A Stifled Voice Severs Agency, Belonging, and Hope

"I once completely lost my voice, on a flight from New York to London, and spent the next week having to communicate through gestures and mime. Without a voice, it became difficult for me to express what I thought or felt or needed. For humans, the voice acts as a fundamental tool for communicating a spectrum of meaning, emotion, and intention to others."

"Beyond a physical ability to speak, to have a voice implies both internal and external agency. Having a voice means possessing the capacity to translate thoughts into expression, and the social recognition that allows that expression to carry influence and effect change. Everyone has a story to tell and a point of view. Feeling heard and valued confirms that your perspective matters. Validation is fundamental to every person's psychological well-being (Paradisi, Matera, and Nerini, 2024)."

"A voice means you possess a robust instrument for exercising influence and power, including the option to speak out, command attention, sway others, and alter the status quo. Conversely, being silenced means you are deprived of that ability for self-expression. Suppressing one's voice stifles personal agency and interferes with the shaping of a personal narrative. Being repeatedly invalidated causes a person to question their own judgment and intuition. It can lead to intense self-doubt, confusion, and feelings of worthlessness (Gross and John, 2003)."

An inability to speak inhibits expression of thoughts, feelings, and needs and reveals how voice conveys meaning, emotion, and intention. Having a voice entails both internal capacity to translate thought into expression and social recognition that gives expression influence and effect. Feeling heard and valued provides validation essential to psychological well-being. Voice enables influence and power to speak out, command attention, and change the status quo. Silencing and repeated invalidation erode agency, judgment, and self-worth, producing self-doubt and confusion. In relationships, a safe balance of self-expression and active listening fosters equality, trust, intimacy, and constructive problem-solving; misuse of voice harms connection.

Read at Psychology Today