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We report a case of SM in a 17-year-old girl whose symptoms started when she was 4 years old and have persisted during adolescence. She stopped talking to everyone after a haircut. She panicked every time her mother went out or when she was left at school. She didn’t talk for 45 days, and then progressively recovered, talking first to her sisters, then to other relatives. One year later, she stopped talking again after her bike had been stolen. Three months later, she started to chat with relatives and two close friends. She hasn’t talked to anyone else since then. Despite this fact, she regularly goes to school and has friends of her age, with whom she communicates through e-mails and mimics. Neither academic nor cognitive impairment have been detected along all school years. She likes to dance and to play handball. When she needs something that requires talking, her mother does it on her behalf, which prevents her from being exposed and increases avoidance of anxiety situations. According to DSM-IV criteria, a diagnosis of SM was made. Assessed through a semi-structured interview (Schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia for school-age children, K-SADS), she met diagnostic criteria for Separation Anxiety Disorder (in the past), current diagnosis of Specific Phobia. She didn’t have any other anxious (including social anxiety), affective or psychotic symptoms.Before her referral, she was treated with psychodynamic therapy and took paroxetine (20 mg/daily) for 12 months without improvement. At our service, she was treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for 10 months with poor outcome. Then, CBT was associated with sertraline (150 mg/daily). After 3 months, the level of anxiety on CBT exposures lowered. She started to shout when playing handball, she talks louder to her mother in public places, and talks to friends through lips movements. Though she isn’t talking to many people yet, she is clearly less anxious.There is some controversy whether SM is an anxiety disorder (AD) or an independent diagnosis. Previously, SM was considered an oppositional behavior, a psychotic symptom or a dissociative disorder. In DSM-IV, SM is classified under Other Disorders of Childhood. SM has many aspects in common with AD: pre-morbid temperament (shyness, behavioral inhibition), parent-child overdependence, overlapping diagnoses with other AD (social phobia, separation anxiety), and high prevalence of parents with AD.

Selective mutism and the anxiety spectrum: a long-term case report