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Stalking

  We have all heard of sexual harassment, which usually may occur only at the workplace and is seen as yet another form of assertion of power over an individual.

Stalking is slightly more complex and refers to the unwanted and often torturous attention given to a certain individual by another person or even group of people. The National Centre for Victims of Crime in the USA states that “in reality, any undesirable encounter between two people which, directly or indirectly threatens one of the two, can be considered stalking”.

Some well-known cases of stalking involve a famous person, often an actor. But it is actually quite common, usually caused by the psychotic behaviour of the stalker and often ending in a compulsive, and at times horrifying reality for the victim.

The stalker (who is not necessarily a man, but in recorded cases seems to usually be one), thinks that his victim is in love with him or needs help from some imaginary threat.

Apart from the constant efforts to communicate, which go beyond the acceptable social norms, the stalker threatens or uses violence.

Stalking is a form of psychological attack, during which the assailant intrudes into the victim’s life, with actions that may not individually be anything unusual or illegal, but seen all together as a pattern of behaviour, constitute a psychological assault upon the victim.

There are usually two kinds of stalker: psychotic and non-psychotic. Even though the former involves individuals who are obviously mentally ill, the latter is quite common and includes people with personality disorders, various neuroses, and other psychological factors.

Greek society has not yet had to deal with such problematic behaviour on a vast scale, but unfortunately the sharp rise of such phaenomena means we will rapidly have to adapt to this new reality.

Our agency, in collaboration with associates abroad as well as specialist psychologists, is able to discuss the issue with victims of stalking so that they overcome this traumatic experience, but also help them get rid of the stalker through proper investigation, intervention and collection of evidence than can be then passed on to the authorities. We know how to help.

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