NEW ORLEANS—Being followed, approached, and harassed by unwanted phone calls, letters, or even gifts makes people feel exposed, threatened, and powerless. Stalking violates boundaries of personal space. Anyone potentially is at risk. People who are stalked often drastically alter many aspects of their daily lives. They may take different routes to and from work each day. Some leave their jobs because their stalker’s behavior disrupts their own and others’ work. They may curtail going to movies, religious services, and other public events. Some move to another city or country, diminishing contact with families and friends. Some develop anxiety disorders and increase their drinking and smoking. One in three is physically and/or sexually assaulted by the stalker. One in four ruminates about or attempts suicide. A few have been murdered. Despite these grim costs, such people often believe they must have done something to provoke the stalker, and do not tell others. A team of Australian psychiatric researchers advises those who are stalked to report stalking, protect themselves, get police involved, and seek counseling. Paul Mullen, DSc, Michelle Pathe, MBBS, FRANZCP , and Rosemary Purcell, MPsych, of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health, Fairfield, Victoria (http://www.forensicare.vic .gov.au/), described the psychological and social impact of stalking, outlined a typology of stalkers, and provided guidelines for clinicians working with both those who are stalked and stalkers at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) here in May. Mullen, Pathe, and Purcell received the Manfred S. Guttmacher Award from the APA and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law for their contribution to forensic psychiatry literature. They are coauthors of Stalkers and Their Victims (Cambridge University Press, 2000). The term “stalking” once applied only to hunters, Mullen said in accepting the award. Journalists took up the term only a decade ago to describe overzealous pursuit of celebrities by deranged fans. Such behavior was no novelty, though. John Hinckley shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981, allegedly to gain attention from movie star Jodie Foster, whom he had hounded for years. Mullen’s group defines stalking as repeated intrusive contacts and/or communications that instill fear or distress in another person. Stalkers may phone the objects of their attention hundreds of times a day, send a deluge of letters, e-mail, or faxes, or leave notes attached to the person’s car or other property. Some follow those they stalk and loiter nearby. Some go further, scratching their initials on the person’s car, slashing tires, or making death threats. Some spread malicious gossip. Some order unwanted goods to be delivered to the person they are hounding, such as a pizza at 2 AM or magazine subscriptions. They may cancel the person’s electric service. Some send unsolicited gifts, from the mundane (flowers) to the menacing (dead animals). Some stalkers initiate spurious legal action, claiming that those they are harassing have harassed them. Such strikes, Mullen said, increase the person’s feeling of vulnerability. Indeed, people who are stalked use terms such as “emotional rape” and “psychological terrorism” to describe their predicament. Stalkers most often are male, unemployed, and not in current relationships, Mullen said, almost the reverse of their typical prey. Stalkers come from all socioeconomic classes. One stalker Mullen saw was a socially inept psychiatrist who lavished unwanted attention on a professional colleague of whom he became enamored. In 45% of some 400 stalking cases Mullen and colleagues have studied, harassment occupied 2 intense days and abated in about 2 weeks. In the rest, stalking persisted for 6 months or longer on average, sometimes for years. Short-term harassment usually involves strangers, Mullen said, while longer stalking episodes typically involve prior intimates, casual acquaintances, and work associates. A report on these findings is in preparation.