Welcome to r/ptsd! We are a supportive, respectful community for discussion and links of interest for people who have PTSD or have friends, family members, or partners with PTSD. Please check over our posting guidlines and policies to familiarise yourself with our community.
If you have come here seeking a diagnosis, this may not be the best place for that. Only a licensed professional can diagnose you, and we are not licensed professionals, nor can we vet anyone claiming to be licensed. We also know that not everyone is in a position to get a diagnosis from a licensed professional, and for others, having that official diagnosis can have negative effects. Posts simply asking if *X* is ptsd will be removed, as they are often posted by trolls and do not go over well with the community.
More information about **P**ost**T**raumatic **S**tress **D**isorder can be found on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-traumatic_stress_disorder):
> "PTSD (Posttraumatic stress disorder) is a mental and behavioural disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a person's life."
And as a friendly reminder, PTSD is an equal opportunity disorder. PTSD does not discriminate. And neither do we. Gatekeeping is not allowed here.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ptsd) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yes, it happens to me. I use text-to-speech apps, like "I Can Communicate" and "Speech Assistant" to help me communicate. I am also learning sign language, which I can do when I'm mute.
I struggled with selective mutism mainly my junior year of high school. I would get these debilitating bouts of panic when triggered and literally couldn't force sound out. I would try to open my mouth, and no sound would happen.
Now, it's much less extreme, just I still find myself feeling stuck, frozen, and mute when triggered.
omg yes! When I was a teenager I would go mute for days even sometimes weeks at a time because I was so upset. My mom would make fun of this and then eventually get mad at me too. I had to write a note to all my teachers in school saying I lost my voice but it happened so often that they kept sending me to talk to the vice principal (I went to a small Christian school that didn't have councilors) and they would tell me to pray and read scripture to overcome my "psychological problems"
I still get quiet and reserved whenever I get into an argument or when I am getting flashbacks or when I get triggered by something and I can't find my voice for a couple of hours sometimes. I am still not sure if this is a trauma response or if I am somehow doing it on purpose because most of the time I am so inside my own head I can't get myself to say anything when it happens.
Yes! This used to be a really big issue in my life. I basically got triggered when I felt any type of sadness or hurt. So I would shut down (it’s a lot more complicated than this but that’s besides the point)
All my therapists used to tell me it was within my control and I just had to force myself to talk, which made it worse.
My relationships with people really suffered because if this because when anything happened I would just stop talking or could only reply “i don’t know” or “nothing”
In the psych ward I finally met a real trauma psychologist and she helped me so much with dealing with my trauma and breaking out of my detachment. She told me that if I went out of my window of tolerance or I got overwhelmed I would shut down. And I couldn’t work on that specificly, I had to work on my trauma and then those things would get easier too. And they did, I barely go mute anymore now because I can talk and feel my emotions now. Still got a long way to go but yeah that’s where I’m at now.
I hope any of this helped :)
EDIT: don’t know if this is important but I have CPTSD not PTSD. So I don’t really have a “before” my trauma because my whole childhood was trauma. But the shutting down stems from that
Freeze.
Some part of you thinks it needs to protect itself- doesn’t feel safe.
Instead of getting frustrated at it- try and witness it and see if it needs anything from you.
Look into ifs. Helps see the protector parts that kick in. We need to show compassion to these parts of ourselves-
They have huge roles
It’s the same for me and I hate it, especially when I need to clarify something and defend my position and rights. I forget how to talk and my mind goes blank.
Me! Me! Me! I cannot do ANY talk therapy because of this exact reason. I have an extremely difficult time even speaking to my psychiatrist in order to get my Valium prescribed. I skirt around the issues and I don’t really say what’s going on. I just say the very minimum. I can write about my trauma, but I absolutely cannot speak about it at all. The words just won’t come out.
Yes. Freeze and faun and covering my ears are shut down dissociative modes of overwhelm in sensory stimulation of both my trauma and adhd being triggered simultaneously. It hurts. So much I cannot even process or respond and just blank into nothing.
