The objective of The Berent Treatment Method for selective mutism is to resolve the core problem with selective mutism rather than reliance on bridging technique. It will be empowering to consider SM as a manifestation of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Obsessive refers to the thinking or cognitive structure of worry and anxiety. The compulsion is the verbal shutdown.

The typical profile for selective mutism is characterized by the young child speaking normally at home, but verbal shut down is prevalent in anxiety challenge situations such as school and other interactive challenge scenarios. In my professional experience; having worked with approximately 10,000 social anxiety sufferers of all ages since 1978, “typical” refers to ages 3-9 (approximately). By pre-adolescence SM evolves into more of a developmental disorder as many aspects of the child’s maturation have become substantially at risk. Avoidant and dependent personality characteristics have become more ingrained. The individual has become more at risk for avoidant and dependent personality disorder. In addition, there are many examples of “atypical selective mutism” where complex psychological-psychiatric dynamics are at play. For the sake of simplifying this article, I am focusing on the typical profile.

As mentioned previously selective mutism is a variation of obsessive compulsive disorder. Obsessive refers to the conscious and non-conscious worry affecting the child. The primary compulsion is the verbal shut-down or mutism. SM is a complex integration of attitude, thinking, emotion, and physiology.

The young child struggling with SM is not going to suddenly wake up one day and demonstrate initiative for healing. He or she is locked into the primitive functioning upon certain verbal challenges. “Primitive” is defined as spending the least amount of energy possible to sustain baseline functioning. The child has learned the defense mechanism of “detachment”, which means disconnecting. This disconnecting is from thinking and feeling, as well as talking. Accessing the neural pathways required for verbal performance under stress is indeed difficult. It is the essence and core of the child’s anxiety. This detachment becomes more ingrained over time. It is the gateway to avoidance pathology.

For healing to occur parents need to take action where the child is unable to. This statement does not mean that the parents are bad parents. Please understand this. I have encountered numerous parents who mis-interpret what I am communicating here. It means that for healing to occur it will be productive for the parents to compensate for the child’s inability for initiative. The earlier the intervention the easier it is to control the detachment- avoidance reflex.
While many SM children are intellectually intelligent their emotional and social intelligence is substantially at risk.

Parents have potentially more therapeutic influence on the child given their leverage and the avoidance-dependence dynamic, than therapists in a one to one therapeutic scenario.
In order for productive movement to occur parents must first:

• Buy into the OCD-social anxiety definition.
• Learn to be on the same team with parenting technique.
• Be in control of their own anxieties and emotions; a process that is crucial to sustain throughout the treatment process.

Advice such as don’t talk about the problem with the SM child is basically the result of tremendous confusion. The challenge is to learn how to talk to the child about the problem. The Berent Method teaches this via role play and other technique with the parents. Next, parents need to understand their role as enablers and to channel this energy into empowering!

Think of SM as an “addiction” to the avoidance of talking. “Enabling is defined as “any behavior on the part of caregivers that inhibits the growth or potential of the child”. Here we are addressing any behavior, on an age-appropriate basis, that inhibits the child from accessing neural (brain) pathways that are required for various developmental milestones. For example, I have literally hundreds of stories of 5 and 6 year olds who have meltdowns if the parents don’t brush their teeth for them, don’t take them to the bathroom, or request the child to independently put the toys away, and so on.
The most challenging, and most empowering process of treatment is teaching parents how to process thoughts and emotions with the child. This aspect of the therapeutic learning curve greatly enhances the emotional intelligence of the child with selective mutism.

In summary the Berent Treatment method for selective mutism teaches parents to nurture children through the insidious, complex, and ingrained avoidance-dependence-anxiety dynamic. This is accomplished via empowered parenting.

To access our free library of interviews with individuals and families who have resolved selective mutism click here.