Introduction
Safety has become the primary concern of people who spend much time surrounded by crowds long ago. However, the situation is not limited by the risk of theft, losing money, and valuable things. Nowadays, a more critical issue is stalking, which drags negative emotions into one’s life, and leads to an exaggerated perception of the influence of people who are causing it. Although it is commonly assumed to be a part of a film’s plot and the possibility of its appearance in an average person’s life seems low, it is not that simple. Stalking, along with other types of intimate partner violence, is proven to grow annually to statistics (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021).
Stalking is a modern issue and its regulations have not been developed up to their beneficial limit yet, while it poses a serious threat to many people and their mental health. Therefore, knowledge of the law regulation of the issue ensures that a person would know how to behave in case of facing stalking and what are the legitimate consequences of such violation. Researching this topic during the Law course is essential because the problem would be addressed immediately and legally as soon as it is governmentally authorized.
Research
Statistics on Stalking Victims
Stalking is experienced by many people annually, which has consequences on society. Stalking is difficult to define universally, but it is commonly referred to as repeated harassment or threatening, which leads to safety concerns and causes a feeling of fear (CDC, 2021). Therefore, it is evident that such occurrences cannot be left unnoticed, and they affect the lives of people who have experienced them at least once. What is more, the victims of stalking usually claim to have faced it for the first time before they turned 25 years old (CDC, 2021). Hence, the impact of stalking on them may be even more substantial because of their young age and weak psychic, which may lead to diseases such as depression or problems with self-esteem in the future.
Negative Effect of Stalking
Concerning the effect that stalking has on its victims, there have been numerous studies on this issue. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2021) states that stalking impacts victims’ physical and mental health, so it is indispensable to provide a safe environment for them. Affected physical and mental health may imply both the lightest and the most robust injuries – and in the case of mentality, it is much more dangerous. Accordingly, the victims of stalking may cause further changes in social behavior due to their extra carefulness, paranoia, and prejudice towards people who pay attention to them. The CDC states that “research shows that stalking can lead to depression and post-traumatic stress disorder” (para. 7). Therefore, the victims of stalking may experience challenging diseases because of the stalkers, and their life may complexify drastically, which may cause an increase in suicide attempts.
The Affected Group
Current studies reveal the statistics on committing intimate partner violence depending on gender, age, and other sociodemographic characteristics. The findings of Logan show that “women had higher stalking-related fear levels than men,” and “safety efficacy… played a key role in mental health outcomes” for men and women victims (2019, p. 7). These results reflect the necessity to create new systems for dealing with the issue of stalking. The research shows that people are aware of stalking and begin concerning it as a potential problem for themselves (Logan, 2019). Thus, they should be provided safety and ensured that the governmental structures could protect them from unwanted and potentially dangerous social interactions.
Considering the impact of stalking on different social groups, it is the strongest in students. Banyard et al. (2017) claim that the victimization of university students was triggering “lower academic efficacy, higher stress, lower institutional commitment, and lower scholastic conscientiousness” (p. 11). Stalking is one of the types of victimization reviewed by the authors, but as it is a bigger problem, it should be concerned in its context. Therefore, stalking has been proved to contribute to causing physical and psychological diseases and lowering students’ academic efficiency. Hence, the studying process and even future careers of the students may suffer from the consequences of stalking.
The Insufficiency of Current Solutions
Moreover, the existing methods of coping with stalking or preventing it are not enough for addressing the problem appropriately. Most of the available sources of information on stalking offer grant aid, preventative information, or ways of coping with different levels of stress caused by various occurrences, including stalking, without getting the help of professional psychologists. The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) lists 19 grant programs designed to “reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking” by offering services to victims and holding offenders accountable for their actions (2019). Still, the numbers CDC reports every year considering the number of victims of this particular crime reveal that the amount of provided support is not enough. In addition, more measures should be undertaken to meet the need of victims.
In addition to the lack of helpful resources, there is a need to extend the scientific field and stimulate research on stalking. Although some conclusions can be made based on the existing knowledge, it should be continuously improved to allow the experts to create more effective programs against stalking. Moreover, the research by White et al. (2020) revealed that “ex-intimate stalkers present a wider array of stalking behaviors, as well as more stalking behaviors and are more violent in their approach” (p. 14). Hence, ex-partners should be targeted to decrease the number of stalking cases, which have not been implicated yet.