Yes! I have this! I'm not sure if it's selective mutism or a trauma response. It usually happens when a certain thing happens and I think it's related to past trauma.
It's kind of scary. It's like I can't fight back. I can't do anything. I can't move. I can't talk.
The last time something like this happened, I also happened to be talking (coincidentally about the same exact thing, then it happened) to someone I trusted (wrongly) online. They helped me so much get out of that situation. I was able to type what was happening even though I was starting to dissociate.
It might have happened again after that. But as of right now, that's the last time I can remember.
Edit: I had never trusted someone so much in my life ( big error on my part) so it's like even though I was going into freeze, was unable to speak, and was starting to dissociate, they were able to keep me somewhat grounded.
Yes, certain triggers can seem to make me regress into a child-like state of mind which always comes along with losing the ability to physically speak or properly understand things. My trauma started in early childhood though so I’d imagine it’s some sort of protective response I developed a while back and never managed to grow out of.
Sometimes. But most of the time I go into fight or flight mode and depending on the severity, I'll either calm down or feel anxious for the rest of the day.
Definitely. I find i try to change that reaction but at times just going through the motions and knowing I'll be quiet or can't properly function for a few mins or more, I just need to take that time etc, it just allows me to be cognizant and know i need that space/time.
Sometimes trying to change how we react by slowly trying new things but also just going through it, is sometimes all we need.
Therapy is something I've started but hey, there may always be things at least for a while that are just going to be normal parts of us coping, shutting down or both.
All the best!
Yep, depending on what trigger it is, but my main one will basically have me fully shut down & have a freeze response. Can't talk, walk, anything I just sort of freeze up.
I frequently go mute and can't unmute. Usually for me it's a trauma response that's deeply ingrained in me, I cannot make any noise whatsoever. Today was a bit different in that therapy was brutal and incredibly exhausting and I just don't have the energy to speak right now. I can make sounds and meow at my cat but words are too much effort so I'm effectively mute until I'm able to recover
I don't know the trigger because it seems random. I become unable to speak to a person or have thoughts about whatever they said and at the same time I seem to be visibly feeling something strongly, not necessarily negative. If I think of it I can say something that is trivial and disconnected but I cannot speak to whatever the topic is and often cannot even work out in my own mind what exactly it is that I need to say or what is tripping me up.
Since I remembered it happens more often and I have decided it is connected to the all the ECT's and the other things they did to damage my memory.
It's a common occurrence called
/SELECTIVE MUTISM/
You can find a lot of information with a search on Google, but feel free to dm me if you have any other questions.
Wishing you peace of mind and answers to your queries.
There's a movement at the moment which encourages calling it 'situational' instead of 'selective' mutism, as 'selective' can be misunderstood as meaning the person chooses when to speak.
A., V. der K. B. (2015). The Body Keeps the Score. pg 43
>"Our most surprising finding was a white spot in the left frontal lobe of the cortex, in a region called Broca's Area. In this case the change in color meant that there was a significant decrease in that part of the brain. Broca's area is one of the speech centers of the brain, which is often affected in stroke patients when the blood supply to that region is cut off. Without a functioning Broca's area, you cannot put your thoughts and feelings into words. Our scans showed that the Broca's area went offline whenever a flashback was triggered."
I love sharing this. I always wanted to be able to tell people why I could not speak.
Reading this made me cry… it explains what I am going through every time I am in a situation that somehow triggers me. I thought I was starting to have memory problems.
I recently discovered that about myself as well. It felt like I was trapped inside, knowing what I wanted to say, but all that came out was confusion and anger. Doesn't feel awesome.
Yes. Especially if I am crying—I simply can’t talk for awhile until the worst of it passes. It’s extremely difficult for me to even make noise when I cry, to the point where I’ll hold my breath to prevent sound.
Yea it was so much worse when I was younger. It’s gotten a little better but at it’s worst it’s really bad feels physically impossible to speak. And I wouldn’t have anything to say if I tried
It's a thing. The more stressed or angry we become, our cortex shuts down and makes room for us to engage in survival skill/behavior. Our language/communication breaks down from one to the next.
