EstherJ wrote:
I have been experiencing a weird symptom when under stress. It's been going on for about a year now.
When I get stressed out, over-stimulated, or pressured, I lose the ability to form words correctly and speak well. Sometimes I can't get words out at all....other times I can get words out but I keep repeating words over and over. Sometimes I can't get more than a couple out at a time.
It's baffling. I can only really explain it with examples.
If I'm stressed out I usually am verbally fluent until I have to explain the situation to someone. Then I start losing words, can't look at the person, start over-gesturing, and all my thoughts rush at me so fast that I can't sort them out and form sentences with them. I repeat, stutter, halt, and get very frustrated.
On a more severe scale I will become non-verbal and my thoughts will slow down. Words run into my mind really slowly, and I notice things slowly.
If I'm over-stimulated by any kind of physical stimulus I won't find myself non-verbal until it's too late to get away to a calm place. I will be so focused on the pain of the sensory problem that I don't realize that I'm unable to speak.
If people pressure me to answer quickly, I can't organize my thoughts quickly enough to formulate a coherent answer. Often I get only a little bit out; in extreme situations I go nonverbal.
I don't think its selective mutism because I cannot predict it; it can happen when I'm by myself or when I'm with people. My psychologist called it involuntary mutism because I can try to talk but can barely do so.
I'm not sure what this is. Everything, including my synesthesia, is screwed up when this happens. Perhaps it's some kind of shutdown?
This is one of many forms of selective mutism. This particular type is usually called situational mutism - when there is a factor that repeatedly causes mutism in particular situations.
I get it too. Usually when going to the doctor, some other professional, having to make public speeches, or like you said, when stressed or overwhelmed - being pressured socially or being overwhelmed emotionally, or too much sensory stimulation, etc. My thoughts stop converting to speech, no matter how hard I try.
Just because you cannot predict it does not mean it is not selective mutism. If you find you cannot convert thoughts into words, if that part of your brain that "translates" them has temporarily "crashed", then that is still selective mutism. It can and does happen during shutdowns as well, although shutdowns are not always required, you can have it with them, or without them.