Stalking
(from the English stalking, pronounced “stocking” - pursuit) - unwanted intrusive attention to one person from another person or group of people. Stalking is a form of harassment and intimidation; As a rule, it is expressed in stalking the victim, tracking her.
Typical stalker behavior includes persistent phone calls and telephone harassment, sending unwanted gifts, stalking and spying, unwanted email and other forms of online harassment, and threatening or intimidating behavior.
It should not be confused with stalking as a type of industrial tourism, which consists in exploring little-studied/abandoned places that can be dangerous to human health and life; in this context stalker
- someone who is passionate about searching and exploring little-known, often life-threatening places and who is a guide to such places.
Alexandra's story
Three years ago, the founder of the How to Green project, Alexandra Novikova, began receiving messages on social networks from an unfamiliar man. At first, she didn’t see anything suspicious in this - the subscriber was interested in a healthy lifestyle and nutrition. She answered all his questions, but he continued to write her messages and leave comments. Alexandra explained to the stranger that she was uncomfortable when a stranger bombarded her with messages. But the subscriber only became more active: when she blocked him, he created new accounts and continued to leave comments. This began to happen every day.
“Then he started writing me emails,” says Sasha. – All this lasted for about a year, emails came every day. He talked about how he was planning our life together. Then he wrote that he had arrived in Moscow, and began to tell me every day what was waiting for me in the restaurant.”
When Alexandra went on vacation with her family, the stalker suddenly disappeared - emails from him stopped coming. Sasha sighed calmly. One day, when she was having lunch with her family, an unfamiliar young man approached the table and invited her for coffee. It turned out that it was Mikhail (name changed at the request of the heroine) - her pursuer. He identified Alexandra by geolocation and came to the island where she was vacationing. “Mom didn’t understand at first why I was so scared,” says Sasha. “She thought I was making a big deal out of a mountain.” But then I showed her the emails from this person, and she realized that his behavior was a really big problem for me.”
Alexandra's father forced Mikhail to leave and asked him never to come again. That night Sasha slept in the same room with her mother - she was scared and expected anything from her pursuer. In Moscow, he again tried to meet the girl. She contacted the police, but they told her that they could not do anything: there were no direct threats from the young man. “His emails became more and more frightening, he began to write not only to me, but also to dad,” says Sasha. “And I couldn’t do anything about it.” As far as I know, the situation resolved itself - the young man ended up in a psychiatric clinic. I haven’t heard anything about him for a couple of years.”
What are the causes of persecutory delusions and how is it related to other mental illnesses?
The etiology of the disorder is not precisely known. It is assumed that delusional ideas may be a consequence of such phenomena as: • genetic predisposition; • disturbances in the functioning of the central nervous system associated with mental illness; • psychological trauma (negative family environment, social problems, etc.); • constant stress with excessive nervous tension. • alcohol, drug or drug poisoning; • organic brain damage (Alzheimer's disease, cerebral atherosclerosis, traumatic brain injury, tumors, etc.); Most experts believe that persecution mania comes from childhood, when the psyche is formed under the influence of various negative socio-psychological factors. Among them, the most common causes of the disorder are the following: • Any type of intimidation of children, even with the best intentions. For example, instead of simply explaining why you can’t take anything from strangers or go somewhere with them, parents often scare the child with scary stories and examples. It sounds like a rhyme from a Soviet film: “A terrible-looking monster grabbed an unfortunate child!” Maintaining this childhood fear can naturally develop into a persecution mania in the future, when the already grown-up child will be wary and wary not only of unfamiliar strangers, but also of those with whom he is forced to communicate closely. Naturally, this will not contribute to his development and career growth. • Ignoring children's fears, when adults do not pay enough attention and leave without elaboration the facts that caused fear in the child. • Viewing content that does not comply with age restrictions. Adult “horror” films, action films and bloody scenes can cause irreparable harm to an unstable child’s psyche. • Acts of violence or assault experienced in childhood, when the child is a witness or even a victim of a crime and is unable to resist. The violent death of relatives or friends is especially sensitive to him. • Unfair or false accusations of offenses that the child did not commit. • Staying in places of deprivation or restriction of freedom.
The majority of the scientific medical community considers delusions of persecution not as an independent disease, but as a syndrome characteristic of various diseases. But in some cases, persecutory mania can also be an isolated delusional disorder with more severe symptoms. Quite interesting are cases of induced delusions, when symptoms of persecutory mania occur in two interrelated subjects, but in fact only one of them suffers from it.
Statistics most often associate persecutory mania with the following diseases: • Schizophrenia, for which persecutory delusions are considered the most common type of schizophrenic delusion. In this case, the delusion has a systematic character, logically linked to the surrounding reality. The only thing that gives him away is the obsession of the idea and the change in self-awareness with the formation of a new “I”. In addition, subsequently the picture of delusion becomes more complicated and expanded due to emotional reactions to imaginary hints, ridicule, and bullying. And one more thing - the intellect does not suffer during persecution mania in schizophrenics. • Paranoid syndrome and paranoia. • Epilepsy in children, which is accompanied not only by seizures, but by psychoneurological personality changes - egocentrism, self-absorption, exaggerated attention to one’s health, fear, cruelty and aggression. Children with epileptics are characterized by sleep disturbances, disorientation, psychosensory disorders, and changes in sensations. Against this background, paranoid delusions of persecution with hallucinations and frightening fantasies are often formed. • Alcohol poisoning, so-called alcohol paranoid. It is characterized by unsystematized delirium with illusions (hallucinations) of images of murderers, maniacs, spies, agents, enemies, etc. • Drug intoxication.
