Selective Mutism
Selective Mutism
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Prevalence
Prevalence
Selective mutism is a relatively rare disorder and has not been properly included as a diagnostic category in epidemiological studies of prevalence.
The disorder is more likely to manifest in young children than in adolescents and adults.
Risk factors
Risk factors
Environmental
Environmental
Social inhibition on the part of parents may serve as a model for social reticence and selective mutism in children.
Furthermore, parents of children with selective mutism have been described as overprotective or more controlling than parents of children with other anxiety disorders or no disorder.
Genetic and physiological factors
Genetic and physiological factors
Because of the significant overlap between selective mutism and social anxiety disorder, there may be shared genetic factors between these conditions.
Symptoms
Symptoms
Do not initiate speech or reciprocally respond when spoken to by others in social interactions
Speak in their home in the presence of immediate family members but often not even in front of close friends or second-degree relatives.
Refuse to speak at school, leading to academic or educational impairment.
The failure to speak is not attributable to a lack of knowledge of, or comfort with, the spoken language required in the social situation.
The duration of the disturbance is at least 1 month (not limited to the first month of school).
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