Poll Selective Mutism / Not Speaking Due to Stress

[Lisa]

I voted yes too. I have gone through periods of mutism for a period of days-weeks before. Mostly during my adolescence, though it still happens now when I'm overwhelmed with stress.

 

[kers]

I go mute for days when I get really bad now, which is definitely a step up over the weeks of silence when I was a teenager in the bad situation.

If I'm in a situation where I'm feeling pushed to communicate and overwhelmed by it, I try to say "I don't want to talk about that." I still shut down but now it's fairly brief.

If I'm in a situation that feels overwhelming, even if I'm not being pushed to communicate, I often go silent, too. I try to solve that by getting to a safe place--usually home--and letting myself come out of it. That generally takes a day or so.

I still haven't found a way to deal with my famly, which pretty much combines both of the above scenarios. It took me five days after Thanksgiving to be able to speak again.

 

[Eagle]

Marlene,
Yes i do it often for a few hours of a day and i have times when I am silent for days on end, a few times weeks. I just pull inside and have nothing to say. A head nod takes care of quite a bit in life if need be.
Eagle

 

[ruddy]

I also shut down and go mute in times of extreme stress although it is generally for just a few hours. It happens when something has trigerred a traumatic memory. I shut down in therapy often and end up writing about the things I just can't seem to verbalize. It is very frustrating.

 

[grace5555]

i am there now - even communicating with this is difficult...

 

[pandora]

I do stuff and shutdown but am still able to verbalize if asked a question. If I am alone with no one to talk to there are days when I just don't want to talk to anyone because my own life seems overwhelming and I often feel as if I have nothing good to say because of the mood i am in so I choose to stay quiet...so I guess this would be overload? I have never gotten to the point where I could not articulate the words but my mind is working so fast when the words come out they are coming out too fast and they are not understandable.

 

[pandora]

I was just triggered HUGE by this poll. As a child when my traumas occured....I wouldn't speak...I remember the youth group leader and the doctors begging me too and I couldn't....never was able to open up about anything....could NOT speak. Maybe it was more of an inital shock...I am not sure. Again...another interesting poll.

 

[batgirl]

Having this trouble right now. Trying to communicate.

 

[hodge]

Never realized I did this before seeing this poll. But after a few episodes since, I now realize I do this and am struggling with it now. It's like my brain is overloaded with too much stuff and can't articulate everything in a coherent fashion.

 

[TaraJ]

Sometimes, when I am faced with a stressful event and if it at all reminds me of how I felt during a period of trauma, I feel a surge of pain fill me and it is so much, that I can not speak any words.
Once, that happened during my quarterly review at work.
It was not the bast timing, but thankfully, my boss tried to work with me. At one point I became very still and lost my feeling as the stress hit me, and as I felt pain fill my heart, my head and arms fell limp on her desk. I 'came to' soon after, having no recollection of how I got to that strange posture. After seeing her sad expression, I was eventually able to know what happened. There have been several times at work, when suddenly I am taken cpative my a memory which pulls me in and takes over my emotions. All of a sudden, I am
bracing myself and feeling pain (like intense sadness)filling me, and someone will ask me if I'm alright. At first, it's as if I cannot hear them or comprehend. I only see their mouths moving. Then I hear their words, but I cannot speak. It takes a few minutes before I can speak, so I just force myself to nod my head.

 

[morgan]

I have days where I don't speak unless asked a direct question. Even then, my answers are brief. It's usually because I am overwhelmed by symptoms. they are not always the same symptoms, just overwhelming. It's definitely related to being triggered though.

 

[upstream]

I have days where I don't speak unless asked a direct question. .

I was the opposite for a while, refusing to answer a direct question. Whenever my ex-boss asked a direct question, it was usually a set-up to tear me down.

I have days when I'm more quiet than others, but I have never gone completely mute, no.