The Psychological impacts of stalking on the victim and their families Dissertation

The Psychological impacts of stalking on the victim and their families - Dissertation Example It includes behaviour like following the person, waiting and watching the person’s home, workplace or other places, unwanted direct or indirect communication with the person. Other than this, being stared by another person or messages left on social networking sites can also build the feeling of being stalked (NSW Police Force, 2008). Stalking causes the victims to fear their own safety or the safety of those people who are close to them. Stalking can be targeted towards a single person, their friends, family or even their co-workers as well. Some of the stalking crimes include other crimes such as assault, criminal damage, criminal trespass, attempt to murder etc. In this paper, the statistics and the psychological impact of the stalking is discussed on the victims and their families. Statistics It is found that in Germany that almost 12% of the respondents have been stalked. This rate has shown a significant rise amongst women (17 %), than men (4 %). If we see the ratio of v ictims, 87% of the stalking victims were women while 86 % of the men were stalkers (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2010). The general trend of the study shows that all the female victims, 91%, were stalked by a man. However, in case of the male victims, the proportion of male and female stalkers was equal (44 %). These results indicate that in male, same–gender stalking is a significant problem. In women only 14 % of such cases have come to notice (Pathe & Mullen, 1997) As a psychological impact, the victims also experience changes in lifestyle. As a psychological symptom, 56 % of the victims have reported agitation. The percentage of experiencing anxiety is 44%; while around 41% of the victims experience sleep disturbance. Whereas 35% feels nausea and 28% encounter depression (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2010). Another study conducted in Australia shows that stalking shows adverse effect on the victim. 83 % of the victim suffered from anxiety, 74 % has experienced sleep ing disorder and the percentage of fatigue is 53 %. The people who have suffered from appetite disturbance and suicidal thoughts were 45 % and 24 % respectively. Moreover, 40 % people have also suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and 18 % experience actual or threatened physical harm. Other than this, many of the victim has complained about the headaches, indigestion, and nausea however the percentage is not significant (Pathe, 1997). Psychological impact Among the known way of intimidation, the most common method is loitering nearby and unwanted telephone calls. It is also noted that the victims also ran a risk of being physically injured. Few of the cases experience assaults involving physical restraint, or hitting or beating with objects. Other than this, the victims of stalkers experience sexual assaults as well (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2010). Living with stalking can be extremely frightening and can have a profound impact on the lives of the family. In case, the mal e member of the family is stalked, the effects on women’s life get adverse. For men, the reason behind stalking women is to have or maintain control and power over the women, or maybe her friends, family or children (End Stalking in America, 2011). The wife of the stalker may feel isolated or alone. In case the stalker is