James D V, Mullen P E, Pathé M T, Meloy J R, Preston L F, Darnley B, Farnham F R
North London Forensic Service, London, UK.
Psychol Med. 2009 Sep;39(9):1479-90. doi: 10.1017/S0033291709005443. Epub 2009 Apr 1.
Public figures are at increased risk of attracting unwanted attention in the form of intrusions, stalking and, occasionally, attack. Whereas the potential threat to the British Royal Family from terrorists and organized groups is clearly defined, there is a dearth of knowledge about that from individual harassers and stalkers. This paper reports findings from the first systematic study of this group.
A retrospective study was conducted of a randomly selected stratified sample (n=275) of 8001 files compiled by the Metropolitan Police Service's Royalty Protection Unit over 15 years on inappropriate communications or approaches to members of the British Royal Family. Cases were split into behavioural types. Evidence of major mental illness was recorded from the files. Cases were classified according to a motivational typology. An analysis was undertaken of associations between motivation, type of behaviour and mental illness.
Of the study sample, 83.6% were suffering from serious mental illness. Different forms of behaviour were associated with different patterns of symptomatology. Cases could be separated into eight motivational groups, which also showed significant differences in mental state. Marked differences in the intrusiveness of behaviour were found between motivational groups.
The high prevalence of mental illness indicates the relevance of psychiatric intervention. This would serve the health interests of psychotic individuals and alleviate protection concerns without the necessity of attempting large numbers of individual risk predictions. The finding that some motivations are more likely to drive intrusive behaviours than others may help focus both health and protection interventions.
公众人物更容易受到侵扰、跟踪，偶尔还会遭遇攻击等不必要关注。虽然恐怖分子和有组织团体对英国王室构成的潜在威胁已明确界定，但对于个人骚扰者和跟踪者构成的威胁却知之甚少。本文报告了对这一群体的首次系统性研究结果。
对伦敦警察厅王室保护部门在15年间汇编的8001份关于对英国王室成员的不当通信或接触的档案进行回顾性研究，随机抽取分层样本（n = 275）。将案例分为行为类型。从档案中记录严重精神疾病的证据。根据动机类型对案例进行分类。对动机、行为类型和精神疾病之间的关联进行分析。
在研究样本中，83.6%患有严重精神疾病。不同形式的行为与不同的症状模式相关。案例可分为八个动机组，在精神状态上也存在显著差异。动机组之间在行为侵扰性方面存在明显差异。
精神疾病的高患病率表明了精神科干预的相关性。这将符合精神病患者的健康利益，并减轻保护方面的担忧，而无需进行大量的个人风险预测。某些动机比其他动机更有可能引发侵扰行为这一发现，可能有助于集中健康和保护干预措施。
