Fixated Persons A Mental Health Solution

In today’s digital society, individuals and in particular, high profile persons frequently become the targets of unwanted and intrusive attention from members of the public. Generally, these individuals are targeted because of who they are, what they do, or what they are perceived to represent. This attention usually takes the form of inappropriate, demanding, delusional or explicit communications, but can escalate to threatening or violent behaviour.

The increase in ‘fixated persons’ incidence is exasperated by the ‘digital age’ where the fixated behaviour now also incorporates online stalking, abuse and or blackmail.

There is a strong correlation between engagement in this behaviour and the presence of cognitive distortion, personality disorders and major mental illness. But without a forensic psychiatrist/psychologist on hand, it is difficult to assess which emails, letters or other forms of communication indicate risk, or which require further assessment or intervention. (Blackstone, 2015)

Fixated persons not only pose a threat to high profile persons but also may be a threat in the corporate arena where this behaviour often arises due to the effort to right a perceived wrong that has been committed by a customer, service user or former employee. These instances tend to culminate in protracted quests for justice, vexatious litigation or whistleblowing and in some extreme cases violence. (Blackstone, 2015)

Fixated Persons Defined

Individuals who pursue obsessive pre-occupations to such an irrational degree are known as ‘fixated’. They are characterised by abnormalities in their mental state, ranging from personality and cognitive distortions to major delusional and psychotic illnesses. (Blackstone, 2015)

What is of concern, some ‘fixated persons’ communicate or appear in a manner that indicates severe mental illness, others do so in a very rational and composed way, making risk harder to judge where on the face of it they blend in with society, engage in lucid conversations and appear to be everyday citizens.

Victims Cost

The human, financial and reputational outcomes for the targets of fixated behaviour vary from significant psychological distress, disruption to their personal and professional lives, the cost of security measures or long periods of legal action; physical damage to their property or even the threat of physical violence. (Blackstone, 2015)

Fixated Persons Pre Digital Age

There have been a significant number of ‘fixated persons’ incidence pre the digital age with the following most notable:

• Ian Ball — in 1974 he tried to kidnap Princess Anne in The Mall, injuring four people
• Mark Chapman — in 1980 he shot dead John Lennon after obsessing about him
• John Hinckley Jr — in 1981, as part of an obsession with actress Jodie Foster, he shot US President Ronald Reagan
• Gunther Parche — in 1993 an obsessive fan of tennis star Steffi Graf stabbed her rival Monica Seles
• Mijailo Mijailovic — in 2003 murdered Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh after “hearing voices”
• Dawnette Knight — jailed in 2005 for stalking Catherine Zeta-Jones. She claimed to be “in love” with actor Michael Douglas

It is estimated the Royal Family alone receives 10,000 letters a year from mentally ill people (Summers, 2010) and this is not including digital messages or incidents.

Fixated Behaviour Knows No Boundaries-Intrusion

The following three examples as reported in Blackstone’s Consultancy’s ‘Fixated Persons-The Stalking Threat’ identify that fixated behaviour knows no boundaries.

• The actor Colin Farrell was confronted during a taping of The Tonight Show by Dessare Bradford, who left a copy of her self-published book, Colin Farrell: A Dark Twisted Puppy, on host Jay Leno’s desk. Having obtained a restraining order against Bradford she then tried unsuccessfully to sue Farrell for harassing her.
• In 2014 the actress Sandra Bullock was also confronted by a ‘fixated’ fan inside her home. Joshua Corbett had hidden in the property before eventually making his presence known. He was clutching a notebook that contained notes such as; “I will forever be thinking of you and Louie, my son (Bullock’s son), as you are my wife by law, the law of God and you belong to me and me to you.” After his arrest, Corbett’s home was found to contain “an arsenal of weapons”, according to the local DA’s office. Although Sandra Bullock was not harmed physically, such behaviour suggests that fixated persons know no boundaries.
• In 1949 Philadelphia Phillies baseball player Eddie Waitkus was the victim of a near-fatal attack by 19-year-old fan Ruth Ann Steinhagen. The case was one of the earliest fixated attacks to subsequently be labelled a stalker-crime. In the hotel room to which she had lured Waitkus and readying herself to shoot him in the chest at close range, Waitkus is reported to have recalled Steinhagen’s words as, “If I can’t have you, nobody else can.”

