[Duke]

I'm not sure really. I've seen a few programs dealing with this type of deviant behavior and they all seem to have one thing in common, the stalker actually believes that having them as a friend is beneficial in some form to the person of their infatuation.

Personally I think these people build their entire identity from famous people but they cannot accept that they need to be close to the target of their obsession to continue on. The problem is that fame and reality are not the same thing and when the stalker finds this out they react or more appropriately, overreact, sometimes dangerously.

Of course I'm not therapist but it does stand to reason that most people see a celebrity based off fantasy more than reality. For instance, when you see an actor act, they are not portraying themselves but someone else as acting is pretending. Usually the actor is someone quite different deep down (look at Mel Gibson for instance). I really don't think stalkers are in touch enough to make this distinction so when they finally see it for themselves their world crashes down around them and the target of obsession becomes the target of rage.