A model for managing the mentally ill fixated person at major events

Pathé, Michele; Haworth, Debbie J.; Lowry, Timothy J.; Webster, D.M.; Winterbourne, Paul; Mulder, Melodie J.; Emmerson, B. T.

doi:10.1177/0004867415581022

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…It fulfilled similar functions for royal weddings and for other major events. Similarly, the Queensland FTAC was involved in security planning and operations for the G20 summit in Brisbane 61 and for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.…”

Section: Further Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fixated Threat Assessment Centers: preventing harm and facilitating care in public figure threat cases and those thought to be at risk of lone-actor grievance-fueled violence

2020

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The rediscovery of the importance of mental illness in the risk assessment and management of those who threaten, approach, and harm public figures has led to a new way of dealing with those that threaten public figures. This approach emphasises the role of “fixation” which may be defined as an intense preoccupation pursued to an abnormally intense degree. It integrates a threat assessment paradigm with the literature on stalking. The need for such an approach was highlighted in research on the prevalence of harassment of public figures. Psychiatry has a key role in this approach which sees mental health clinicians and Police work together in Fixated Threat Assessment Centres (FTACs). An FTAC functions by assessing the level of concern and sharing information to facilitate interventions that are often mental health based. The purpose is not the hopeless task of identifying those who will go on to perpetrate serious violence, rather to intervene in the group they emerge from, to prevent harm. As well as decreasing risk to the persons fixated upon, this approach improves care to the mentally disordered people who harass and threaten them and, in doing so, decreases the likelihood of their criminalization while enhancing their quality of life. As expertise in the area has grown, policing and security agencies in several countries have expanded the FTAC model to cover individuals thought at risk of lone-actor grievance-fueled violence, a term that captures both different forms of mass killing and lone actor terrorism.

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Section: Further Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fixated Threat Assessment Centers: preventing harm and facilitating care in public figure threat cases and those thought to be at risk of lone-actor grievance-fueled violence

2020

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“…Threat management teams also offer advice and training in relation to this unusual area of practice, giving presentations to police forces and mental health services, sharing best practice and being involved with the planning of large events (Pathé 2015). Hoffmann & Sheridan (2008) observed that historically there was little sympathy for celebrity victims of stalking, that in some way this behaviour ‘goes with the territory’ and they should endure it.…”

Section: Issues Arising At Ftac When Effecting An Intervention In the Ukmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stalking risks to celebrities and public figures

Wilson¹,

Dempsey²,

Farnham³

et al. 2018

BJPsych advances

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SUMMARYProminent figures are frequently subjected to unwanted and intrusive attentions. Such stalking behaviour is often driven by psychotic illness, angrily blaming the public figure for delusional persecution (resentful motivation), or based on erotomanic delusions (intimacy seeking motivation), for example. This behaviour can cause psychological harm to both perpetrator and victim, and is unlawful. In the rare instances where a public figure has been attacked, the perpetrator has usually had a history of such stalking behaviour and of severe mental illness. For these reasons, early identification and diversion into appropriate care and treatment will be for the benefit of both parties and will prevent more serious violence in a minority of cases. The importance of the provision of education to improve both reporting rates by victims and an appropriate response from the criminal justice system is highlighted. A multi-agency approach involving the criminal justice system and mental health services is the most effective means of achieving these aims.DECLARATION OF INTERESTNone.LEARNING OBJECTIVES•Learn that severe mental illness, particularly psychosis, is often an important driver of stalking behaviour•Learn that delusional disorder is a treatable mental illness•Appreciate that prevention rather than prediction is the approach to managing the risks of high-harm low-probability outcomes.

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“…18 The effectiveness of QFTAC in managing the risk at major public figure gatherings in Queensland was demonstrated during subsequent events including a Royal Visit to Queensland in April 2014 and the G20 World Leaders' Summit in Brisbane in November 2014. 19…”

Section: Queensland Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (Qftac)mentioning

confidence: 99%