MUTISM is a condition characterized by minimal or absent speech output at all times.
SELECTIVE MUTISM is an anxiety disorder where a person is unable to speak in certain social situations, such as with classmates at school.
Selective mutism usually starts during childhood and, if left untreated, can persist into adulthood.
A person with selective mutism doesn't choose not to speak at certain times - they're literally unable to.
How can you include it in writing?
→ a character falls silent and can't answer upon entering a specific location
→ someone gets angry at a character who's unable to speak
→ the character with mutism can express their frustrations and how it's out of their control
Mutism can affect an individual's life in many ways. Here are some of them:
• social anxiety or shyness whenever outside of the home
• silence that interferes with work or school
• troubles to connect to others
• being judged by others
• inability to develop social skills
How to include it in writing?
→ a character may avoid going to certain places whatsoever
→ a character may have developed a different way of communicating when mute
→ character can get into unpleasant situation because they're unable to speak out
Why does one have mutism?
• trauma
• can be connected to autism
• social anxiety
• brain injury, brain tumors, stroke
How to treat mutism?
• therapy
• setting consistent expectations and routines
• praising social successes and encouraging positive social perspectives
• adopting alternative ways of communicating
How to include it in writing?
→ you can point at the character’s attempts at treating it
→ show character’s progres or the opposite depending on the events
→ show what does the character do in their everyday life to cope with mutism better
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