When several mental illnesses are combined, delusional states and overvalued ideas may overlap. An example is the combination of alcoholic psychosis with a paranoid form of schizophrenia. In this case, even sensory hallucinations are possible. For example, with the idea of infection, the patient physically feels the penetration of microbes through the skin, nose or mouth, and with the obsession of poisoning - a burning sensation, a suspicious smell and taste. As a result, the mania's plot becomes more complex and poorly structured.
A connection between delusional ideas and organic brain lesions - atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, tumors, injuries or strokes of the limbic system - has also been revealed.
Social Network Designer
This specialist designs the group cover, logo and menu banner in the same style. The visual part of the content is important to make it convenient for subscribers to use the community. The design is suitable for you if you are a creative person and like to work with pictures and photographs in Photoshop.
This activity can lead to more serious tasks. For example, after gaining experience, you can design websites or switch to graphic design. You can learn basic skills using Photoshop video tutorials. If you devote a full 8-hour day to work, you can earn about $450.
What does spying on a partner lead to?
Even if we discard radical options - you hacked someone else's account and read correspondence, and you were caught doing it - stalking your exes does not end well. After a breakup, it's completely normal to grieve a little, but sooner or later you need to leave the ended relationship in the past and move on.
And when you check the social networks of your ex-lover, it’s as if you are reopening a wound that has begun to heal over and over again.
And you yourself are preventing yourself from forgetting this person. The study showed J. Fox, RS Tokunaga. Romantic partner monitoring after breakups: Attachment, dependence, distress, and post-dissolution online surveillance via social networking sites / Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking that those who often visit the pages of their exes experience the breakup more painfully and take longer to start new relationships.
Consequences for victims of stalking [edit | edit code]
According to surveys, as a result of stalking, victims experience fear and anxiety, begin to suffer from panic attacks, nightmares, insomnia, and depression [1] [3]. Victims may also suffer economic losses associated with decreased ability to work, forced purchase of goods for self-defense, forced change of job or even place of residence [3] .
In the case of stalking by a former partner, the stalking is often accompanied by physical violence, including the murder of the victim. According to the 1998 US National Survey on Violence Against Women, three-quarters of female victims who were stalked by their intimate partners were also physically abused by the partner [3]. Another study found that 76% of women who were killed by a partner or ex-partner were stalked by their killers in the 12 months before the murder [4] .
What to do if you are being stalked
If you have a stalker, getting rid of him can be very difficult. In many countries, stalking is considered an offense - that is, the moment a person starts harassing you with intrusive calls and messages, you can already contact the police. In Russia, stalking is not considered an offense. Often, after talking about the stalker, the victim may receive a comment in the spirit of: “You’re just being flirty, you like attention.”
You can involve the police if the stalker begins to threaten you with physical harm: this already falls under Article 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Therefore, it is better to record the pursuer’s calls on a voice recorder and save the screenshots. True, you can use audio and video recordings in court only in one case - if you warn the offender in advance that your conversation is being recorded.
Even if the stalker is not threatening you, it is better to tell all your friends and acquaintances about what is happening: save screenshots, record conversations, report on social networks that you are being stalked. And, although stalking is not a crime, it makes sense to still write a statement to the police - law enforcement agencies will be required to conduct an investigation, and perhaps this will scare off the stalker.
Tags: stalking social networks
Surveillance or stalking
“In 2011, a young man met me on the Internet,” says Lena. “He was a couple of years younger, not my type at all.” In general, I immediately tried to make him understand that I was not interested in a romantic relationship.” Nevertheless, Lena continued to correspond with the young man - she talked with him about music and common interests. One day he asked her to meet, and she decided: “Why not? It's just a friendly walk."
But it turned out that her new acquaintance thought completely differently. Before a personal meeting, he asked Lena for her mobile phone number - “so as not to get lost on the spot.” After that, he began to write and call her every day, trying to ask too personal questions. Then he began to write to Lena’s friends, asking about her, describing to them his sexual fantasies associated with the girl. “I got really scared,” she says. “My friends and I blocked him, but he created new fake accounts and wrote from them.”
The last time the stalker got in touch was in 2021 - he sent Lena a video of BDSM porn (as usual, from a new account). Then she limited the ability to send her private messages. After this, the young man wrote to Lenin’s husband. He sent him a whole folder with photographs - these were the pictures that were on Lena’s avatar in 2010–2012. “I myself deleted these photos a long time ago and forgot about their existence,” says Lena. “And suddenly it turned out that someone had been storing them on their computer for years.” Lena and her husband changed their privacy settings on social networks, and since then the stalker has not bothered them. Lena never enters into correspondence with strangers again.
“When a person begins to take active actions, this can already be called stalking, or stalking,” says Grigory Misyutin. – The observer turns into a pursuer. If initially he wanted to get as close as possible to someone else’s life, now this is not enough for him - he wants to somehow influence someone else’s life, to see a response. And every time he gets a reaction, it gets him even more excited.” According to Misyutin, people usually become stalkers not because of a good life - often it is a way to fill the emptiness, to create for oneself the illusion of having a relationship and human intimacy. This happens to people who are unable to build real relationships. “The pursuers themselves may think that they are suffering from love,” explains Misyutin. - But this is not love. This is a desire for control and filling a void. If one day you suddenly catch yourself obsessively following other people's social networks, ask yourself: “Why am I doing this? What do I want to get as a result? It might be worth discussing this with a specialist before regular surfing on social networks turns into a real problem.”
