#communication barriers

It wouldn’t be common, to the point where I’ve never heard of it happening.

 I ended up looking up stuttering for this one and the result was that it’s incredibly unlikely. Apparently while a single cause of stuttering hasn’t been found the major factor is thought to be genetic. Scans show structural differences in the brains of people who stutter compared to those that don’t and it seems unlikely that torture would cause those particular changes.

 However you can get difficulty with verbal communication if you pick the right long term symptoms for your character.

 Some people struggle to speak when having an anxiety attack. This doesn’t manifest as stuttering it manifests as silence. Or a lot of rushed (sometimes incoherent) speech.

 I’m not sure how common this is but I know it happens.

 Someone who is dissociating may also struggle to communicate. They sometimes report feeling as if time has slowed down and they are moving/responding much more slowly. This can lead to them feeling unable to speak or to keep track of a conversation.

 More common then both of these is a deep-rooted sense that no one else will understand what they’ve been through. A lot of survivors report feeling difficulty articulating what they’ve experienced or how they currently feel. And many of them seem to choose not to try rather then communicate ‘badly’.

 This is part of the (nebulously defined) long term difficulty relating to others and social isolation.

 Fear of social rejection and trouble communicating (or a belief that they will communicate badly) often seem to keep torture survivors silent. Or drive them to vaguely agree with what other people are saying. Or to just be quiet and withdrawn in certain situations.

 I think you’d be much better off picking one of these three options rather then using a stutter.

 Aside from anything else stutterers might feel uncomfortable with the suggestion they’ve been traumatised when in fact their condition is genetic.

 Based on what you’ve said I think anxiety and/or panic attacks is probably the option that fits best with what you want. Rather then breaking up the dialogue with stuttering break it up with descriptions of the anxiety attack. Heart palpitations, chest pain, shaking.

 Hand gestures could work really well there, with a lot of aborted gestures or trembling showing readers the character’s feelings. Especially if you combine it with feeling short of breath, which can make the character feel like it’s physically difficult to speak.

 I hope that helps. :)

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It's important to the plot that the character has severe trauma to the point of not being able to function in society without years of therapy, but I don't want to go over the top and make it not survivable. Time frames don't matter much to the plot so they can be changed around a lot. (solitary confinement ask 2/2)

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Well, I think that depends on how we’re defining ‘communication’.

 Clearly given the scenario these characters can’t hold conversations. But there’s a big difference between being completely ignored/neglected and interaction that isn’t language based.

 The studies I’m drawing from here are not actually on solitary confinement and they were much more short term (ie over a day). The one I can remember most clearly was based around a game. Participants were told they were playing a simple computer game that involved passing a ball, with other people. In fact they were playing with an AI that was programmed to either interact equally with them (ie throw the ball to them regularly) or basically ignore them.

 Unsurprisingly people feel bad when they feel like they’re being ignored or rejected. And the evidence suggests that in the long term that is really damaging.

 If this character is being completely ignored and rejected by the people around him, regardless of linguistic ability, then yes I think you should treat that as solitary confinement.

 But there are still ways people can interact without language.

 Do they notice and respond to the character’s emotions? Do they show care for his well being? Do they try to involve him in what they’re doing even with a language barrier in place?

 Let me throw out some examples of possible ways to show positive interaction without language.

 The character has a nightmare. He wakes up screaming and he’s clearly woken one of the language-less people as well. They might get up and make him the equivalent of a cocoa and sit beside him until he falls asleep again.

 This is a show of care and support.

 All of the language-less people seem weirdly busy. There’s a lot of running about and everyone is carrying baskets. One of them offers him a basket repeatedly until he takes it. Then they guide him out and every one goes down to a particular part of the forest. They start picking these odd green berries. The language-less people demonstrate picking them, not eating them and collecting them in the baskets. After a few hours every one goes down to the river and dumps the fruit in the stream. Then they share lunch with him.

 He has no idea what all this represents, but he’s been actively included in a communal activity.

 And that’s the sort of thing I mean. If the other characters are doing something do they try to include a place for him? Do they try and convey how he should be doing things even with the language barrier? Do they respond to his emotions? Do they try to take care of him?

 If these sorts of interaction are present then I’d argue that language doesn’t matter so much: there’s still meaningful social interaction here.

 If on the other hand the character is being ignored or treated like an inanimate object- then it probably is more like solitary confinement.

 Obviously there are a lot of points between these two scenarios.

