Mental health professionals more likely to be stalked

Mental health professionals are up to five times as likely to be stalked as the general population -- yet they are probably the least likely to seek help, researchers say.

Researchers at the University of Auckland are about to begin a study to investigate the prevalence of stalking in New Zealand.

The study's co-leader, Professor Frances Hughes, of the School of Nursing, said the study would focus on the two groups most at risk of stalking -- university students and mental health clinicians.

Studies in the United States show clinicians are the biggest target, with 36.9 per cent reporting they had been stalked, while around 11.9 per cent of students were affected, compared with 5 per cent of the general population .

Women are stalked more often than men.

Prof Hughes said stalking was defined as behaviour by one individual to another, which instilled fear into that person and goes on for a long period a time.

It was different to one-off instances of harassment.

"This is a relationship -- if you want to call it that -- goes on for a long period of time, and the person doesn't back off when the victim becomes aware of it and asks them to stop.

"In fact, the harassment often increases in frequency and seriousness over time, until the victim shows physical signs of stress and fear."

Prof Hughes, leading the survey of health professionals through the Australia New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and the College of Mental Health Nurses, said those surveyed would be tested on their responses to different scenarios.

"Clinicians are of particular interest, not only because they may have been victims themselves, but because they are often required to treat perpetrators and victims," she said.

But because clinicians were used to dealing with "uncharacteristic behaviour" in their jobs on a daily basis, they tended to be more tolerant of potential stalkers.

"They often put up with things under the guise of saying 'These people are mentally ill and this is what they do', rather than seeing it for what it is, so they delay getting assistance from police and others."

Even when clinicians recognised a client's behaviour as stalking, it appeared they were reluctant to get help, as they felt they should be able to deal with it, or that it was "an expected part of their job", Prof Hughes said.

Stalking is not a classified mental illness, although research is being done in Australia on the issue.

Disorders such as schizophrenia or some form of dementia and an emotional real-life trigger are often factors, but the common denominator seems to be a lonely or socially incompetent individual.

However, Prof Hughes said stalking did not always go hand-in-hand with a particular personality type.

"What we do know is there's a relationship between early experiences and psychological behaviour, such as abuse and bullying -- and we'll be testing that out in this study."

Overseas studies show that stalking is on the rise, perhaps due to media coverage and access to new technologies.

"A recent Australian study found 25 per cent of respondents reported having been stalked, with victims suffering a range of negative effects -- both social and economic," she said.

Similar results have been recorded in studies in the United States and the United Kingdom.

"People do talk about it more -- you just have to open a newspaper to read about some film star going to court because someone is stalking them, movies and television programmes are full of them.

"But also we now have cyberspace and texting, so it's very easy to get in someone's space without actually having to go face-to-face with them."

Stalkers do tend to make stalking "their work", she said.

There is no anti-stalking legislation in New Zealand, and much of the research around the world has been "piecemeal", she says.

The New Zealand research will contribute toward an international study on the prevalence of stalking, including the UK, the US and Canada..

Associate Professor Robyn Dixon, the director of the Centre for Child and Family Policy Research, leads the student component of the study.

She said international research indicated stalking was "a significant problem" for young people and appeared to be increasing.

The particular social mix, close proximity of living and heady hormonal flux of universities appeared to make the environment particularly congenial to stalkers.

- NZPA