A pathology marked by the inability to send letters, while having little to no trouble writing them. Sufferers will tend to use ink and paper rather than email, and failure is mostly in the postage stage of communication.
The causal agents are myriad. Ranging from a lack of preparation, postal materials, hesitation, procrastination, and a false sense of faith that a trip to the post office is imminent.
The problem is often compounded by:
- The letter losing relevance as the postage time draws out.
- The pause between writing and sending leading the potential sender to question whether they should even have be sharing those particular mental gems. This is especially true with love letters and job applications.
The invention of email has circumvented several problems of encapsulation and the prohibitive cost of postage. As email includes a SAE with every "letter" the chances of successful communication is increased, but it is important to note the underlaying pathology is not necessarily resolved by technology. Those with severe cases of sender's block can continue to have inflated Drafts folders in their email client and this folder can become a midden of untended friends and loved ones.
A differential diagnosis may be required to determine if the problem is truly senders block as there are sister conditions with similar symptoms. An important indicator of full blown sender's block when compared to incompletion syndrome is that the letters will appear finished and in the ink and paper format, there will be attempted closure such as a terminating signature or the careful insertion into an envelope to resurface periodically, like a shipwreck at low tide, in the potential senders life.