Stalkers and suicide

Stalking affects hundreds of thousands of people each year yet stalkers themselves often suffer from mental illness. Stalkers tend to be men aged between 20 and 40 who stalk either former partners or women with whom they have become obsessed. They are generally of average to below-average intelligence and suffer from a range of mental disorders. However, there has been no research looking into rates of suicide among stalkers. Researchers from Monash University in Melbourne followed 138 stalkers for three years and found that they committed suicide at significantly higher rates than other people. They called for clinicians working with stalkers to be aware of the risks and incorporate risk assessments and crisis management into their treatment.

McEwan, Troy, Mullen, Paul and MacKenzie, Rachel - Suicide among stalkers Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology August 2010, 21(4), 514-520