Selective mutism defines one's inability to speak in certain situations. One who suffers this is actually fully capable of speech, but goes completely silent in one scenario, e.g. at school or in the presence of a violent family member or in Raj's case, when a woman is around. It is a serious anxiety disorder, usually paired with shyness and/or social anxiety.
The following points all have to be present for the disorder to be called selective mutism:
- The person consistently fails to speak in specific social situations despite speaking in other situations.
- The failure of speech lasts for over a month.
- The failure to speak is not due to a lack of knowledge of the spoken language.
- Communication disorders and psychotic disorders (which could explain the failure to speak) are absent.
In The Big Bang Theory[]
Season 1[]
Raj's selective mutism is already seen in the very first episode, when he fails to talk to Penny.
In "The Grasshopper Experiment", Penny discovers that Raj's mutism is nullified as soon as he takes a sip of alcohol. Unfortunately, he says very inappropriate things when he is drunk.
In "The Bat Jar Conjecture", Raj gets caught up in the conversation and manages to reply to Howard in Penny's presence, however he immediately clasps his hands against his mouth in shock when he realizes what has just happened. Later in the episode it is revealed that Raj can speak in front of mixed-gender crowds.
In "The Porkchop Indeterminacy", Raj enters a drug trial to suppress the mutism completely. Unfortunately, not only did he suffer from a plethora of side effects, such as involuntary movements or facial expressions, the drug's effect also wore off very rapidly and at the worst possible moment. Suffice to say, it didn't work out.
Season 2[]
Raj's shyness being the cause of his mutism is clearly shown in "The Griffin Equivalency", where he barges into Apartment 4A and starts to talk passionately, but he goes silent as soon as he sees Penny is in the apartment too. At the end of the episode, Raj wants to apologize to Penny by a letter, but Penny forces Raj to say it to her in person. For the first time in his life while sober, Raj actually says something to a woman he's not related to, and it only was a high-pitched "Sorry".
In "The Maternal Capacitance", Beverly Hofstadter finally diagnoses Raj's failure to speak as selective mutism.
Raj drinks beer before hitting on Summer Glau in "The Terminator Decoupling". Leonard discovers it is non-alcoholic beer and concludes "some sort of Placebo-effect" is taking place. Howard, in jealousy shows it to Raj, who immediately goes silent. Apparently Raj only has to think he consumed alcohol to override his selective mutism.
Season 3[]
In "The Vengeance Formulation", Penny teases Raj about his selective mutism by walking in and immediately throwing a "Yo Raj, talk to me". Obviously, he does not answer.
Season 4[]
In "The Desperation Emanation", Raj mentions having found a way around his selective mutism by dating a deaf girl.
In "The Apology Insufficiency", Raj is visited by FBI Agent Angela Page and, unable to talk to her while sober and with nothing to drink, he manages to find the courage to talk to her by eating rum cake. While some rum cakes can contain more alcohol than others, this supports the theory that simply knowing or thinking a consumed product contains any alcohol at all is enough to loosen him up.
In "The Wildebeest Implementation", Raj tries out another experimental drug against selective mutism as he goes to a coffee shop with Sheldon. He immediately starts talking to a woman without much trouble. However he undresses himself in front of her moments later, having lost all self-awareness. He is shown to be naked the next day in presence of his friends as well, showing that the drug is yet to wear off.
Season 5[]
In "The Wiggly Finger Catalyst", Howard introduces Raj to another deaf girl, with whom his mutism wouldn't be a problem: Emily. However, the relationship fails because Emily only wanted Raj for his money.
Season 6[]
When Raj finally gets a promising relationship with a girl named Lucy, they go on a date in the library in "The Contractual Obligation Implementation". Raj has promised himself to stay sober, so he surpasses his selective mutism by turning the date into a text-date.
After a quite harsh breakup with Lucy in "The Bon Voyage Reaction", he (again) isolates himself in his apartment. Penny comes to comfort him and he is able to talk to her. Penny simply assumes he is drunk again, but when Raj reveals he hasn't had a drink since last night, they're stunned. Raj has gotten over his selective mutism.
Season 12[]
In "The Consummation Deviation", when Raj gets ready to have sex with Anu, his nervousness causes his mutism to relapse and he eventually admits it to her. Although she's upset Raj didn't tell her about it sooner, she's able to put it aside as she doesn't enjoy music and considers that to be her weird quirk along with Raj's mutism.