Selective Mutism

Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder in which a person who is otherwise capable of speech becomes emotionally overwhelmed and does not speak when exposed to specific situations, places, or people that serve as triggers. It usually co-exists with social anxiety disorder, and affected people may stay silent even when the consequences include shame, social ostracism, or punishment, sometimes wanting to speak but feeling unable to get the words out. The majority of children diagnosed with selective mutism have comorbid social anxiety disorder, found in 100 percent of participants in two studies and 97 percent in another; estimates of prevalence vary between 0.2 and 1.6 percent, and the DSM-5 moved it from the childhood disorders section into the anxiety disorders category.