Neuropsychological underpinnings of stalking

We often use the word ‘stalking’ very loosely. For us, going through the social media profiles(s) of an ex-partner, an estranged friend or a future partner is stalking. It is a natural desire to look through the social media profile of a new acquaintance or an old friend to know where they are (in life), what they are doing and how much they’ve changed.

For many of us, the motivation and emotion here is to find out more about this individual in a limited time with minimum effort. For a work peer, we'd go through their profile to know what the individual is like outside of work. For a potential partner, this "stalking" would be to understand their interests, what they value, what are their likes and dislikes, etc. The end outcome is neutral here. For many people, this is not intended to harm the other (whom we stalk).

But what about those instances where someone has stalked us with the intention of harm or where the initial intention was not harm but because of our reaction (not being acceptable to them), it turned into a very frightening situation? 

APA (American Psychological Association) defines stalking as- “a pattern of following or observing a person in an obsessional, intrusive, or harassing manner”. The prime motivation for stalking is a failed intimate relationship with another person or a public figure (caused by erotic delusion). As with any behaviour, there would be multiple confounding variables for the behaviour to emerge, but the underlying element is the prevalence of psychopathy. This can easily escalate to extreme life-threatening situations. Some researchers have tried to understand the neural basis for stalking.

Through fMRI studies, it was found that stalking behaviour linked to romantic love is linked to heightened activity of the subcortical dopaminergic pathways of the brain’s reward system coupled with low activity of central serotonin. This is likely to correlate with increased focused attention, increased energy, stalking behaviour, obsession and impulsivity. The patterns of behaviours seem to draw parallels with the stages of addiction. Marazziti et al. (2015) indicate- “The serotonergic system inhibits the activity of the amygdala and several other cortical areas when its level of functioning is reduced, the likelihood of impulse responses increases, as it happens in lovers and in stalkers. Since the serotonergic and dopaminergic systems interact through negative feedback, when the activity of one reduces, the activity of the other increases, so that low central serotonergic activity provokes high activity of dopaminergic pathways and vice versa”.

Anger towards the victim of stalking can cause physical harm apart from psychological distress. The underlying desire is to cause pain to those who have caused pain. This behaviour can again be linked to low serotonergic and high dopaminergic levels.

Jealousy is another motivator for stalking. In an fMRI study on jealousy, men and women tend to engage different parts of their brains.

According to existing literature, there are no significant differences in stalking across genders. However, female-perpetrated stalking is often taken less seriously considering socio-cultural biases and violent act statistics that males perpetrate more violent crimes/offences as compared to females. In reality, female stalkers can pose the same level of violent risk, but this risk can be perceived as non-threatening. There is less literature available on female offenders. 

Female offenders are likely to be diagnosed with a mood disorder, while male offenders are more likely to be diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and males are likely to show a history of intimate-partner violence.

Interventions for stalking offenders involve around:

1. Helping them understand the seriousness of their behaviour.
2. Impact of stalking behaviour on the offender and victim.
3. Developing appropriate coping mechanisms.

Treatment is often seen to be multi-channel, where clinicians and law enforcement work together.

References:

Stefanska EB, Longpré N, Harriman RS. The Wheel of Change Moves On: Assessing the Severity of Stalking Behavior. J Interpers Violence. 2022 Aug;37(15-16):NP14672-NP14694. doi: 10.1177/08862605211015216. Epub 2021 May 8. PMID: 33966536.

McEwan TE, Strand S. The role of psychopathology in stalking by adult strangers and acquaintances. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 2013;47(6):546-555. doi:10.1177/0004867413479408

Meloy JR, Fisher H. Some thoughts on the neurobiology of stalking. J Forensic Sci. 2005 Nov;50(6):1472-80. PMID: 16382848.

ARTICOLO, C. U. Stalking: a neurobiological perspective.

Thompson, C. M., Dennison, S. M., & Stewart, A. (2012). Are female stalkers more violent than male stalkers? Understanding gender differences in stalking violence using contemporary sociocultural beliefs. Sex Roles, 66, 351-365.

Disclaimer: This is a blog curated by referencing multiple research articles and other articles available in the public domain. The author doesn’t claim of conducting independent research on the given topic.