Stalking of the Mental Health Professional: Reducing Risk and Managing Stalking Behavior by Patients

Stalking is a prevalent issue that is often underreported and underdiscussed both in the general population and in clinical settings. Among mental health professionals, 6%-11% of providers will be stalked by a patient during their career. Stalking has a considerable negative impact on both the personal and professional lives of these individuals that is compounded by systemic and individual factors. Many health care organizations lack well-defined procedures on how to manage stalking, and mental health professionals have been found to have minimal training in how to address stalking behavior. Ethical guidelines across multiple health care disciplines emphasize avoiding harm and maintaining patient confidentiality. Although state licensing boards allow exceptions to confidentiality as mandated or permitted by law, these state laws may offer little protection to the mental health professional being stalked by his or her patient. Failing to address stalking behaviors could be detrimental to both current and future providers as well as preventing the stalker from receiving modification of problematic behavior. General models of stalking management have been offered in the past, but few address the specific challenges associated with the stalking of mental health professionals by their patients. The authors present 2 vignettes to demonstrate the common management challenges of these cases. The authors propose a dual pathway, 3-tiered model of stalking management that adopts a public health approach to guide interventions both on the individual provider and systemic level. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.