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Gang stalking or group-stalking is and umbrella term that can refer to one of several scenarios. While a small subset of individuals may have psychiatric disorders and wrongly believe they are victims of gang stalking, it is a common misconception that the average target is mentally ill although it is not uncommon for individuals who are stable under normal circumstances to exhibit signs of psychosis under prolonged gang stalking. The phenomenon is real in most cases including an increasing number of documented cases.

  The most minor form of gang stalking, GSL1, is enacted on a localized scale and perpetrated by a group of friends which can range in size from two or three individuals to a dozen or more if the individual has a large family, lots of friends, or a gang affiliation.  The scale may be limited to the workplace in which it is known as 'workplace mobbing', a well documented phenomenon in the academic literature or in more severe cases of GSL1, the target may be followed around town for example, but GSL1 does not generally involve electronic surveillance, constant monitoring, etc and it generally does not involve law enforcement although sometimes unethical attorneys, physicians and other professionals are involved in GSL1 operations (e.g. insurance scams against the target, falsified reports, biased professional evaluations, etc). GSL1 is usually localized to some of the person's social networks around their hometown.  The sophistication of these operations varies, but they can generally be conducted cost-effectively as many of the participants actually consider being part of the harassment fun.
 GS2 is a slightly more severe case of GS1.  GS2 often involves more invasive infiltration of the target's social networks. The individual may be blacklisted at work, within their immediate family, and throughout their extended networks of friends and family. Often a false allegation is made against the target. Dirty cops and ignorant rookies are often involved. Basically unpopular people are set up and evidence is planted to cause legal issues for said individual. This is one technique. Discrediting the individual by having them portrayed as crazy or racist or something else unpopular is also one of the main psychological techniques these people employ. Often the parties involved in the orchestration of GSL2 have a law enforcement or military background or were otherwise subjected to stasi-style tactics (e.g. via transference trauma from having an abusive relative who was in the Army, for example).  Recipients of GSL2 have often done something such as piss off the local sheriff, challenge the local police department, blow the whistle at a medium sized corrupt institution, etc.  In rare cases crossing an individual can also lead to GSL2 (e.g. challenging competence of powerful local officials, the local kingpin drug manufacturer, etc).  GSL2 involves frequent although not constant surveillance, widespread smearing to isolate individual, and in some extreme cases may involve electronic surveillance or other forms of electronic harassment (e.g. playing annoying frequencies, blaring loud music in a parked car across the street, etc).  While the severity of stalking and privacy violation varies in GSL2, GSL2 is distinct from GSL1 in that the authorities are involved in the collusion.  GSL2 is also much more likely to involve online harassment/smearing, harassment via video game platforms, police surveillance, harassment via 'plants' in local chapters of organizations (e.g. Red Cross, etc) or other mindless individuals who willingly track targets and divulge information to authorities; some of these people have been fear-mongered into sharing the information because lies have been told that the target is dangerous or crazy.  In other cases, the individuals apparently have some type of arrested development issues and may be seeking attention or favor with the authorities.
These authorities may include dirty cops, abusive prison guards, and corrupt judges who are extremely biased and/or bribed.  In order to escape from GSL2, the target is often forced to relocate and start a new life with new associations.  It is not necessary to change one's identity, but divulging ones new county of residence would be a security risk. Ideally, targets of GSL2 should change states, professions, and let go of all former associates except potentially immediate family members who have not been infiltrated.
 GSL3 involves surveillance by a powerful corporation or government. Since I have no first-hand knowledge of GSL3, I cannot speak on it or the techniques that are employed (thankfully).
  The corrupt individuals who employ these techniques have a vested interest in characterizing those who have been the victims of group stalking as having persecutory delusion beliefs because they don't want this information to come out. These techniques are basically techniques of mind control, and it is quite frightening that virtually anyone can learn them to do great harm. We need to expose these techniques and develop techniques to combat them.

Terminology

The concept of stalking arose in the 1980s following increased legal equity for women and prosecution of domestic violence. Generally, stalking has a single perpetrator, who may sometimes recruit others to act vicariously on their behalf, usually unwittingly. Beginning in the early 2000s, the term gang stalking became popularized to describe a different experience of repeated harassment which instead comes from multiple people who organize around a shared purpose, with no one person solely responsible.

Online communities

A 2016 article in The New York Times estimated that more than 10,000 people were participating in online communities "organized around the conviction that its members are victims of a sprawling conspiracy to harass thousands of everyday Americans with mind-control weapons and armies of so-called gang stalkers". The article identified a 2015 paper by Sheridan and James entitled "Complaints of group stalking ('gang stalking'): an exploratory study of their nature and impact on complainants" as the only scientific study of the topic at the time.

