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Updated: Oct 28, 2025

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
Efficacy of psychological interventions for selective mutism in children: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled
Sophie Y Steains1, John M Malouff1, Nicola S Schutte1
1University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.
Background:
Selective mutism is a rare childhood anxiety disorder characterized by a consistent failure to speak in certain social situations where speech is expected, despite fluent speech in other situations. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to investigate the efficacy of psychological interventions for selective mutism in randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
Methods:
Five RCTs with a total of 233 participants were analysed using a random-effects model. A quality assessment of the included studies revealed that psychometrically sound measures and treatment manuals were used across all studies.
Results:
The results of the analyses showed psychological interventions to be more effective than no treatment, with the overall weighted effect size of g = 0.87, indicating a large mean treatment effect. This effect did not significantly differ with whether only selective mutism specific or nonselective mutism specific measures were included in the analysis.
Conclusions:
These findings provide support for the efficacy of psychological treatment for selective mutism. Future research could examine the effects of the successful treatments identified in this meta-analysis when compared with a psychological placebo or another bona fide treatment.
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