Mutism/Selective Mutism in an Alter

We have a mute member of our system, River. She's quite different from everyone else in here because she lives outside and melts down when she's inside a building. She also can't walk while inside a building (we're really confused why this is).
Today Birch and I went to visit her (inside realm) and while we visited, Birch told a joke and she laughed. That was the first time we've ever heard her make a sound. It made us wonder if she might be selectively mute or not.
We're also wondering if anyone knows what kinds of things make someone mute or selectively mute (if that's not too triggering to answer). Thank you for your help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_mutism

http://www.selectivemutismfoundation.org/about.html

http://www.selectivemutismfoundation.org/about.html

Lately I've been dealing with a alter with suspected selected mutism hope these help (most of it is based on children). My alter goes mute when someone yells or makes him feel violated. It's not until he feels comfortable will he come back out or talk.

Our Poe (3) doesn't speak at all when she is out, seems unable to, but does speak perfectly well inside. "related to severe anxiety, shyness and social anxiety" defo makes sense for her.

Our Idris (5-15 slider) can speak but just plain doesn't like to (I think). So I'd say "near mute" if that makes any sense but he has the capability to express himself verbally when required.

So far we're just trying to support them as much as pos inside and out, especially Poe who is usually in a state of high alert when she is out. We're trying to make space for lots of safe play for her to get her more used to the outside/real world.

Most all of our system is or was selectively mute, the only ones that were not were under 6 years old. I think a lot of systems have that.

For us, the selective mutism was caused by traumas such as:
*trigger warning*
Having to be entirely quiet for days at a time with intense consequences if a sound was heard ranging from breathing to moving around to talking.
An abuser's convincing of them being able to hear what was said to others by us (even when not present) due to supernatural abilities.
and so forth.

I hope you're able to help this part heal

lifelongthing wrote:For us, the selective mutism was caused by traumas such as:
*trigger warning*
Having to be entirely quiet for days at a time with intense consequences if a sound was heard ranging from breathing to moving around to talking.

It's like a light clicked on in my head. I think I might have just understood a little more about why River is the way she is now. Thank you Lifelongthing.
Something very similar to this happened to us during the ages 8-16, with the more intense years focused around ages 9-12 (which is right around River's age).

*Trigger Warning - flashback, violence*

-someone's memory-
We couldn't speak when one of our abusers was near, we couldn't chew crunchy food, couldn't crinkle a plastic bag, or he'd be thrown into violent fits of rage and smash things in the house, hurt people around us and sometimes us. It was always so unpredictable and frightening. Sometimes it was alright to just be normal, other times a fork touching a plate would trigger these episodes. It always happened around dinner. Eating has always been a horrible experience for us, but this was one of the worse things that would happen.

I'm glad I was able to help. I'm sorry you endured that but knowing that and relating that to this part can help you heal her. I wish you the best.

It seems to me from reading just this forum, mute alters are really common in DID. If you do a search on this forum for mutism, sign language, muteness or mute, you'll come up with dozens and dozens of posts describing an alter as mute. For us, one cause was fear of the mother going crazy and becoming abusive from almost anything that might trigger her, especially sound. The associated desire was to be invisible to so many abusers in our environment. We hid often as a child, which I myself barely recalled, and as an adult I was often triggered into a hide-and-freeze response that didn't seem to be based on any real danger in the present.

Being forced to silence or near silence is an extremely cruel thing for a child to experience. We have memories of Little John practicing talking to himself at naptime or bedtime, fearful that he might be heard. I was told my entire life I spoke almost nothing until age 2.5 when I suddenly started speaking full sentences. This was the age when I took over from Little John as the host or main person out. I myself have never been quiet though Jonathan was when he took over me much of second grade and neighboring years. It was always a surprise to hear anyone describe me in childhood as having been silent or even quiet. It didn't make sense until I realized I had DID and I met certain alters.