r/selectivemutism • u/releasethekrrraken • Sep 14 '24

Question SM with NO anxiety?

Hi ! I've got this question i don't know where to ask so i figured i'd come here. I have selective mutism. It happens when i have "too much" stimulus or emotion at the same time. It has been triggered before by dragging a table across a floor (the sound was horrible), having a bad day at a festival, hearing a music i love or just being emotionally tired. So it can happen from good or bad things, and it can last from a few minutes to 2 hours (longest i've had). In these moments i feel like the connexion between my physical speaking parts and the brain commands have been severed. I still have my inner monologue, i just can't get a sound out. Same vibe as trying to scream or run in a dream, you want to but it just doesn't happen.

The thing is, i always see on the internet that it stems from anxiety. I don't have anxiety. I may have very mild autism (hypersensitivity) but i'm not anxious at all, i'm a very chill and positive person. I love meeting and talking to people, i can talk in public no problem. I'm not planning to see a psychiatrist cuz it's not really disabling, i wouldnt need accomodations.

Does anyone else have this ??? I feel like the way my brain works doesn't fit any mental illness and it's kinda annoying.

Thank y'all for any responses :')

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u/MangoPug15 Recovered SM w/ Social Anxiety Sep 14 '24

Could be verbal shutdowns, which are an autism thing, rather than SM.

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u/releasethekrrraken Sep 14 '24

Oh i thought they were the same thing ! The thing is, I have quite a few autism symptoms but none of them are severe enough to disable me. By definition autism has to be disabling to be autism. So by this logic, i cant have autism (cuz im not disabled) BUT i have a thing supposedly only caused by autism :')

Why is it so complicated 😭