" So I think it was a child’s version of (b) positive thinking." --> Yes, it was positive thinking in your experience. People told you that practice makes perfect ("that it would work"). You had a positive stigma that practicing works. --> In my experience, everyone tells me the dogma that I'm a stutterer and that I can never remove my stutter. No matter how much I practice, I will never improve. The whole negative stigma that I should live with stuttering is very anti-solution and if I want to think positive: "yes I CAN speak stutterfree, I believe practicing will work" (like in your childhood) then I need to completely leave this common misconception (negative stigma). My problem: Because of my negative stigma, I constantly keep thinking: "I don't know how to say this letter fluently", the eternal dogma, because in reality, it's this exact thought that prevents me from speaking fluently. Do you agree?