What is this?

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The last three days (today, yesterday and the day before) I've been really stressed for various reasons.

Intermittently, it's hard to start talking. It's also been intermittently difficult to make facial expressions and use the proper tone of voice when I can speak, though my motor control is not poor enough to explain such difficulties, but as that's something I've always had, I'm not as worried about it. However, speech is not normally difficult; sometimes figuring out what to say is, but I can think of only two other times when I could think of the words in my head and there was nothing physically wrong, but it was difficult to speak.

Anyone know what's up?

There was a topic about this a while back. It's called mutism. I rarely get it, but it happens when I get extremely stressed and overwhelmed.

It could be selective mutism. It's seen in people on the spectrum and is thought to be an involuntary response to stress and anxiety. I get it once in a while as an adult, but it was much more a part of my life when I was younger. Lots of people thought I just couldn't talk.

Are you having a stressful time right now?

Yeah, I am stressed. (Brilliant deductive reasoning there... I said so in the OP.) Thanks. But wouldn't selective mutism make that happen more often?

Right. Reading's not my strongest skill.


You mean would episodes of mutism lead to more episodes of mutism? Don't know.

I forget the name of it, but I've heard of some people on the spectrum having some sort of motor thing where physically producing speech is hard or impossible. Usually described as trying to talk, but nothing comes out, or a block in the throat sort of feeling. And that it can change with stress or age. I don't experience it (except maybe twice under extreme sleep deprivation), so I don't know a lot about it.

And as I understand it, selective mutism is thought of as being only about anxiety. So, if you're not feeling anxious when it happens, that may not be what it is.

Well, couldn't it be a form of shutdown?

I have had this happen to me throughout my life - for short periods of time when I am under various kinds of stress (including and especially hunger + sensory overload) I lose the ability to speak. It's not a motor problem - seems to be cognitive, in my experience. It also has nothing to do with anxiety, as I don't need to be anxious, but I will feel overwhelmed, which is different. I would guess that whatever part of the brain facilitates speaking is temporarily shutting down due to overload.

If your ability to make facial expressions and control vocal intonation is being affected, that also seems to suggest that some of your cognitive faculties are shutting down. I know that when I'm feeling overwhelmed, people will tell me that I look depressed (i.e. my facial expression is flat) and that I'm talking in a monotone, as if whatever part of the brain regulates these things has stopped functioning normally.

I'm not a doctor and haven't got an official diagnosis yet, so this is just speculation based on my own experience and on what I've read. Come to think of it, seems like a lot of what doctors say is speculation based on other people's experience ...

Definitely didn't feel like a block, or trying to talk but having nothing come out. More like forgetting how to try, like when you lie down and forget how to move.

PangeLingua, that's interesting.

Yeah, exactly. It feels like the part of your brain that tells you how to make speech happen is temporarily missing or something.

This.

Selective mute here. I barely speak around anyone other than my family, because I'm so anxious. It feels like my throat is psychically unable to produce words. I've noticed this happens around my family only if I'm under a lot of stress. So I suppose it's from stress + anxiety.

Then that definitely isn't what's going on with me, but thank you so much for telling me!

i very nearly lose ability to speak when under particular sorts of stress. i always thought of it as a stage fright sort of thing. for example when i suddenly find myself with an audience, or put on the spot in any way. and when trying to identify and articulate intense feelings. i think this must be a type of shutdown.

also i can't control my facial expressions and when i try to produce anything in particular my face feels frozen or i will get a tic. when i was still in school i would get a facial tic when i had to speak in front of the class. still get it sometimes when trying to smile for a photo or something, or even if just trying to hold my face or head still. i will start shaking from the neck up.

i don't think speaking comes very naturally to me. if i don't leave my apartment or interact with anyone for a few days i seem to lose the ability to talk fluidly to anyone else, like a muscle atrophying if i don't use it all the time. and my ability to process words (speaking, hearing, or reading) is the first thing to get muddy when i'm overwhelmed by sensory input. also weirdly i have trouble putting words together if i can't see (eyes closed, or glasses off)

when relaxed i can jabber quickly and speak too fast / mumbly for people to understand. then when overexcited i will occasionally stutter. i do manage to talk normally most of the time, but almost anything can interfere with it.

i know someone who is certainly NT who has trouble speaking (very noticeably) when a little nervous. she then starts to put her words in a weird order. i think it's a little different with her - she worries about coming across coherently and overthinks what she is going to say.