A review on the stalking of mental health professionals by patients, prevention and management issues.

Objective: Stalking is a behavioral pattern characterized by persistent unwanted attentions, communications and contacts, which cause distress, fear, and frequent psychological damage to victims. Mental health professionals have been hypothesized to be at particular risk of stalking by patients. This paper reviews available literature about the issue of stalking of mental health professionals by patients.Method: Review of literature from Medline and Psychinfo database from January 1990 to May 2006.Results: Research on this topic is still scarce and different operational definitions used hinder comparisons across studies. Despite these methodological problems, eight published surveys confirm that there is a high rate of professional victimization - more than 10% across different roles in mental health- which may be higher for younger professionals. No published prevention or intervention studies were found.Conclusions: Results highlight the need for information, training, and clear intervention guidelines on stalking by patients. Low threshold for intervention, firm limit setting, early involvement of and discussion with colleagues, institutional responses for increasing the safety of workers, referral to police, and legal action are advised in addressing risk of stalking by patients. Research on effectiveness of training to prevent stalking and on management strategies is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]