Fatal attraction syndrome: stalking behavior and borderline personality

Stalking, which consists of chronic nuisance behaviors by an offender that result in deleterious emotional and/or physical effects on a victim, is experienced by a significant minority of individuals in the community. According to the United States Department of Justice, eight percent of women and two percent of men have been victimized at some time in their lives by stalkers. Stalking could be viewed as an illogical or irrational preoccupation with another individual. Because of the unusual and intense attachment dynamics in borderline personality disorder, this diagnosis is particularly suggestive among stalkers. In this edition of The Interface, we examine the possible association between stalking behavior and borderline personality disorder. Five studies report prevalence rates of borderline personality disorder among stalkers, with four reporting rates between 4 and 15 percent (i.e., a small minority). However, three of these studies represent forensic populations and one consists of patients who stalked their psychiatrists. In contrast, in the remaining sample of stalkers, where being charged with a crime was not an inclusion criterion, the prevalence of borderline personality disorder was considerably higher at 45 percent. These data suggest that in less forensically focused samples of stalkers, rates of borderline personality are likely to be substantially higher, but confirmatory data is lacking.