Verbal Shutdowns: Conversion Disorder or Something Else?

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And then what, you communicate with smoke signals or semaphors? Or just not communicate at all and they guess at what you want to say?

And then sit in total silence for hours on end. Have LOTS to say, just can't always get the words out. But, if that's how they want it, so be it.

Sympathies. It's pretty gross for staff to ignore or oppose necessary accommodations. Is there anyone you can talk to about this?

Well, that's the thing... talking to someone requires talking, which I don't do much of.

However! On July 5th I have a therapy appointment (where I am free to type as I wish and say whatever I want)... and I might see if my therapist will set this one staff straight

Oops, I was thinking contact, as of course e-mail might be an option, but "talk" got out.

Hope that works out.

I carry my laptop into my sessions. I also ask for whiteboards as an accomodation for almost any meeting. If they cannot provide one, I will bring one. I also carry a whiteboard marker everywhere I go. If a whiteboard doesn't exist, almost every office has a window. LOL!

Drawing and talking go hand-in-hand in my world.

BTW: Free printers at library or unemployment offices usually...

Maybe I should bring a white board whenever I can't complete a sentence.

this happens to me in certain groups/siituations

i spent 2years at school not speaking to the group i ate lunch with

Yes, I had social anxiety for a few years and this used cause a meltdown and my mouth seemed like it clamped itself shut... until my mom sent me to live with grandparents who inturn put me in a boarding school.. I had to face my fears there and I got rid of them to a great extent by myself so I was socially active again I was able to speak and also had some public speaking training...

I was appointed a teaching assistant an year ago at my school and I had to spend a lot of time preparing what I was going to speak about in class and I seem to be okay now though I am lost for words at times that I try to cover up and move on...

My professor who also has aspergers told me everybody has their own weakness... you've to appear strong and cover up your weakness to survive in the NT world..

Apologies for not reading the whole thread. But I am sort of motivating towards something else but I wanted to answer you first as best I can.

I fail to speak for many reasons:

1) Following a seizure: I think this is due to the paralysis on one side of my body, or even on either the top or bottom half of my body. I cannot always speak from my right side but can get a few words from the left. Although I have had moments where I couldn't speak at all. I think this has to do with brocas area.

2) Sensory/emotional overload and shutdowns: You all knows what it means when you get so overloaded by sensory stimul that you just fade away from the scene and it's even hard for me to look at people, let alone speak to them. And, oh yes, emotional stress sets it off as well.

3) Saying personal things: The words simply don't come but I am capable of saying less personal things.

Are you under a lot of stress and being constantly bombarded with sensory stimuli? I know I have been and I know that's what makes it impossible for me to speak, or look at people, or walk.

I think it's probably autism being autism, as others have suggested.

I don't really have full-on verbal shut downs, but there are times when talking is difficult. I sometimes have a stutter and I have word retrieval issues, both which worsen under stress or strong emotion. Often times the words that come out of my mouth aren't what I intended. Words get replaced with the wrong ones or they get garbled. I'm usually able to make myself understood eventually, but sometimes it's not worth the effort. I like typing more than I like talking.

Thanks for the tip. I love the idea of writing on my therapist's windows, although I think that won't be necessary. I think the whiteboards are an excellent idea. I didn't think of libraries.



Huh. That sounds like selective mutism? Or just social anxiety?

I don't have anxiety at all - I have been unable to speak because of anxiety and this isn't the same thing. It's usually due to overload and shutdown.



I am not sure if I ever really knew how to do this, although I tried pretty hard throughout my 20s. I haven't had nearly as much energy for fronting for NTs in my 30s until now, though.



Thanks for the rest of your reply.

This happens sometimes when I am being bombarded with sensory stimuli and/or under a lot of stress. More often I just retreat like you described and fade away from everything going on around me or just lay down and do nothing for a couple of hours.

Last night was extremely stressful and the situation that caused the stress replicated itself into my dreams over and over again, and I woke up still feeling stressed and depressed. I spent probably the entire morning and early afternoon trying to cope with these things and speech just stopped. Everything else has eased up, and every now and then I sort of blurt out a sentence that may or may not be relevant, or read a sentence out loud. It's usually not a conscious decision to speak when it happens.

The good thing is that so far no one's tried to talk to me today. The annoying thing is that I needed to make an appointment with my PCP to renew a prescription.

Social anxiety coz I did speak but I had problem finding the right words... Slowly I got used to the crowd at the boarding school and loosened up..

Now I understand what you are going through is different.... I hope you overcome it..

It happens to me, too.

It confuses people because sometimes I can speak and sometimes I can't and often it's somewhere between the two.

There are times where I simply can't talk but then times where I can force a few words out, with great effort (I don't really know how to describe it other than being effort) but they're usually muddled, stuttered and difficult to understand. Assuming I haven't forgotten what I wanted to say.

I can spend entire days thinking about things and yet somehow I can't get it to come out. Even typing is difficult, sometimes, but then there's times where I can bore everyone within earshot with monologues.

It's intermittent. I only knew what it was last December. But thanks.