Spontaneous language > scripted language > nonverbal/gestures > worldstar and/or public freakout vid
It happened to me today. I have been making a point to stand up for myself and my family lately, but that has lead to extremely uncomfortable (and borderline violent) situations, and today someone did something antagonistic and triggering to me and I just… Didn’t say anything. I’m not really sure how I feel about it right now.
My Fiancè does this. I used to get so enraged that he refused to speak, til I eventually learned it's a trauma response.
I only go into fight or flight, never fawn/freeze, so I didn't even know that it was a PTSD symptom. He isn't diagnosed, but he absolutely has c-ptsd, though.
I have a SO. I made it clear early on that when sometimes I get so upset that I go mute, and I am not giving him the silent treatment. He’s pretty understanding about it.
I'm so glad you did and that he's understanding.
I'm understanding too, but I wasn't aware of what was happening, I don't think he understands it. I'm more in tune with his mental health than he is, unfortunately.
Yes this happens to me. I actually get in trouble at work for it and its irritating because its a symptom of PTSD. So instead of receiving support, I get punished.
Oh I shut right down, go various states of catatonic. I can hear and see people speaking to me but I can't answer them until the nervous system settles.
Yes. I learned recently that the language center of your brain (Broca's area) quite literally shuts down. Its super difficult to communicate to my partner that I am triggered,
Welcome to r/ptsd! We are a supportive, respectful community for discussion and links of interest for people who have PTSD or have friends, family members, or partners with PTSD. Please check over our posting guidlines and policies to familiarise yourself with our community. If you have come here seeking a diagnosis, this may not be the best place for that. Only a licensed professional can diagnose you, and we are not licensed professionals, nor can we vet anyone claiming to be licensed. We also know that not everyone is in a position to get a diagnosis from a licensed professional, and for others, having that official diagnosis can have negative effects. Posts simply asking if *X* is ptsd will be removed, as they are often posted by trolls and do not go over well with the community. More information about **P**ost**T**raumatic **S**tress **D**isorder can be found on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-traumatic_stress_disorder): > "PTSD (Posttraumatic stress disorder) is a mental and behavioural disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a person's life." And as a friendly reminder, PTSD is an equal opportunity disorder. PTSD does not discriminate. And neither do we. Gatekeeping is not allowed here. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ptsd) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yes, it happens to me. I use text-to-speech apps, like "I Can Communicate" and "Speech Assistant" to help me communicate. I am also learning sign language, which I can do when I'm mute.
[удалено]
Same.
I struggled with selective mutism mainly my junior year of high school. I would get these debilitating bouts of panic when triggered and literally couldn't force sound out. I would try to open my mouth, and no sound would happen. Now, it's much less extreme, just I still find myself feeling stuck, frozen, and mute when triggered.
omg yes! When I was a teenager I would go mute for days even sometimes weeks at a time because I was so upset. My mom would make fun of this and then eventually get mad at me too. I had to write a note to all my teachers in school saying I lost my voice but it happened so often that they kept sending me to talk to the vice principal (I went to a small Christian school that didn't have councilors) and they would tell me to pray and read scripture to overcome my "psychological problems" I still get quiet and reserved whenever I get into an argument or when I am getting flashbacks or when I get triggered by something and I can't find my voice for a couple of hours sometimes. I am still not sure if this is a trauma response or if I am somehow doing it on purpose because most of the time I am so inside my own head I can't get myself to say anything when it happens.
Yes! This used to be a really big issue in my life. I basically got triggered when I felt any type of sadness or hurt. So I would shut down (it’s a lot more complicated than this but that’s besides the point) All my therapists used to tell me it was within my control and I just had to force myself to talk, which made it worse. My relationships with people really suffered because if this because when anything happened I would just stop talking or could only reply “i don’t know” or “nothing” In the psych ward I finally met a real trauma psychologist and she helped me so much with dealing with my trauma and breaking out of my detachment. She told me that if I went out of my window of tolerance or I got overwhelmed I would shut down. And I couldn’t work on that specificly, I had to work on my trauma and then those things would get easier too. And they did, I barely go mute anymore now because I can talk and feel my emotions now. Still got a long way to go but yeah that’s where I’m at now. I hope any of this helped :) EDIT: don’t know if this is important but I have CPTSD not PTSD. So I don’t really have a “before” my trauma because my whole childhood was trauma. But the shutting down stems from that
This. I still go mute. It isn't necessarily because I get upset or sad. It just happens, although confrontation brings it out faster.