Description of the Victim Assistance
Due to the listed above reasons, the system of helping the victims of stalking does not apply to improving the practical side of the situation. Therefore, the program’s primary focus, which is described below, would be dealing with individuals battling physical and mental health issues. In other words, the program would focus on helping victims take charge of their lives and get control again. This program is oriented toward individuals who have experienced stalking and would be suitable for the victims of intimate partner violence in general.
To be more specific, the program would be broken down into a three-step process. The aim of the process, in general, would be to avoid focusing on the experience of stalking, dispose of negative feelings and emotions related to it, and form a healthy attitude towards relationships and partnership. The participants would reach the purpose of such therapy by following specific rules at each stage of working on the disease. Every step differs from others, and their order is significant for the victims to follow because it aims to improve their mental and emotional condition.
First Step
The first step of the program would focus on one-on-one counseling to allow the individual to work through problems alone and at a comfortable pace. Although this step seems to be available and easy to follow, it is essential to remember that victims may perceive their potential differently and possess less energy to help themselves. The main reason for individual therapy is the first stage of recovering from disease is that one-on-one therapy allows individuals to focus on themselves and discuss vulnerable topics in a private setting.
Second Step
The second step of the suggested therapy program would include more social interactions. The second step would consist of a group therapy session. The importance of sharing emotions, feelings, and thoughts during this step increases because the previous step contributed to structuring the information concerning experience in the victim’s consciousness.
Group therapy is beneficial because it offers support from peers, and, with the help, victims may improve their social skills. In small groups, similar situations can be discussed, which would most certainly lead to a deeper understanding of the faced problems and clarify the experience of all the group’s members. Through discussion, the negative emotional trace can be minimized and substituted by membership feeling.
Third Step
The third and final step of the program would imply an even broader extension. It would continue the theme of a group therapy session, but it would also involve the necessity to be active and learn to work through new opportunities. These may include, for example, finding a new hobby or interest through art therapy. The choice for art therapy can be explained by its potential to help people of all ages deal with their problems. Art therapy is so universal regarding the audience because of the wide variety of forms that could be used to help individuals heal and work through different situations and emotions.
Peculiarities of the Program
Overall, this program is unique and superior to the existing ones because it provides a complex approach to solving mental problems after experiencing stalking. Most available sources do not suggest any programs; in contrast, they include narrow advice usually not supported by any scientific research. Also, the three stages of this program allow the victims to go through the entire rehabilitation course after their intense emotional stress. At the same time, the existing methods are not result-oriented. Hence, the program is incomparably better than the existing ones because it is more effective and comprehensive, meaning that its potential to provide the needed help is higher.
Conclusion
The research on victims of stalking shows that considerable numbers of people are affected by this phenomenon every year. The peer-reviewed studies also reflect more types of violence people suffer from – intimate partner violence includes all of them. Moreover, studies prove that stalking harms a person’s health, mentality, and academic performance. Combined with the fact that most people affected by stalking are college and university students, this reveals that the younger generation’s level of intelligence and quality of education may decrease.
To conclude, intimate partner violence and stalking, in particular, strongly influence the young generation nowadays. The meaning of stalking has altered through the years from following celebrities in the street to behaving in a way that causes fear and paranoid concerns in the victim. The adverse effects of intimate partner violence and stalking as a minor division have been proved by research multiple times.
Therefore, the knowledge foundation is enough to assess the issue thoroughly and reveal its roots to deal with it. Inadequacy of the ways of dealing with stalking requires changes, implying the creation of a new program to help people who have experienced stalking or other types of intimate partner violence to rehabilitate. A three-staged program described above may become a perfect substitute for the existing fragmented helping measures.
References
Banyard, V. L., Demers, J. M., Cohn, E. S., Edwards, K. M., Moynihan, M. M., Walsh, W. A., & Ward, S. K. (2017). Academic correlates of unwanted sexual contact, intercourse, stalking, and intimate partner violence: An understudied but important consequence for college students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 088626051771502, 1–18. Web.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2021). Stalking: Know it. Name it. Stop it. Web.
Glasgow, Y. (2020). A beginner’s guide to art therapy. LifeSavvy RSS. Web.
Logan, T. K. (2019). Examining stalking experiences and outcomes for men and women stalked by (ex)partners and non-partners. Journal of Family Violence, 1–11. Web.
OVW Grants and Programs. (2019). The United States Department of Justice. Web.
White, E., Longpré, N., & Stefanska, E. B. (2020). Stalking behaviors presented by ex-intimate stalkers: A victim’s perspective. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 088626052093442, 1–20. Web.