Selective Mutism

Documented Clinical Success Since 1978

Jonathan Berent, L.C.S.W. has treated over 10,000 individuals of all ages with social anxiety. He is the author of Beyond Shyness: How to Conquer Social Anxieties (Simon & Schuster.) He has been featured extensively in the media including the first selective mutism segment on national television in 1988.

Hear first-hand about the challenges and successful treatment of selective mutism:

Listen to Lynn, who was told that her clingy, selectively mute six-year-old daughter, who had been selectively mute for over three years, “would grow out of it”. After parenting therapy via telephone “it’s a whole new world”.

Learning to stop selective mutism is an important step towards living a normal life. Click here to listen to interviews with real people who have resolved selective mutism anxiety.

Listen to Dad said their 7 year old is “100%” cured. Mom said “99%”.

Listen to Processing with SM 7 year old.

Listen to Adolescent Selective Mustim resolved.

Listen to Delia describe her son who chose not to speak to her and was non-responsive to everyone at school. Therapy via telephone “broke the glass door” that had her  “son trapped behind it”.

Hear “Mike”, a 35-year old with SM and social anxiety describe his “avoidance of talking” because he thought “he had nothing to say” and the process of his healing.

Hear parents describe the process of how they learned how to be the therapists to heal their SM daughter.

Listen to many more interviews with real patients who have resolved social anxiety.

Important Articles on Selective Mutism:

• Mental Health Issues for the SM Child Within School Setting
• Selective Mutism: Clinical Issues for School Personnel
• A 13 year-old with SM was beaten Up in day camp
• Thoughts about Adult Selective Mutism
• The Selective Mutism - Public Speaking Anxiety Paradigm
  

The Ten Key Points To Know About Selective Mutism

1. Selective mutism is a social anxiety disorder characterized by not speaking to specific people or in specific venues. More extreme than shyness, the problem surfaces in varied degrees of severity, mostly in children.
2. The condition is relatively easy to diagnose. If you know that the individual can speak normally but refuses to do so in specific situations, selective mutism is present. To rule out other disorders, however, it is important to assess if "processing" challenges are present.
3. Selective mutism is not a speech disorder. Speech therapy and traditional individual therapy for the child are in fact typically non-productive.
4. Selective mutism can be considered an “addiction” to the avoidance of speaking, or a phobia of speaking.
5. Selective mutism in childhood is highly correlated with social anxiety and social phobia as the sufferer develops.
6. If not addressed and corrected, Selective mutism can cause avoidant and dependent personality disorders. Anxiety worsens with time as it integrates insidiously into the personality.
7. Productive treatment is primarily based on a multi-dimensional methodology founded on corrective parenting. In most cases, for school interventions to be successful, re-parenting strategies must be in effect at home and working. If not, there is much potential for "fragmentation" of care-giving which worsens the problem.
8. The biggest mistake made regarding selective mutism in children is the belief that "the child will grow out of the problem".
9. The second biggest mistake is the incorrect use of medication, which typically worsens the problem.
10. There are very few therapists anywhere in the world who have demonstrated clinical productivity and expertise for treating this condition. 

Empower yourself and your dependent!

Your Options

1. Free Introductory CD
2. The book, "Beyond Shyness: How to Conquer Social Anxieties" (Simon & Schuster)
3. Comprehensive self-therapy audio CD program for social and performance anxiety
4. Public Speaking Anxiety: Self Therapy Audio CD Program
5. Therapy in Great Neck, New York
6. Telephone therapy
7. Selective Mutism Seminar on Audio CD
8. "Parenting The Selectively Mute Child": Self-therapy Audio CD Program
9. Free social-ability questionnaire
10. Subscribe to the Tip of the Month Club