When we faced with a threatening situation, our amygdala works faster than the frontal cortex. So that frequently we leave this situation and then we think over it. Joseph LeDoux, a researcher in the field of fear, emotions and memory, describe a useful example: when we see a snake we don’t need to be aware that it is a reptile or people used its skin to make boots before we run away.
The truth is we have a limited conscious control over our reactions. We can explain ourselves that fear is irrational, but once we deal with a scare event, subconscious wins more power than we expect. Reasoning has an important role in children with selective mutism over time. This role serves the child's instinct to stay safe but unluckily leads to a more settled and damaging belief system.
The book “The selective mutism resource manual” provides us evidence and some real cases of SM. Its author explains that children who have selective mutism are very aware of the situations they can or can’t manage. It is found that some children with SM can speak with strangers or in some specific situations. Normally they don’t want other people to know that they are able to speak in a few contexts, because this will increase the expectations of their parents.
It is a fact that the longer children live with the negative consequences of selective mutism, the more threatened they are, and the more affection on their self-image. SM is far more than a fear of speaking, it affects the way children think about themselves and others. Experts find out that many people with SM have Social anxiety disorders too. One child told “When I stood in the classroom for the first time and that anxiety hit me, I had no say in the matter, it just struck. The same happened at every subsequent expectation to speak.
If you want to know other aspects related to selective mutism you can browse the book, it is very interesting!
Johnson, M. & Wintgens, A. (2017). The Selective Mutism Resource Manual: 2nd Edition. https://books.google.es/books?id=cpguDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
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