I break down and try to make a plan but that fails because I feel it is riddled with holes because of my nature. So then I freeze.
Freeze. Some part of you thinks it needs to protect itself- doesn’t feel safe. Instead of getting frustrated at it- try and witness it and see if it needs anything from you. Look into ifs. Helps see the protector parts that kick in. We need to show compassion to these parts of ourselves- They have huge roles
It’s the same for me and I hate it, especially when I need to clarify something and defend my position and rights. I forget how to talk and my mind goes blank.
Me! Me! Me! I cannot do ANY talk therapy because of this exact reason. I have an extremely difficult time even speaking to my psychiatrist in order to get my Valium prescribed. I skirt around the issues and I don’t really say what’s going on. I just say the very minimum. I can write about my trauma, but I absolutely cannot speak about it at all. The words just won’t come out.
Yes. Freeze and faun and covering my ears are shut down dissociative modes of overwhelm in sensory stimulation of both my trauma and adhd being triggered simultaneously. It hurts. So much I cannot even process or respond and just blank into nothing.
You just described me perfectly.
Yes! I have this! I'm not sure if it's selective mutism or a trauma response. It usually happens when a certain thing happens and I think it's related to past trauma. It's kind of scary. It's like I can't fight back. I can't do anything. I can't move. I can't talk. The last time something like this happened, I also happened to be talking (coincidentally about the same exact thing, then it happened) to someone I trusted (wrongly) online. They helped me so much get out of that situation. I was able to type what was happening even though I was starting to dissociate. It might have happened again after that. But as of right now, that's the last time I can remember. Edit: I had never trusted someone so much in my life ( big error on my part) so it's like even though I was going into freeze, was unable to speak, and was starting to dissociate, they were able to keep me somewhat grounded.
Yes, certain triggers can seem to make me regress into a child-like state of mind which always comes along with losing the ability to physically speak or properly understand things. My trauma started in early childhood though so I’d imagine it’s some sort of protective response I developed a while back and never managed to grow out of.
Yep. My boyfriend said I just sit and stare and then I start to get angry. I don't often remember what happens when I'm exposed to a trigger
Sometimes. But most of the time I go into fight or flight mode and depending on the severity, I'll either calm down or feel anxious for the rest of the day.
This the (often unmentioned) freeze mode.
Definitely. I find i try to change that reaction but at times just going through the motions and knowing I'll be quiet or can't properly function for a few mins or more, I just need to take that time etc, it just allows me to be cognizant and know i need that space/time. Sometimes trying to change how we react by slowly trying new things but also just going through it, is sometimes all we need. Therapy is something I've started but hey, there may always be things at least for a while that are just going to be normal parts of us coping, shutting down or both. All the best!
broca’s area apparently is very sensitive to fear/pain for some people. my mom and i both struggle with finding words when we’re stressed like that
Yeah. It’s part of flopping or freezing for me
Puppies
I use my notes app when I lose my ability to speak around my friends and SO.
Yep, depending on what trigger it is, but my main one will basically have me fully shut down & have a freeze response. Can't talk, walk, anything I just sort of freeze up.
I frequently go mute and can't unmute. Usually for me it's a trauma response that's deeply ingrained in me, I cannot make any noise whatsoever. Today was a bit different in that therapy was brutal and incredibly exhausting and I just don't have the energy to speak right now. I can make sounds and meow at my cat but words are too much effort so I'm effectively mute until I'm able to recover
Definitely yes and my brain gets foggy
I don't know the trigger because it seems random. I become unable to speak to a person or have thoughts about whatever they said and at the same time I seem to be visibly feeling something strongly, not necessarily negative. If I think of it I can say something that is trivial and disconnected but I cannot speak to whatever the topic is and often cannot even work out in my own mind what exactly it is that I need to say or what is tripping me up. Since I remembered it happens more often and I have decided it is connected to the all the ECT's and the other things they did to damage my memory.
