Resolving Selective Mutism
Helping parents empower children and teens into freedom from the “prison of silence”.
Teaching adults high verbal performance.
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Interviews with Patients who have
resolved Selective Mutism
Social Anxiety: The Untold Story contains approximately 3 hours of state of the art and science self -help for selective mutism. In compulsion it includes rare interviews with children, teens, adults, and families who have resolved the disorder.
Experience at Berent Associates with thousands of anxiety sufferers since 1978 can help facilitate a functional understanding of this disorder and productive treatment.
While selective mutism is mostly understood as a speaking phobia, it is specifically a variation of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Obsessiveness refers to the cognitive or thinking component of worry and anxiety. The compulsion is the verbal shutdown or muteness. In essence, the mutism is driven by the obsessive compulsive mind. In his article “Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder as Etiology for Performance Anxiety,” Jonathan Berent. describes how perfectionism drives performance and social anxiety. This article is highly relevant for selective mutism sufferers of any age.
The most common mistake that well-intentioned parents and professionals make when engaging the socially anxious or selectively mute child is to invest in the belief that “the child is just shy and will grow out of the problem.” The second biggest confusion is the misunderstanding regarding how ingrained the psychophysiological (mind-body) reflex becomes. The third most common confusion is when the parent says something like “My child only does not talk in school.” While school does usually present the most performance anxiety
for the child with selective mutism, objective scrutiny, in most cases, will identify a pattern of verbal shutdown elsewhere. In most, cases selective mutism accrues and becomes more ingrained with time. It is an obvious precursor to avoidant and dependent personality disorder.
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Helpful Articles on Selective Mutism
Social-Anxiety.com
I believe I have interacted with more individuals with avoidant personalities than anyone in the world! I’m neither bragging nor complaining. It’s
Psycho-physiological Therapy for Public Speaking Anxiety & Fear of Being Noticeably Nervous Public speaking anxiety is the #1 phobia which is often driven by the fear of being noticeably nervous.
The Perfect Storm of Anxiety Builds Momentum in the Educational System Although anxiety disorders are the most common mental illnesses in the United States most suffers do not receive help.
Three Crucial Points for the Treatment of Adult Selective Mutism An estimated 1 in 700 children have selective mutism (speaking phobia), but adult numbers are unknown, and treatment options remain
Having worked with over 10,ooo individuals of all ages with social and performance anxiety since 1978, the most common statements I’ve heard have been “I don’t have anything to say”
Mikey age 7, an intellectually gifted child, never spoke in school. The school recommended speech therapy. This proved useless as the problem was selective mutism, which is a very specific
This is a complex subject about which I can write extensively. My objective with this article is to identify, and begin to organize, mental health issues for the Selective