Hundreds of these communities exist online. News reports have described how groups of Internet users have cooperated to exchange detailed conspiracy theories involving gang stalking. Some psychiatrists and psychologists say "Web sites that amplify reports of mind control and group stalking" are "an extreme community that may encourage delusional thinking" and represent "a dark side of social networking. They may reinforce the troubled thinking of the mentally ill and impede treatment." A 2020 study established a framework to classify and examine the phenomenon of individuals with the subjective experience of being gang stalked. The student confirmed the subsequent "serious" sequelae of their experience and recommended further research.

Persecutory delusion

Those who believe they are victims report that they believe the motivation for the gang stalking is to disrupt every part of their lives. The activities involved are described as including electronic harassment, the use of "psychotronic weapons", directed-energy weapons, cyberstalking, hypnotic suggestion transmitted through remotely-accessed electronic devices, and other alleged mind control techniques. These have been reported by external observers as being examples of belief systems as opposed to reports of objective phenomena. Among the community of targeted individuals, gang stalking is described as a shared experience where the gang stalkers all coordinate to harass individuals, and the individuals share their victim experiences with each other.

A study from Australia and the United Kingdom by Lorraine Sheridan and David James compared 128 self-defined victims of 'gang stalking' with a randomly selected group of 128 self-declared victims of stalking by an individual. All 128 'victims' of gang stalking were judged to be delusional, compared with only 5 victims of individual stalking. There were highly significant differences between the two samples on depressive symptoms, post-traumatic symptomatology and adverse impact on social and occupational function, with the self-declared victims of gang stalking being more severely affected. The authors concluded that "group stalking appears to be delusional in basis, but complainants suffer marked psychological and practical sequelae. This is important in the assessment of risk in stalking cases, early referral to psychiatric services and allocation of police resources."

One report found that some who claimed to be targeted individuals have acted out with violence, sometimes extreme.

See also

• Cyberstalking
• Fair Game (Scientology)
• Mass surveillance
• Noisy investigation
• Psychosis
• The Truman Show delusion

References

1. ^ Sheridan, L; James, DV; Roth, J (6 April 2020). "The Phenomenology of Group Stalking ('Gang-Stalking'): A Content Analysis of Subjective Experiences". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 17 (7): 2506. doi:10.3390/ijerph17072506. PMC 7178134. PMID 32268595.
2. ^ Mcphate, Mike (10 June 2016). "United States of Paranoia: They See Gangs of Stalkers". The New York Times. New York City. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
3. Sheridan, Lorraine P.; James, David V. (3 September 2015). "Complaints of group-stalking ('gang-stalking'): an exploratory study of their nature and impact on complainants". The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology. 26 (5): 601–623. doi:10.1080/14789949.2015.1054857. S2CID 143326215.
4. Tait, Amelia (7 August 2020). ""Am I going crazy or am I being stalked?" Inside the disturbing online world of gangstalking". MIT Technology Review.
5. Kershaw, Sarah (12 November 2008). "Sharing Their Demons on the Web". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
6. Weinberger, Sharon (14 January 2007). "Mind Games". The Washington Post. Washington DC: Nash Holdings LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
7. Kiberd, Roisin (22 July 2016). "The Nightmarish Online World of 'Gang-Stalking'". Motherboard. Vice.com. Archived from the original on 22 July 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
8. Pierre, Joe (20 October 2020). "Gang Stalking: Real-Life Harassment or Textbook Paranoia?". Psychology Today.
9. Pierre, Joe (October 31, 2020). "Gang Stalking: Conspiracy, Delusion, and Shared Belief". Psychology Today.
10. Pierre, Joe (November 16, 2020). "Gang Stalking: A Case of Mass Hysteria?". Psychology Today.
11. ^ Sheridan, Lorraine P.; James, David V. (3 September 2015). "Complaints of group-stalking ('gang-stalking'): an exploratory study of their nature and impact on complainants". The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology. 26 (5). Abingdon, England: Routledge: 601–623. doi:10.1080/14789949.2015.1054857. ISSN 1478-9949. S2CID 143326215.
12. Sarteschi, Christine M. (March 2018). "Mass Murder, Targeted Individuals, and Gang-Stalking: Exploring the Connection". Violence and Gender. 5 (1): 45–54. doi:10.1089/vio.2017.0022.

External links

• Vice Media (7 November 2017). "The Nightmare World of Gang Stalking" (video). youtube.com. Vice Media.
• Vice Media (May 24, 2017). "Meet the Targeted Individual Community". youtube.com.

• Stalking
• Group processes
• Delusions
• Conspiracy theories