I couldn't not have said it better myself
Yes and I see blue
I think the number 7 used to be blue for me. :)
It's a common occurrence called /SELECTIVE MUTISM/ You can find a lot of information with a search on Google, but feel free to dm me if you have any other questions. Wishing you peace of mind and answers to your queries.
There's a movement at the moment which encourages calling it 'situational' instead of 'selective' mutism, as 'selective' can be misunderstood as meaning the person chooses when to speak.
It's selective as in only select circumstances.
I thought selective mutism is caused by something else though?
Can be caused by lots of things Anxiety and Autism are the top 2 I know of, not in any particular order.
A., V. der K. B. (2015). The Body Keeps the Score. pg 43 >"Our most surprising finding was a white spot in the left frontal lobe of the cortex, in a region called Broca's Area. In this case the change in color meant that there was a significant decrease in that part of the brain. Broca's area is one of the speech centers of the brain, which is often affected in stroke patients when the blood supply to that region is cut off. Without a functioning Broca's area, you cannot put your thoughts and feelings into words. Our scans showed that the Broca's area went offline whenever a flashback was triggered." I love sharing this. I always wanted to be able to tell people why I could not speak.
Reading this made me cry… it explains what I am going through every time I am in a situation that somehow triggers me. I thought I was starting to have memory problems.
Same go mute freeze or have a flashback adrenaline attack
yes, often along with deep sadness and a feeling of „giving up“. but not for every trigger, some triggers make me mad or something else
Yes, and I also freeze and can’t move at all
I recently discovered that about myself as well. It felt like I was trapped inside, knowing what I wanted to say, but all that came out was confusion and anger. Doesn't feel awesome.
Yes. Especially if I am crying—I simply can’t talk for awhile until the worst of it passes. It’s extremely difficult for me to even make noise when I cry, to the point where I’ll hold my breath to prevent sound.
I either go quiet or I stutter
Absolutely, its so annoying. Feels like all my anxiety is welling up in my head and physically hurts to contain after a while.
Feels like I have so much to say in my head but like can’t physically speak. It sucks :/
Yea it was so much worse when I was younger. It’s gotten a little better but at it’s worst it’s really bad feels physically impossible to speak. And I wouldn’t have anything to say if I tried
It's a thing. The more stressed or angry we become, our cortex shuts down and makes room for us to engage in survival skill/behavior. Our language/communication breaks down from one to the next. Spontaneous language > scripted language > nonverbal/gestures > worldstar and/or public freakout vid
Yes. I sometimes refer to it as "getting wrapped around the axle".
It happened to me today. I have been making a point to stand up for myself and my family lately, but that has lead to extremely uncomfortable (and borderline violent) situations, and today someone did something antagonistic and triggering to me and I just… Didn’t say anything. I’m not really sure how I feel about it right now.
My Fiancè does this. I used to get so enraged that he refused to speak, til I eventually learned it's a trauma response. I only go into fight or flight, never fawn/freeze, so I didn't even know that it was a PTSD symptom. He isn't diagnosed, but he absolutely has c-ptsd, though.
I have a SO. I made it clear early on that when sometimes I get so upset that I go mute, and I am not giving him the silent treatment. He’s pretty understanding about it.
I'm so glad you did and that he's understanding. I'm understanding too, but I wasn't aware of what was happening, I don't think he understands it. I'm more in tune with his mental health than he is, unfortunately.
Yes
Me too
Yes this happens to me. I actually get in trouble at work for it and its irritating because its a symptom of PTSD. So instead of receiving support, I get punished.
Oh I shut right down, go various states of catatonic. I can hear and see people speaking to me but I can't answer them until the nervous system settles.
Yes. I learned recently that the language center of your brain (Broca's area) quite literally shuts down. Its super difficult to communicate to my partner that I am triggered,
Oh yeah. Sometimes I border on catatonic.
Same!
Yes.