Selective Mutism

[Ylva]

I can't always speak, but even then my brain keeps talking. It forms words and sentences, and I just can't make my mouth say them. I keep imagining that everyone who doesn't speak, whether it's permanent mutism or selective, has it like that; they go on thinking, even if they can't use their voice and mouth to say it.

Or am I wrong? Anyone?

This article made me think of it: How A Mother-Daughter Team Is Trying To Change The Dating Game For People With Autism

 

[zurb]

You might like these threads:
Becoming nonverbal in stressful situations | AspiesCentral.com
Selective Mutism | AspiesCentral.com

 

[inabox]

I get the same sometimes. Although when I'm having a silent moment, sometimes something happens and my brain says "you NEED to speak, so do it" and I will say something without any thought as to what I say or how I say it. Usually this is when something happens with imminent danger, for example, a huge dog is coming for my dog with a ferocious look on its face. But after I've said what my brain wants me to say, I return to silence 'til I surprise myself and start talking again. So I don't know if that's selective mutism, or something else.

 

[ExplosiveTMT]

During the years that I was mute, I still thought of what I could say. And I wound up using a whiteboard and marker to turn my thoughts into something that I could communicate to others.

 

[inabox]

Sorry, I realised I didn't actually answer your question. My answer is sometimes yes, but most of the time, no. Some times that I become mute, I think I have a few vague, hazy thoughts of what I'd want to say, but mostly I have nothing passing through my "thought centre" in my head at all. I know people say that nobody ever doesn't think, but at those times, I can't identify any thoughts.

 

[AsheSkyler]

I only go mute when I'm under some severe emotional stress, like 4-6 hours of a bad fight. But I am regularly tongue-tied.

 

[Warmheart]

I lose speech when stressed, too. Frustrating/embarrassing.

Gee, you'd hope this would kick in during one of my interminable blathering special interest barrages, but no such luck.

 

[James Dunn]

I have the same thing. I was bailed up by police and thought what I wanted to say but could not speak a word. They thought I was having a psychotic episode and took em to a psych ward.
i showed them my card with the Dx on it and police were asked can they read or know the difference. i was released and returned home and they found out that I was not the one they wanted anyway. police got let off as it was a "mistake'

 

[qwerty]

I can't always speak, but even then my brain keeps talking. It forms words and sentences, and I just can't make my mouth say them. I keep imagining that everyone who doesn't speak, whether it's permanent mutism or selective, has it like that; they go on thinking, even if they can't use their voice and mouth to say it.

Or am I wrong? Anyone?

I have experienced mutism in almost exactly the way you have described, i could hear the words in my head that were supposed to be coming out my mouth.it really was a difficult time when this happened i felt soooooo embarrassed and self concious which only made things worse, i still cringe thinking about the times when that would happen. i started to realize after awhile that it was happening because i had become so used to monitoring what i would say before saying it for fear of unintentionally pissing someone off or dropping an aspie clunker,
it felt as if my brain had actually switched off my mouth as a survival mechanism. this happened for a tortuous few years before i managed to overcome it, but i did when i stopped chastising myself internally for my painful awkwardness and learnt to as the song goes "let it be"
But thats just my experience

 

[Spiller]

I can't always speak, but even then my brain keeps talking. It forms words and sentences, and I just can't make my mouth say them. I keep imagining that everyone who doesn't speak, whether it's permanent mutism or selective, has it like that; they go on thinking, even if they can't use their voice and mouth to say it.

Or am I wrong? Anyone?

This article made me think of it: How A Mother-Daughter Team Is Trying To Change The Dating Game For People With Autism

I experience this!
When I'm stressed, it's as if my mouth has been disconnected from my mind - the thoughts are there, but the only sounds I can make are random mewling noises.. most embarrassing. I find it takes my removal from the situation and about half an hour calming down, then I'm back to normal.

 

[inabox]

I'm relieved in a way to know that I'm not the only one. For some reason I thought that me not being able to speak sometimes made me really weird, but maybe that's because I've been around NTs who always talk a lot.
[emoji4]

 

[Progster]

Yes, this happens to me too - I go mute under stress, and people trying to make me speak only makes it worse. I rememer being punished and shouted at as a small child because I went to a party and when I left, my mum tried to get me to say 'thank you' but I just blanked out and couldn't say it. Then, another time, I was walking my sister's dog and the dog ran into the road when a car was coming, but I couldn't call the dog to come to me - the desire was there but I couldn't make it come out of my mouth. It happens when I'm surprised or overwhelmed. Luckily the car slowed down in time and the dog wasn't hurt, but I felt bad about it.

 

[Gingerlass27]

I can really relate to this. Can almost see the words I want to say but they're stuck in my head.

 

[grommet]

It is the same for me. Everything keeps working inside but I can't say anything. When it's happening I wish I could still communicate somehow.

I can't always speak, but even then my brain keeps talking. It forms words and sentences, and I just can't make my mouth say them. I keep imagining that everyone who doesn't speak, whether it's permanent mutism or selective, has it like that; they go on thinking, even if they can't use their voice and mouth to say it.

Or am I wrong? Anyone?

 

[Shawn D]

When I'm under duress or in the midst of fight, my brain sort of shuts down and I go silent. All I can do is observe in a fog what's going on in front of me or around me.

 

[shakeitup94]

I only get this sort of thing during a panic attack or meltdown.

 

[CJinherPJs]

I probably had this as a child, up until I was about 12 or so. I remember my dad getting on my case about it, for example, when someone said hello to me and I wouldn't respond. It's not that I didn't want to; at the time though, it felt as though my vocal cords were paralyzed and nothing would come out, no matter how much I wanted it to. I have similar moments now, but not really that often, i.e. it tends to happen more often during panic attacks or if I'm feeling overwhelmed, than in general.

 

[Dryope]

It's not that I didn't want to; at the time though, it felt as though my vocal cords were paralyzed and nothing would come out, no matter how much I wanted it to.

This happens to me if I have to socialize too much, or if I'm in a stressful environment for too long (often the same thing). I fought through it as a kid, and I would end up stuttering or whispering a lot because my voice didn't really work. Now I have a harder time fighting through it -- it feels like I'm pushing a heavy weight. What I end up doing when I fight against it is repeating phrases that pop into my mind, like a doll with a pull string. My mind is formulating articulate responses...but my mouth is connected to something else altogether.

In severe situations, I just can't speak at all. This is when I'm actually in the shutdown. Any sudden "attack" can throw me into it (real or imagined).

 

[113]

I'm unable to speak in certain situations. It was extremely bad when younger, but I found some things that helped over the past few years:

• Try speech-to-text software. I think that a couple of years of using Dragon helped build up the connection between by brain and mouth.
• Memorize poetry and recite it back to yourself. I tend to do this repetitively, mostly with poems in iambic pentameter or heptameter. It also seemed to help build up that connection between my brain and speaking.

I have much less problem with it now, though I still write much more easily than I speak.

 

[Grimbor]

Would you expect a psychiatrist to recognise and understand this? I have just parted company with mine because I found it very difficult to talk to him (I distrust him greatly). My last meeting involved me staring at the floor, unable to speak, and trying not to pass out whilst he was saying to me "silence isn't going to help!"