Why do people stop speaking after trauma?

While it might seem like a person with psychogenic

psychogenic
Classified as a "conversion disorder" by the DSM-IV, a psychogenic disease is a disease in which mental stressors cause physical symptoms of different diseases. The manifestation of physical symptoms without biologically identifiable causes results from disruptions of processes in the brain from psychological stress.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Psychogenic_disease
mutism
mutism
Mutism is typically understood as a person's inability to speak, and commonly observed by their family members, caregivers, teachers, doctors or speech and language pathologists.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Muteness
is simply refusing to speak, they actually feel physically unable to speak, and forcing the person to speak is unlikely to work. Some of the causes of psychogenic mutism may be general anxiety or past trauma.

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Do people stop talking after trauma?

When mutism occurs as a symptom of post-traumatic stress, it follows a very different pattern and the child suddenly stops talking in environments where they previously had no difficulty.

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Why are some people mute after trauma?

Reactive mutism: a reaction to trauma and/or abuse, with all children showing symptoms of depression and being notably withdrawn, usually showing no facial expressions. Notably, Hayden admits that some children put in this category had no apparent incident to react to, but they were included because of their symptoms.

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Can people go mute after trauma?

Children with traumatic mutism usually develop mutism suddenly in all situations. An example would be a child who witnesses the death of a grandparent or other traumatic event, is unable to process the event, and becomes mute in all settings.

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How long does traumatic mutism last?

After a coma lasting from 5 to 25 days, the seven patients who suffered from post-traumatic mutism went through a period of total absence of verbal production lasting from 5 to 94 days, associated with the recovery of non-verbal communication skills and emotional vocalization.

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The psychology of post-traumatic stress disorder - Joelle Rabow Maletis

18 related questions found

Can PTSD cause mutism?

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with dissociative features has also been associated as a potential precursor of selective mutism. Although it is an uncommon explanation for selective mutism, several cases of children who experienced severe abuse and trauma fit the classification of selective mutism.

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Can emotional trauma cause speech problems?

Emotional trauma can bring about psyhogenic stuttering and other speech disturbances in the form of conversion reactions, though these can be difficult to distinguish from neurogenic stuttering (Mayo 2017; Almada, Simões, Constante, Casquinha, & Heitor, 2016).

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Is the silent treatment a trauma response?

The silent treatment can stem from trauma, such as attachment injuries, trauma bond relationships, and childhood trauma, so it may also be especially helpful to consider individual therapy. This can help each individual dig deeper into their individual behaviors and help improve relational and communication skills.

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Can your brain shut down from trauma?

The front part of our brain, known as the prefrontal cortex, is the rational part where consciousness lives, processing and reasoning occurs, and we make meaning of language. When a trauma occurs, people enter into a fight, flight, or freeze state, which can result in the prefrontal cortex shutting down.

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What is freeze trauma response?

What happens during 'freeze'? The freeze response involves a different physiological process than fight or flight. Research from 2015 describes it as “attentive immobility.” While the person who is “frozen” is extremely alert, they are also unable to move or take action against the danger.

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Why do I go mute when I'm overwhelmed?

Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder that causes people to freeze up and turn silent in certain stressful situations — school is the most frequently reported one, as the disorder often pops up by age 5, when kids start attending preschool or kindergarten.

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How can you tell if someone has gone through trauma?

Signs and symptoms of emotional & psychological trauma
  • Intrusive thoughts of the event that may occur out of the blue.
  • Nightmares.
  • Visual images of the event.
  • Loss of memory and concentration abilities.
  • Disorientation.
  • Confusion.
  • Mood swings.

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Can someone's personality change after trauma?

Posttraumatic stress disorder after the intense stress is a risk of development enduring personality changes with serious individual and social consequences.

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What makes a person go mute?

Mutism can be a tricky diagnosis to make. Sometimes the culprit is purely physical: damage to the brain and/or speech muscles can leave a person mute. Sometimes the culprit appears to be emotional or mental. Other times, you'll run into some combination of the two.

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Does trauma permanently damage your brain?

Traumas like physical and emotional trauma often lead to PTSD which on average, affects roughly 8% of Americans. PTSD can typically be a lifelong problem for most people, resulting in severe brain damage.

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Where is trauma stored in the body?

Ever since people's responses to overwhelming experiences have been systematically explored, researchers have noted that a trauma is stored in somatic memory and expressed as changes in the biological stress response.

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Does trauma change the brain permanently?

Brain areas implicated in the stress response include the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Traumatic stress can be associated with lasting changes in these brain areas.

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What are the 4 Responses to trauma?

The mental health community broadly recognizes four types of trauma responses:
  • Fight.
  • Flight.
  • Freeze.
  • Fawn.

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What type of person gives the silent treatment?

Avoidance: In some cases, people stay silent in a conversation because they do not know what to say or want to avoid conflict. Communication: A person may use the silent treatment if they do not know how to express their feelings but want their partner to know that they are upset.

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Why silent treatment is the best revenge?

Silence speaks volumes

The best revenge is no reaction. Believe it, the silence and zero reaction really bothers your ex, and they consider it as the best served revenge. Nothing creates more curiosity than silence. Your ex would expect a vent or an angry rant from you, but don't give in.

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What is a traumatized brain likely to show?

Trauma can cause your brain to remain in a state of hypervigilance, suppressing your memory and impulse control and trapping you in a constant state of strong emotional reactivity.

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Can mental breakdown cause loss of speech?

In some cases, certain underlying anxiety conditions may impact speech more than others, such as somatic OCD or social anxiety . These conditions can both cause a hyperawareness of speech, which in turn may lead to speech impairments, such as slurring.

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How does trauma affect communication?

EXAMPLES of How Trauma Impacts Communication:

You may start to believe that your communication issues are your fault. You may experience a feeling of being “trapped” and unable to escape in social situations (freeze response). You may feel stress, worry, panic or anxiety in social situations or relationships.

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What are some unusual signs of PTSD?

Presence of one (or more) of the following symptoms of intrusion associated with the traumatic event: Recurrent, intrusive distressing memories of the traumatic event. Recurrent distressing dreams about the event. Flashbacks in which the person feels or acts as if the traumatic event is recurring.

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Can PTSD cause loss of speech?

Patients with PTSD tended to speak in flatter speech, with less articulation of the tongue and lips and a more monotonous tone, the researchers reported.

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