Is there hope as an adult to *stop* stuttering?
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Is there hope as an adult to *stop* stuttering? I am an adult who has stuttered since childhood. Unfortunately, I never had speech therapy as a child. I want to start now, but I am put off by the emphasis I see on programs that focus on "acceptance" and "learning to live with a stutter". I have no desire to "accept" my stutter - I want to speak normally. Stuttering has contributed to me being single, unemployed and depressed. Sometimes I physically can't get any words out and just have to stop speaking and leave the other person confused. I am agoraphobic. Not only that, but it's physically painful and leaves me out of breath. If I cannot get better, then life feels pointless. Are there any programs that match my goals? Or is it hopeless? If it matters, my stutter is much worse as an adult than as a child. As a child, it used to be mild and only in certain situations (e.g in school, or around people I didn't know). When I hit puberty, it became much more severe and now I do it every sentence, plus the physical symptoms I mentioned previously. I feel like my chances of eradicating it are better since it wasn't that bad as a child.