim of a female stalker for almost a year. Most people have the unfortunate privilege to know who is stalking them; my stalker chose to use some creepy voice disguiser box with the intent of scaring me. Therefore I didn’t know who it was that was behind my harassment. It was like something straight out of CSI or some crime fighting TV show. She would call me all day long, morning, noon and night. This didn’t go on for a day or two this went on for months on end, both at home and at work. I would get my number changed and thanks to her knowing how to do background checks she would find out what my new number was. Pray that you will never know what it feels like to have an anonymous caller with a voice disguiser calling you day in and day out, saying things like “I’ll be waiting for you when you get home,†or “I saw you the other day.†Using words like “Bitch,†or “Slut,†to name a few. The phone company was unable to track her calls, but she was soon caught. We eventually found out that my then boyfriend, son’s mother was behind all of the psychotic phone calls. I never met her; never spoke to her didn’t even know who she was. My ex spoke of her a couple of times, but other than that we never talked about her. Not one time did this woman ever call and harass him with her voice disguiser, all of her anger, hatred and aggression was targeted towards me. They had been apart for two years and he did have other relationships before him and I met, but nothing serious. I guess once she saw that him and I were getting serious she couldn’t take it. Even though, I never met her and never talked to her, I think because we were two females it was easy for her lawyer to present the case as two silly women fighting over a man, in short “baby momma drama†and less like me being the victim of a female stalker. So not only did I have to go through this very traumatic experience with her, but I felt like I was being victimized yet again in court. She would go ballistic to see my boyfriend and I appear in court together. One time in court she came and sat next to us and followed us each time we changed our seats. (We changed our seats three times.) She did this right underneath everybody noses. I had to get the bailiff make her stop following us.
She was the resentful stalker type all the way.
Some people think that female stalkers are just being bullies and that they are not going through mental problems. A lot of women and men sympathize with female stalkers, because they always feel like the man had to be cheating in order for someone to do the things that a female stalker does. How fare is that type of thinking to the victim? Nobody deserves to be harassed by anyone.