The simplest was I can describe stuttering is 1- neurological difference + anxiety/avoidance= stuttering. For some the neurological side is primarily the cause. There are young children who have no anxiety about dysfluency—it’s related to neurology, often genetically inherited. Around age 4 sentences become longer and more complex. Managing the cognitive load—formulating sentences, and the motor demands to articulate longer sequences results in dysfluency for those predisposed to it. Now add anxiety, and self consciousness and dysfluency becomes worse. There is a struggle between speaking and avoiding speaking. There is tension. The fear and anticipation of stuttering makes it worse. This is true stuttering. The degree that various factors play in stuttering varies person to person. For some it is mostly from trauma or people with anxiety. For others it weighs heavily on managing the language burden: being able translate thoughts into words and sentences in an efficient manner. For others it is heavily due to motor planning problems. Each profile of each stutterer usually includes those elements in varying degrees. . My understanding is that first there is a predisposition, then anxiety that causes the tension-avoidance approach problem of stuttering. Without the predisposition a person might stutter under extremely high stress situations—a handful of times in a life time. With the predisposition but without the anxiety the person might have dysfluency to one degree or another, but not so that it includes tension or is distressful. With both neurological issues and anxiety you get stuttering. That’s why stutterers typically won’t stutter if they speak to themselves (no approach avoidance conflict, no anxiety from anticipating stuttering) . I’m a speech therapist. I have met adult “cured” or mostly fluent stutterers. They have different stories. One stuttered until an abusive stepfather left. (Less anxiety, no stuttering,). Another learned to tap his toe to help with rhythm (the motor component was addressed.). Another uses strategies learned in speech therapy—he still stutters but it is mild, and fleeting. I’m a retired speech therapist. From my experience the most helpful technique has been desensitization. Negative practice is one way to desensitize oneself. Practice intentionally stuttering as much as possible. It’s hard to do because stutters have always faught AGAINST stuttering. This is something you can play with and have fun with. Try to set a number of times you can stutter when speaking to yourself. Then if you have a close friend or family member you both can stutter intentionally while playing a game or having a conversation. The objective is to stop trying to control and allow dysfluency. Get comfortable. Without the approach-avoidance struggle dysfluency largely disappears. That doesn’t mean this technique is a magic bullet, just that I have found it very valuable. Indeed—addressing the emotional side isn’t always simple. Especially in cases of abuse, or of criticism when speaking, ie childhood teasing . Counseling, joining a stuttering support group, etc can be helpful. I