# Can you lose your voice through mental or emotional trauma?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lose-your-voice-through-mental-or-emotional-trauma/353765>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 22, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lose-your-voice-through-mental-or-emotional-trauma/353765 "2006-04-22T17:34:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![XaMcQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/f9ae1b/32.png) [@XaMcQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XaMcQ)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lose-your-voice-through-mental-or-emotional-trauma/353765/1 "2006-04-22T17:34:31Z")

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I tried to google this, and got some hits that indicate a vague yes, but I need more info for a short story I’m trying to write. Can living through a traumatic experience actually cause you to lose the ability to speak, or is it just the desire to speak? Is it common? Long-lasting? Do you lose all vocal sounds, or just words? How would you get your voice back?

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**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lose-your-voice-through-mental-or-emotional-trauma/353765/2 "2006-04-22T17:56:07Z")

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I found [this](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8634500&dopt=Abstract), which might be helpful. There’s also [this](http://www.answers.com/topic/conversion-disorder), which refers to the conditon as “conversion disorder,” which might help in your research. Another term is "hysterical aphonia, " from [here](http://www.hazards.org/voiceloss/workhoarse.htm), with more scientific info [here](http://www.aafp.org/afp/980515ap/shaibani.html).

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**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lose-your-voice-through-mental-or-emotional-trauma/353765/3 "2006-04-23T22:58:10Z")

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Just from the trauma, or from physical stuff related to the trauma? My aunt lost her voice for years when she screamed at a bad practical joke played on her. It was the scream that did it, but it was caused by the surprise.