Bias

Some current and former sufferers of selective mutism (and maybe their parents) think various things about selective mutism on the basis of their experiences.

For instance, "I suffered from severe depression as a lasting effect of selective mutism. So, selective mutism in general have severe lasting effects."

"I overcame my selective mutism by myself. So, Everyone can overcome selective mutism by themselves."

But it's impossible to generalize personal experience.

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View of selective mutism by current and former sufferers (and maybe their parents) may be biased.

Their views are limited. They know their symptoms in detail, but don't necessarily know others' well.

Some become emotional when it comes to selective mutism, because they experienced selective mutism. For instance, if someone say selective mutism is less common in adults than children, how do adults with selective mutism feel?

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I know the impossibility of generalizing personal experience. But I'm driven by emotion as well as reason. Deep down, I want to generalize my experiences to think selective mutism. But I should follow the dictates of reason.

Of course, if I collect many personal experiences, I may find something in common. That's induction.

Selective mutism and heredity

I learned of a project that collects DNA samples of parents of selectively mute children. The project is carried out by a research team from University of California.

Existing research literature suggests the heredity factors in selective mutism.

If it becomes clearer that heredity contributes to selective mutism, how will current or former selective mutism sufferers feel? If they get married, their children have the risk of suffering from selective mutism. Some current or former sufferers may hesitate to get married. Some may even hesitate to date with the opposite sex.

Parents may have mixed feeling. Some researchers, especially in Japan, have pointed out that parenting style is a major cause of selective mutism. So, some parents, especially mothers, have a guilty conscience about their parenting style. But if it becomes clearer that heredity contributes to selective mutism, they don't have to suffer from it as they used to do. But they may have another guilty conscience.

Even so, I expect the research team to study the relationship between selective mutism and heredity. I think it's important to elucidate the etiology of selective mutism.

Students sitting near me

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Chapter 5 Selective mutism and my high school years

Students sitting near me

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I was promoted to the sophomore. As I wrote my previous post, my desk was in the corner of the classroom.

Students sitting near me was S and M.



S was a boy sitting in front of me. M was a girl sitting next to me. M was my former female classmate. When she and I were in the sixth grade, there was a rumor that she loved me.

At first, I was mute. I didn't talk to anyone. But some time later, S talked to me. I replied in a low voice. As it was the start of the school year, I had drive to speak. And the episode shows I began to overcome selective mutism. We continued to do such things. We gradually become close to each other. I also become close to Z, a friend of S. But I consistently had a passive attitude toward them. I didn't think they were my friends.

On the other hand, I didn't talk to M. Neither did M. But I occasionally asked her to show her textbook with her, because I sometimes forgot my textbooks. One day I thanked her for showing her textbook to me with my awkward way of speaking. M said with sparkling eyes, "Uun, betsu ni. (You're welcome.)" Then she suddenly grasped a friend of her by the arm and dashed out of the classroom very delightedly.

She looked odd when it comes to me.

When I talked to S, I sometimes smiled. M wanted to watch me smiling, probably because when she and I were the same class in elementary school, my selective mutism was so severe that I didn't smile at school. So, when I smiled, M sometimes looked at me. But I didn't want her to see smiling for some reason. When she looked at me, I quickly changed my expression.

(To be continued)

Index of SM story