 Generally speaking I think if the character is already traumatised then it’s probably better to avoid solitary confinement unless you want to make them a lot worse. And while I understand that addition traumatic events can add to a story I think they’re often unnecessary. You don’t really ‘need’ something overtly terrible to make the characters symptoms worse.

 Childhood neglect and abuse could easily be ‘enough’ for this character to end up as you describe.

 If you do really want to use a solitary confinement-like level of social rejection here I’d suggest keeping the time frame at 1-2 weeks. I think you could then tie the character getting worse to being reminded of childhood neglect. So solitary would still be important here and it would still have this big negative effect, but it’s being used partly as a (for want of a better word) trigger. It’s bringing up his past.

 Essentially it’s keeping solitary on a more survivable scale and using the character’s past traumas to highlight the dangers of solitary. Aside from anything else I think this would create a very easily understood link, showing readers how solitary can make a pre-existing condition worse.

 I hope that helps. :)

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I’m unawareof anything that would physically prevent your character from speaking in theway you’d like.

 It seemslike you’re asking for something that damages the vocal cords and well notorture I’m aware of does. The only thing I can think of that might cause thatsort of damage is if the abuser had tried to murder him by slitting his throat.

 Thatwould obviously be very risky for your character but the neck is made of somepretty touch muscles, it’s possible for her not to reach any major arteries orveins while still damaging the vocal chords. Your character could survive withmedical attention.

 Theproblem is I have no idea how muchdamage it would take for doctors to be unable to surgically repair his vocalchords. And the more damage the more likely it is that she’d hit somethingimportant and life threatening. The vocal chords are also pretty far back in the neck, so I think it would be unlikely she’dreach them without hitting something significant.

 And ofcourse this might well limit his ability to breathe.

 If that’sthe option you’d prefer I think you really need to ask ScriptMedic about howsurvivable this sort of injury would be and how easy it is to repair damage tothe vocal chords.

 Mysuggestion is a bit more roundabout.

 Don’tmake him mute. Make him Deaf.

 Damage tothe inner ear is pretty common when someone’s being hit around the head a lot.It’s also something the abuser might try to hide from doctors etc as, takenwith other factors; it can be a warning sign of abuse. Which would delaytreatment.

 You wouldhave to look up implants and hearing aids, I’m unsure if this sort of damagecan be easily fixed now. It would still be reasonable for him not to haveimplants or hearing aids even if his hearing can be corrected. They don’t workfor everyone.

 The worstresult I’ve heard of was someone who ended up hearing a horrible high pitchedscreeching sound 24/7 because their implant malfunctioned.

 If helost his hearing young that combined with some of the effects of abuse (socialisolation, depression, anxiety-) could make him hesitant and uncomfortabletrying to communicate verbally. It wouldn’t physically prevent him from communicating verbally but it can act as alanguage barrier. It’s highly likely he’d have learnt a sign language, differingdepending on where your story is set- I know some BSL and I’m willing to talk alittle about that in a private chat if you like.

 You’dhave to research Deaf culture and the Deaf community in the area your story isset. But I think this could produce the effect you’re going for, a characterwho finds it very difficult to communicate with most of the people around him.Because most hearing people don’t bother to learn any sign languages and thatcan be incredibly isolating for Deaf people.

 I hopethat helps. :)

driver: “¿Cómo te llamas?”

me, assuming he is speaking English and i am being my half-deaf self of only hearing Sounds: yeah, i’m Zero.”

driver: *laughs* *points at my picture* “¿este tu?”

me, Sounds again: “yeah, that’s me.”

~*~

me, thinking about posting about this interaction: *realizes he probably wasn’t speaking Spanish and i was just having my Sounds time*

*gets to my destination*

driver: “¿la cafeteria, Cosmic Bloom?”

Prompts: Belphegor, communication barriers. Just a conversation - a fraught one. OC suffering quite a bit of untreated PTSD here - just as a warning. (he doesn't get any better as the stories progress)

Kai sat on the couch, his fingers drumming against his thigh as he stared vacantly at nothing. The muffled noises in distant parts of the house wrapped around him. His hand absentmindedly stroked across the dark bruises on his throat—bruises that never faded, the ghostly imprint of Belphegor’s grip. They were a constant reminder, etched into his skin. He tugged his collar away from his throat to ease the pressure, but the marks throbbed with an almost sentient ache. The physicians found it odd that the bruises lasted this long, but he knew better. These weren’t the kind of wounds that healed.