Her Stepmom Is Going To Follow Through With Divorcing Her Dad Unless She Can Overcome Her Selective Mutism
A 17-year-old girl has been diagnosed with selective mutism, a type of anxiety disorder on the more severe side of things.
According to the NHS, selective mutism mainly shows up during childhood and can follow an individual through adulthood if it’s not adequately treated.
“A child or adult with selective mutism does not refuse or choose not to speak at certain times; they’re literally unable to speak,” the NHS stated.
“The expectation to talk to certain people triggers a freeze response with feelings of panic, like a bad case of stage fright, and talking is impossible.”
So, this poor teenager’s dad has sat her stepmom down on multiple occasions to try to outline to her what selective mutism is, but her stepmom has never been able to understand.
Recently, her stepmom went away on vacation, and when she came home, she asked to have a meeting with her and her dad.
As they sat down together, her stepmom mentioned being exhausted over the fact that she can’t really talk to her normally.
She gets why her stepmom is frustrated, but her stepmom is someone that she gets stressed out talking to.
“She then told my dad and me that if I couldn’t “get over it” she would divorce my dad,” she explained.
Natalia – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person
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“I understand that she feels sad that I struggle to talk to her, but I respond even worse to anger causing me to start having a panic attack when directly faced with it.”
“It also doesn’t help that she said that she didn’t want to come back from her holiday as well because of me, which makes me feel even worse.”
She feels so responsible and blameworthy that her stepmom issued this ultimatum, and she feels that the weight of her dad’s marriage has fallen on her shoulders.
Since her stepmom had this conversation with her and her dad, she has been struggling to sleep or eat normally.
“And the worse thing is, is that if I follow through and start trying my hardest to communicate to her, it will only be associated with stress, and for as long as I know her, I’m going to have the stress of if I say or do the wrong thing I’m going to be responsible for my dad’s divorce,” she said.
“My dad’s hands are tied as well because if he takes my side then she is also likely to just escalate stuff even more.”
“I know I should probably just suck it up, and even though I literally physically struggle to speak to her, I’ll just have to force myself, despite me not even being sure if that’s possible.”
She doesn’t want her family to be torn apart over this, so she’s wondering what she should do in this situation.
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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