Archive
Silent Suffering: Children with Selective Mutism
Selective mutism is described as persistent failure to speak in specific social situations where speaking is expected, such as at school and with playmates, despite speaking in other social situations. Children with selective mutism often engage, interact, and communicate verbally within comfortable surroundings, such as their home. They are capable of speaking and understand the language used. However, when placed in structured social settings, such as school, they are mute and socially withdrawn. Levels of social interaction with peers vary among these children. Some interact easily with peers in and outside of the home while others find all aspects of socializing difficult. Other symptoms of selective mutism may include avoidance of eye contact, blank facial expressions, moodiness, and a fear of crowded and/or dark places. Read more…
Social Distance and Mental Illness: Attitudes Among Mental Health and Non-Mental Health Professionals and Trainees
Stigma towards adults with mental illness is both a longstanding and widespread phenomenon. In the mental illness stigma literature, authors have used the construct of social distance (the proximity one desires between oneself and another person in a social situation) to assess expected discriminatory behavior towards adults with mental illness. Scholars have described low social distance as characterized by a feeling of commonality, or belonging to a group, based on the idea of shared experiences. In contrast, high social distance implies that the person is separate, a stranger, or an outsider. It has been suggested that social distance research can provide valuable insight into factors that influence mental illness stigma. One factor that has been studied as it relates to social distance is gender, both of the target (person with the mental illness) and perceiver (person who desires social distance). Read more…