>*"I think there is a quick final fear/doubt aspect."* Yes I think so too. Ultimately, I think that stuttering is the manifestation (say: outcome) of a triggered mechanism before the stutter occurs. So I see it like this: * underlying fear (that we are conditioned with to avoid for speech executoin to proceed) * if the conditions are "right" (that our valuejudgements say about the conditioned stimuli) * then a fear-panic reflexive response occurs (whic is not the stuttering itself) * resulting in stuttering (the manifestation) as an indirect outcome but only due to the value judgement "For speech execution to proceed". This makes sense.. because for example, if I fear spiders, and I see a spider, it probably wouldn't result in (more) stuttering.. but if it's a feared, anticipated word, then it would. So it has to be a fear that's "condintioned". When I was in primary school and secondary school, "authority fear/stress" had never increased my stuttering. Yes exactly, many people in this subreddit swear by it that authority fear increase their own unique approach-avoidance conflict. Which only means they "conditioned " the fear. You could argue that all fears, words, situations, conditions, and everything in life is conditioned.. and it basically is. Because the longer we have stuttered, the more we have shaped and conditioned stimuli which our subconscious associating with this fear-panic response based on those value judgements. An example of a value judgement is: "I believe that drinking coffee makes my stuttering better, because it gives me a more relaxed feeling" or "I perceive that the feeling that coffee gives me makes my stutter worse, due to more adrenaline." --> This value judgements basically says "I should stutter more (or rather: my subconscious will trigger the approach-avoidance conflict), if.., \[condition: i drink coffee\]" [This ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Stutter/comments/hk759e/coffee_makes_stuttering_worde/)poll shows how different people stutter more or less with coffee/caffeine. But it's not the coffee itself that makes our stutering worse (at least, not to the point where it's noticeable). Otherwise this would have also happened if you would drink coffee at 3 years old.. so let's say we were to drink coffee at 3 years of age, then obviously this would not increase or decrease your stutter at 3 years age, it hasn't yet been conditioned yet with "distorted beliefs" or value judgements very deeply embedded and subconscious that we are not even aware of them.