Like many other anxiety conditions, selective mutism is multifaceted. For a definitive diagnosis, the person’s behavior must be distinguished from other similar conditions. Their inability to speak is not explained by another behavioral, mental, or communication disorder. When left untreated, selective mutism can progress into adulthood or result in relapse during adulthood.

Most people will not grow to recover from this type of mutism without treatment. These people can communicate in some situations but not in others, or in other cases with some persons but not with others. The person suddenly stops speaking in most or all settings as the result of a traumatic event. The person may be perfectly willing and eager to be the center of attention when speaking is not expected.

For example, I would speak freely in an unfamiliar environment if I was with someone very familiar, but I would become mute as soon as anyone else entered the space. You can communicate without talking by using nonverbal communication techniques, such as pointing, nodding, or miming. Practice using different gestures that can help you express what you need. Keep track of what works and what doesn’t to assist you in the future. SLPs are trained to work with a pragmatic language that could be significantly affected in people with selective mutism.

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Because of the anxiety episode Debbie withdrew from school for a semester. We texted all the time, and I’d see her at school where we’d just be silly and have fun together without needing to speak. In the end though, I got dumped by her because she couldn’t cope with the mutism thing anymore. Very sad at the time, but looking back, I’m very grateful that she did that to me. My parents had tried to get me professional help for years, but I always rejected it.

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Undergo cognitive-behavioral therapy to overcome your anxiety. Your therapist will guide you through using CBT to deal with the social anxiety that makes it hard for you to talk to others. CBT helps you understand why you think and act like you do, and it teaches you how to change your thoughts and behaviors.

Psychodynamic therapy in children is called individual play therapy.3 This form of treatment is time-intensive and involves a comprehensive exploration of the individual case history. The focus is on exposing an underlying intrapsychic conflict.3 Since only a few case studies have been examined, the efficacy of this psychodynamic therapy is unknown. While studies have helped to elucidate the phenomenology of selective mutism, limitations and gaps in knowledge still persist. In particular, the literature on selective mutism consists primarily of small sample populations and case reports. Future research aims to develop an increasingly integrated, multidimensional framework for evaluating and treating children with selective mutism. Other treatment options for selective mutism can be medicines and mostly applied to children and not adults.

As adults, we are expected to engage in social situations more often. There are varying ways people with selective mutism are discriminated against at school as well as the stigma around this condition, ways professionals can make this condition worse. Further, other disorders can manifest themselves through selective mutism, but accommodations can help individuals with selective mutism to participate more and feel more accepted in various social settings. Above all, children on the autism spectrum have trouble understanding social and nonverbal cues.

How to Recognize Selective Mutism and Tips to Get Support

For me, being dumped because of my mutism gave me the impetus to accept professional help, and ultimately overcome my mutism altogether. So in the long run, it was a great thing and we both went on and found love elsewhere. On https://datingrated.com/ the other hand, with trauma-induced selective mutism, you may find it impossible to talk only in certain situations — say, in front of the person who hurt you or in a setting that resembles the circumstances of your trauma.

Most researchers now agree that selective mutism is more a result of temperament than of environmental influences. In the early 1990’s two studies, one by Dr. Dummit and one by Dr. Black, showed that children with the disorder were not just shy; they were actively anxious. “We ended up concluding that the kids had social anxiety disorder, and the selective mutism was a manifestation of that,” Dr. Black said. They feel uncomfortable, which makes it difficult for them to communicate and adjust to such settings. For this reason, selective mutism frequently occurs with social anxiety disorder.

If you have social anxiety, however, even talking with familiar people may feel uncomfortable and difficult. Selective mutism is a rare childhood disorder characterized by the persistent failure to speak in specific contexts where speech is typically expected, despite hearing and speaking in other contexts. In the home with parents and siblings, the child tends to engage in normal conversation. Selective mutism is a rare and multidimensional childhood disorder that typically affects children entering school age. It is characterized by the persistent failure to speak in select social settings despite possessing the ability to speak and speak comfortably in more familiar settings. Many theories attempt to explain the etiology of selective mutism.

Bilingual children with true selective mutism present with mutism in both languages, in several unfamiliar settings, and for significant periods of time (Toppelberg et al., 2005). Interviewing parents/caregivers to determine if the child speaks in their first language successfully outside of the home environment is important information for the SLP to gather to inform differential diagnosis. Each person with selective mutism needs to work on different skills.