Dr James, the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre’s (FTAC) the UK, a senior forensic psychiatrist has studied dozens of attacks on British and European politicians and dignitaries by people suffering pathological fixations. and his colleagues have identified several different types of fixated individuals. (Summers, 2010) Dr James reported that:

• 48% are “pursuing justice”
• 13% are suffering from a deluded identity
• 13% — are so chaotically deluded that their motivation cannot be readily discerned.
• Others are requesting or offering help; seeking sex or friendship or simply looking for fame.

A Mental Health Solution

In 2006, the UK Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (FTAC) was set up with a £500,000-a-year budget from the Home Office and the Department of Health. When it was established the FTAC was made up of nine police officers, four forensic community mental health nurses and several forensic psychiatrists and was hailed as the first joint mental health-police unit in the UK and a “prototype for future joint services”. (Summers, 2010)

Australia’s First Fixated Persons Unit- Queensland Police

The following information is contained in Queensland Governments QFTAC information sheet located at http://www.mhrt.qld.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/QFTAC-brochure-original.pdf

“Queensland Police Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (QFTAC) is a joint mental health/police agency. It is staffed by Queensland Police Service (QPS) officers from the Security Operations Unit (SOU), and clinicians from the Qld Forensic Mental Health Service. The SOU is a protective intelligence service for public officeholders.

QFTAC’s fundamental aim is to facilitate care for individuals with a serious mental illness and in doing so minimise the harm they potentially pose. There is a substantial body of evidence to indicate that many people who fixate on public figures have a major mental disorder and a small proportion will go on to approach and attack behaviours. Despite their fixation on a public official or some related cause, their victims are more often family members, other innocent citizens or the fixated person themselves.

It appears therefore that disordered communications and approaches to public figures are a means of identifying these concerning individuals and intervening before they escalate to harmful behaviours. Furthermore, it has been found that many people who become pathologically fixated on public figures have fallen through the mental health care net. Some of these individuals are not currently known to mental health services, while others have disengaged from treatment.

QFTAC receives referrals from staff in Ministerial and Electoral offices, the QPS (especially Dignitary Protection), the Australian Federal Police, other law enforcement agencies both interstate and overseas, the judiciary, some embassies and mental health services. Ministerial and electoral office staff use evidence-based checklists to ‘filter out’ cases of low concern. Police and mental health holdings are checked in those cases assessed by QFTAC as a moderate or high concern, and management plans are developed. These may include engaging or re‐engaging the individual with mental health or other relevant services. If the individual appears to be mentally ill but is not open to any MHS, QFTAC will conduct a home visit and liaise with the local MHS. A JEO may be completed by QFTAC…” (Qld Govt, 2015)

Fixated Threat Assessment Centres Reduce Risk

Intervening before a major incident can prevent significant disruption and distress for the mental health system and prevents serious harm or even death to the victims of fixated individuals. Early identification and treatment would lead to more informed treatment decisions and management., therefore reducing risk.

The Need For A National Holistic Approach For Fixated Persons Referrals To A National Fixated Persons Threat Assessment Centre

The digital age has resulted in fixated behaviour including online behaviour that knows no borders in that it can be transmitted across the globe with the push of the ‘send/post’ button. As such, there is a need for a ‘National Fixated Threat Assessment Centre’ (NFTAC) to be established and funded by Federal Governments.

A NFTAC will allow a national database to be established and coordinated by a centralised body for dissemination to the relevant state-based FTAC’s that are staffed by state police and mental health personnel.

Additionally, all members of society should be afforded the protection of the FTAC’s and not just high profile individuals. Everyday citizens face identical threats and personal issues experienced by high profile individuals and should be protected by such initiatives.

Fixated person behaviour is clearly a mental health issue and the Qld Police Service’s FTAC should be applauded where its approach should be noted by Federal Governments around the globe who in turn should analyse the UK and QLD models and establish an NFTAC so that mentally disturbed persons can be afforded the required mental health services.

Bradley W. Deacon

Cybersafety advocate, cyber investigator, educator and non-practising lawyer

(Since writing this article in LinkedIn in 2015, it is great to see that most Australian state police services have a ‘Fixated Persons’ unit).

You can follow Brad on Twitter @bradleywdeacon or check out his website at www.deacononline.org

References

Blackstone, (2015) accessed on 5 September 2015, at http://www.blackstoneconsultancy.com/section/fixated-persons-stalking-threat/

Qld Government, QTAC Brochure, (2015) accessed on 5 September 2015, at http://www.mhrt.qld.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/QFTAC-brochure-original.pdf

Summers, Chris, (2010) How do the police keep an eye on VIP stalkers? accessed on 5 September 2015, at http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-11259190