Selective mutism on Yahoo!Japan Directory

Here is Yahoo! Directory on selective mutism.

Directory > Health > Diseases and Conditions > Selective Mutism

But there is no directory about selective mutism on Yahoo!Japan.

At present two Japanese websites about selective mutism are listed on Yahoo!Japan.
The one is in the anxiety disorder directory.
The other is in the handicapped children directory.

Yahoo!Japan have a dominating presence among Japanese search engine sites. Japanese people use Yahoo!Japan search rather than Google search. So, it's important for Japanese web masters whether their web sites are listed on Yahoo!Japan directory or not.

I also manage a Japanese website The Selective Mutism Journal. I tried to submit my websie to Yahoo!Japan several times, but my website has never been submitted. :(

Index of SM in Japan

Unrequited love

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Chapter 4 Selective mutism and my junior high school years

Unrequited love

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I loved one girl, K. She was a classmate girl. I didn't know how she thought of me, but I guessed that it was unrequited love.

In contrast to me, she had very sociable, convivial and extrovert personality.

In retrospect, I tended to love such girls when I suffered from selective mutism. I had a desire to change my extremely shy personality then. So, I was attracted by their personality.

* * * * * * * * * *

One episode I remember was that I touched her shoulder.

One day, I was asked her friend to get K. Ordinary students will utter a word to get K. But I had selective mutism. So, I approached her, touched her shoulder, and then point to her friend. K understood what I wanted to say and went to her.

I thought that I was lucky to be selectively mute. I was allowed to touch her shoulder because every classmate understood my selective mutism. If I didn't have selective mutism, my behavior might be regarded as sexual harassment.

* * * * * * * * * *

But I didn't confess my love to her.

I fell in love with many girls. But strange to say, I didn't want to go out with them when I had selective mutism.

I must have been odd boy. Most boys felt in love with the opposite sex want to go out with them. But I didn't. Why?

[Taijin kyofusho]

When I had selective mutism, I felt fear of communicating with others. In Japan, the symptom is called Taijin Kyofusyo. I guess that my fear of others was so terrible that my fear might exceed the appetite for communicating with girls.

[Sense of alienation]

I had a sense of alienation to children of my generation. I felt that I was a alien or something. My selective mutism was one of the most important factor causing a sense of alienation.

So, I felt that I couldn't go out with girls.

[My serious personality]

I was often called a "serious man." I was so serious that I believed that it was unwholesome to date with girls in puberty or adolescence.

* * * * * * * * * *

At the last month of the final school term, my homeroom teacher changed seating. It was the last time my teacher changed seating.

As a result of drawing lots, I was assigned to K's neighbor. I felt as if I was in heaven!

But when I thought carefully, I felt anxious for K. Were K satisfied to sit next to me? She was a chatterbox. On the other hand, I had selective mutism.

I spent a month next to K. When she left her desk, she became a chatterbox. But when she sat on her desk, she became mute. It was hard for me. She didn't seem to be happy when she sat next to me.

* * * * * * * * * *

Closing Exercises were held on March. In Japan school term starts in April and ends in March.

My teachers and classmates understood my mutism, although none of them might know the term "selective mutism." No people blamed me. They were very kind to me.

But my selective mutism didn't improve during the year.

(To be continued)

Index of SM story

Kanner's "psychogenic mutism"

[Kanner's classification of mutism]

childhood schizophrenia
infantile autism
idiocy mutism
deaf mutism
hysteric mutism
psychogenic mutism

The source of the classification is Leo Kanner's Child Psychiatry.

"Psychogenic mutism" is what is now called selective mutism.

Kanner's classification of mutism has been cited by Japanese literature on selective mutism. On the Internet, Wikipedia (Japanese edition) classifies mutism based on Kanner's classification.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B7%98%E9%BB%99

But I've never seen the classification in English literature at present.

* * * * * * * * * *

Incidentally, according to Kanner's classification, where should these terms be classified into?

akinetic mutism
cerebellar mutism

Index of SM in Japan

My neighbor

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Chapter 4 Selective mutism and my junior high school years

My neighbor

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My homeroom teacher changed seating every month. Seating was decided by drawing lots.

I loved one classmate girl. I prayed that I would be assigned to her neighbor. But my pray didn't work.

* * * * * * * * * *

One day, I was assigned to Y's neighbor as a result of drawing lots.

Y was a classmate girl. It may be rude to say this, but she seemed to be a quiet and undistinguished girl in my class. Maybe some classmates didn't know her. In a way, I thought that she resembled me.

But when I first seated next to her, my impression of her changed.

She spoke to me pleasantly. She was very friendly with me. Until then, I had thought that she seemed to be undistinguished. But when I got close with her, I first realized her pleasant personality.

One episode I remember was that she said an interesting thing to me. "I think Tomishige is funny at heart." I'd never met people saying such a thing. I was a child with selective mutism. I was an impassive at school. But actually when I went back home, I became a funny boy.

* * * * * * * * * *

Unfortunately, Y moved to Tokyo at the end of the school year.

I wanted to say something to her, but I couldn't.

(To be continued)

Index of SM story

Selective mutism BBSes and FORUMs in Japan

Here is a Forum about selective mutism that I administer. Japanese only, though.

http://atbb.jp/smjournal/index.php

There are many BBSes and Forums about selective mutism in Japan. Administrators are individuals. Some of them are people who suffered (suffer) selective mutism. Some of them are mothers of children with selective mutism.

Many Japanese websites about selective mutism are administered by individuals. So are Japanese BBSes and Forums.

But I think that the largest BBS or Forum about selective mutism is a thread of 2ch.

http://life8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/utu/1183563051/l50

2ch is the largest Internet forum in Japan. One of the characteristics of 2ch is that people can post their comments anonymously. I guess that's one of the reason why 2ch is so large.

Index of SM in Japan

My academic performance

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Chapter 4 Selective mutism and my junior high school years

My academic performance

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[I was very good at ...]

English / Mathematics / Social studies

[I was good at...]

Japanese language / Science / Music

[I wasn't good at...]

Physical education / Art / Craft / Home economics

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Except for practical subjects, my academic performance was above average.

In Japanese junior high school, academic performance was measured by written exam. But practical subjects (Music, Physical education, Art, Craft, Home economics) were exception. In terms of practical subjects, practical exam was also important.

We Japanese children were obliged to learn English from junior high school. Believe it or not, I always got good grades on English exam, although I was not good at Japanese. :(

Social studies was one of the most favorite subject. I was a Shakai Gakari. Shakai Gakari was a class committee member that assists social studies teacher.

But my academic performance in practical subjects was poor on the whole. I didn't like practical subjects. Although most male students liked physical education, I didn't like it.

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Aside from my academic performance, our homeroom teacher recorded our submission status. We had to submit many kinds of works to the teacher. Almost all students, especially male students, failed to submit those works at least once. But believe it or not, I never failed to do that.

I was a very obedient student.

(To be continued)

Index of SM story