I agree completely with speech therapy being counter productive for the reasons you outlined. If anything it does make the guilt and shame worse beyond what you mentioned, it tries to teach you to speak in a way that sounds unnatural (easy on sets, etc). For me though, I don't want people to tie their heads in knots to add stuttering to the pile of woke. What I've realized it stuttering is hilarious. It's completely natural for people to laugh at it. For me, it's OK that they do laugh at it. I'd rather live in the natural world than be treated like I have a disability. That would just make the shame much worse in my case. I could have been born with much worse ailments. I'm tall, athletic, head full of hair and generally symmetrical. If stuttering is the worst card I was dealt, I still have a pretty good hand. One great thing about stuttering is who it's made me. I have unique insights into social interactions. I can tell who someone is by how they react (laughing is fine, but there are other cues I take note of). It's effected the way I treat other people. I've often wondered who I'd be if I didn't have this hurdle to jump, and in most scenarios I'm worse off for it. I think I would be shallow, vain, callous even (given the rest of my "hand" is rather lucky). At this point at 40 years old, I'm happy with who I am. I've got three wonderful kids, a great wife and a fun job. I think stuttering helped shape who I am and I love who I am.