Elective mutism is the former name for selective mutism

Selective mutism

Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder in which a person, most often a child, who is normally capable of speech is unable to speak in given situations, or to specific people...

, a childhood anxiety disorder. Elective mutism was defined as a refusal to speak in almost all social situations (despite normal ability to do so), while selective mutism is considered to be a failure to speak in specific situations and is strongly associated with social anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder , also known as social phobia, is an anxiety disorder characterized by intense fear in social situations causing considerable distress and impaired ability to function in at least some parts of daily life...

. In contrast to selective mutism, someone who is electively mute may not speak in any situation, as is usually shown in books and movies. Elective mutism is often attributed to defiance or the effect of trauma.

History

In 1877, a German physician named the disorder aphasia voluntaria to describe children who were able to speak normally but often "refused" to.

In 1980, a study by Torey Hayden

Torey Hayden

Victoria Lynn Hayden, known as Torey L. Hayden , is a female child psychologist, special education teacher, university lecturer and writer of non-fiction books based on her real-life experiences with teaching and counseling children with special needs.Subjects covered in her books include autism,...

 identified four "subtypes" of Elective Mutism:

• Symbiotic mutism: the most common form, caused by a vocal and dominating mother and absent father (very rarely the other way around) and characterized by the use of mutism as controlling behavior around other adults.
• Speech phobic mutism: the least common, in which the child showed distinct fear at hearing a recording of his or her voice. This also involved ritualistic behaviors, which may reflect OCD, and was thought to be caused by the child having been told to keep a family secret.
• Reactive mutism: a reaction to trauma and/or abuse, with all children showing symptoms of depression and being notably withdrawn, usually showing no facial expressions. Notably, Hayden admits that some children put in this category had no apparent incident to react to, but they were included because of their symptoms.
• Passive-aggressive mutism: silence is used as a display of hostility, connected to antisocial behavior. Some of the children in her study had reportedly not been mute until age 9-12.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), first published in 1952, first included Elective Mutism in its third edition, published in 1980. Elective mutism was described as "a continuous refusal to speak in almost all social situations" despite normal ability to speak. While "excessive shyness" and other anxiety-related traits were listed as associated features, predisposing factors included "maternal overprotection", mental retardation, and trauma. Elective mutism in the third edition revised (DSM III-R) is described similarly as in the third edition except for specifying that the disorder is not related to social anxiety disorder.

In 1994, the fourth edition of the DSM reflected the name change to selective mutism and redefined the disorder.

Cultural references

Though elective mutism is no longer recognized by most psychiatrists, it is a popular character element or plot point in stories and movies. Many characters choose to stop speaking, for various reasons. Even more commonly, there are also characters who stop speaking after a traumatic incident. In both these cases, often, and almost always in the second, the character is silent in all situations. This is therefore not selective mutism, and anxiety is very rarely involved. Selective mutism itself is almost nonexistent in pop culture.

The following are a few references to stories including a character who does not speak despite being physically able to.

• In the book Speak
  Speak (novel)
  Speak is a 1999 novel by Laurie Halse Anderson about a girl named Melinda Sordino who is an outcast as a high school freshman. It was made into a film of the same name in 2004. The novel was a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller...
  
  by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character, Melinda, has trouble talking after being raped.

• In the book Cut
  Cut (novel)
  Cut is a 2000 novel by Patricia McCormick, targeted at young adults. It is considered a cult classic among teens. Fifteen-year-old Callie isn't speaking to anybody, not even to her therapist at Sea Pines , the residential treatment facility where her parents and doctor sent her after discovering...
  
  by Patricia McCormick, the main character, Callie, is an elective mute. The popularity of Speak and Cut have most likely done a great deal to spread the conception of elective mutism as refusal to speak or a response to trauma.

• In The House of the Spirits
  The House of the Spirits
  The House of the Spirits is the debut novel by Isabel Allende. Initially, the novel was rejected by several Spanish-language publishers, but became an instant best seller when published in Barcelona in 1982. The novel was critically acclaimed around the world, and catapulted Allende to literary...
  
   by Isabel Allende
  Isabel Allende
  Isabel Allende Llona is a Chilean writer with American citizenship. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the "magic realist" tradition, is famous for novels such as The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts , which have been commercially successful...
  
  , Clara Trueba is mute after witnessing her sisters molestation and autopsy. "She could not move until the first lights of dawn appeared. Only then did she slip back into her bed, feeling within her the silence of the entire world. Silence filled her utterly."

• In the book The Weight of Silence, Calli, one of the main characters, is mute due to witnessing a traumatic experience when she was four years old.

• Near the end of Come Juneteenth by Ann Rinaldi, the main character, Luli becomes mute for several days after accidentally killing her sister.

• The book Hush by Donna Jo Napoli is about a tenth century Irish princess who is made a slave by Vikings and chooses to remain mute as a method of gaining power for herself. Her apparent inability to speak makes her captors fascinated with and somewhat afraid of her. This story was created from a small mention in a folk tale of a slave taken from Ireland who was believed to be mute until someone heard her telling her infant son the story of how she had once been a princess.

• Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things by Lenore Look, the title character is a second-grader who wants to make friends despite being afraid of almost everything and selectively mute.