Introduction

Being stalked is a relatively common experience in today's world, with lifetime rates ranging between 10% and 25% depending on the definitions employed (e.g., Budd and Mattinson, 2000; Purcell et al., 2002; Tjaden and Thoennes, 1998). Mental health professionals, in addition to sharing the risks of the rest of the community, have a substantial additional probability of being stalked by their patients and clients (Galeazzi et al., 2005; Purcell et al., 2005). Episodes of stalking fall into two broad types: brief intense episodes of harassment typically only lasting a few days and perpetrated predominantly by strangers, and extended periods of stalking usually lasting for months, or even years, and most frequently involving pursuit predominantly by an ex-partner or acquaintance (Purcell et al., 2004). The stalking of mental health professionals by their patients unfortunately usually falls into the second pattern, which is more extended, and far more socially and psychologically damaging.

The heightened vulnerability of the mental health professional derives from both the nature of some of those they seek to treat and the nature of the therapeutic relationship itself. Falling victim to stalking by a patient or a client is not usually the product of therapeutic ineptitude but is a risk inherent in almost all forms of mental health treatment. You may be able to reduce the risks of being stalked, and you can certainly learn to reduce the damage you suffer and the patient-turned-stalker suffers, but the only way for a therapist to guarantee they will never be stalked is to avoid seeing patients.