RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Commentary: Stalking by Patients—Psychiatrists' Tales of Anger, Lust and Ignorance
JF Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
JO J Am Acad Psychiatry Law
FD American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
SP 200
OP 205
VO 41
IS 2
A1 Michele T. Pathé
A1 J. Reid Meloy
YR 2013
UL http://jaapl.org/content/41/2/200.abstract
AB Stalking is a thriving social and criminal concern and a risk inherent in our personal and professional lives. Health care professionals, particularly psychiatrists and other mental health practitioners, are vulnerable to being stalked by their patients and, far from providing helpful insights that discourage the behavior, their training can be a hindrance. Neither a psychiatrist's gender nor seniority confers protection from the protracted vengeance or infatuation of a patient-turned-stalker, any more than does working through the transference and soldiering on. The ensuing social, psychological, and vocational damage can, however, be minimized through early recognition, informed advice, and the support, not censure, of our colleagues.