>I do anticipate my stutter. Thank you for your detailed answer. The conclusion is then, before your ninth grade, you didn't have this trigger: * anticipation After your ninth grade you had this trigger: * anticipation ​ >after having stuttered for quite a long time...I do anticipate my stutter This could lead to the conclusion that you experienced so much stuttering that you started anticipating it and then anticipation became a habit (aka neurological). Research supports the notion that stuttering is neurological. How to approach the neurological habit? Answer: Neurological habits can be approached by connecting a new behavior to as many areas of the brain as possible to help develop new neural pathways. By tapping into all five senses (aka awareness), we can create “stickiness” that helps form neural pathways. Many people who stutter in therapies focus on one technique/strategy which counters neuroplasticity, whereas people who stutter, that approach all angles in the [stutter cycle](https://i.imgur.com/CpYYkvF.png) (of the old stutter behavior) - have a higher chance of outgrowing stuttering IMO. Stutter therapies also focus on desensitizing anticipatory fear which is IMO also counter-productive towards outgrowing stuttering. Because if you need to desensitize your feeling that a stutter is coming, then you are telling your instinct that the anticipation is a problem (and to be avoided), fearful and true (which creates complicated behavior) and the negative effect is that the stutter cycle is not broken. Because then we have not: 1. weakened the association between compulsion and anticipation 2. subtracted control 3. and we have not dealt with (say: unlearned) the coping/blaming stutter (victim) mentality. ​ >I was just talking to one friend in school and there wasnt any anticipation or anything at all. It was just a very small stutter and I got through it well. But I realized the feeling of being helpless for a split second. It continued and the duration of my stutter also increased and I became a fully fledged stutterer. The conclusion is that your early onset (aka the initial trigger of your stutter) wasn't panic, trauma or imitating someone, rather it was 'feeling helpless'. Did I understand this correctly or can you add more details? My opinion is that, you tried so much to fix your classmates stuttering (which was before the ninth grade, I mean), that maybe you came to the conclusion that you don't know the answer, so when you experienced your first stutter, this mental state activated (where you didn't know the answer of how to unblock or fix the block). This mental state (or rather, the answer of 'I don't know') could function as an excuse (say: blame) to do the compulsion. **Question 1**: What is your opinion? ​ >I have been pushing and elongating a lot of words as an experienced stutterer. In my opinion, I can only think of 2 different behavioral compulsions (or primary root behaviors) that causes a speech block (shown in [diagram 1](https://i.imgur.com/j9mceRM.png)), which are: 1. some people who stutter don't breathe out during a speech block 2. other people who stutter don't move their articulators (like tongue and jaw) during a speech block **Question 2**: Which root compulsion (or primary behavior) do you have that causes a speech block? In my own experience I believe that most people who stutter have the second compulsion, which is, they stop choosing to move their articulators during a speech block (because for example, they blame anticipation/panic/pressure etc shown in [diagram 2](https://i.imgur.com/whPIka7.jpg)). So, if we blame those reasons or cope with stuttering, then this could lead to stopping with having the intention to move articulators (so we essentially **give up on having this intention**, because - eg: 'we don't know how to unblock' which we tell ourselves \[story-telling\]. In your first comment you replied that you elongate words. I do the same, but then the conclusion is, if I prolong letters like 'LLLLLLike' or 'Mmmmmmore' then during this speech block - I am actually breathing out (because you can hear me LLLLL or MMMM), rather I'm not moving my articulators to the next position (of the next sound) in my mouth. So, does that mean your compulsion is number #2? (where you stop moving articulators during a speech block?) ​ >I strongly feel that getting used to our stutter makes it all the more harder to stop stuttering to the point that it even impedes on our normal speech. Research supports your statement, because the more we do our compulsion (eg stop with moving our tongue), the harder it is to stop the compulsion and the more I reinforce the belief that the anticipation is real. Stutter therapy doesn't approach this, however you could practice these [exercises](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=anticipatory+anxiety) to deal with anticipatory fear or the feeling that you will stutter. **Question 3**: Can you watch the YT videos in this link and afterwards give me your opinion about these videos if you translate it to your own stuttering?