Treatment
Contrary to popular belief, people suffering from selective mutism do not necessarily improve with age. Effective treatment is necessary for a child to develop properly. Without treatment, selective mutism can contribute to chronic depression, further anxiety, and other social and emotional problems.
Consequently, treatment at an early age is important. If not addressed, selective mutism tends to be self-reinforcing. Those around such a person may eventually expect him or her not to speak and therefore stop attempting to initiate verbal contact with the sufferer. Alternately, they may pressure the child to talk, making him or her have even higher anxiety levels in situations where speech is expected. Because of these problems, a change of environment (such as changing schools) may make a difference, and treatment in teenage or adult years can be more difficult because the sufferer has become accustomed to being mute.
The exact treatment depends on the sufferer's age, other mental illnesses he or she may have, and a number of other factors. For instance, stimulus fading is typically used with younger children, because older children and teenagers recognize the situation as an attempt to make them speak, and older sufferers and people with depression are more likely to need medication.
Read more about this topic: Selective Mutism
Famous quotes containing the word treatment:
“Judge Ginsburg’s selection should be a model—chosen on merit and not ideology, despite some naysaying, with little advance publicity. Her treatment could begin to overturn a terrible precedent: that is, that the most terrifying sentence among the accomplished in America has become, “Honey—the White House is on the phone.””
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“Narcissist: psychoanalytic term for the person who loves himself more than his analyst; considered to be the manifestation of a dire mental disease whose successful treatment depends on the patient learning to love the analyst more and himself less.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)
“[17th-century] Puritans were the first modern parents. Like many of us, they looked on their treatment of children as a test of their own self-control. Their goal was not to simply to ensure the child’s duty to the family, but to help him or her make personal, individual commitments. They were the first authors to state that children must obey God rather than parents, in case of a clear conflict.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)