This happened to me when I was 15. I stuttered and all of a sudden I had this deep fear of it and did everything possible to hide it. There are a lot of theories about the causes of stuttering so we don’t fully understand it but I personally think there’s a big psychological component. You mention experiencing traumatic events in your life. I think there’s one clue. I find this take on stuttering the most Illuminating: https://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/Infostuttering/Harrison/block.html Here is an extract: “You have a divided intention -- speak/don’t speak. But because you have learned to prevent yourself from experiencing painful emotions, you close up and hold back. You push the fear (embarrassment, discomfort, etc.) out of your conscious awareness. Thus, the block seems outside of your control, because you’re only aware of half the conflict. You know you want to speak, but you are not aware of the simultaneous reluctance to speak because of the underlying fear and pain. You hold yourself back without being aware you’re doing so. That is why speech blocks seem to happen to you. The antidote is to begin paying attention to what you’re feeling...or at least start noticing and questioning what’s going on when you block. The most compelling question I used to ask myself when I was afraid of blocking was, “Suppose I do speak right now in this situation. What might I experience? Usually, the first thing I thought of was, “I might stutter.” Perhaps. “But what else, might I experience?” Here’s where so many people go blank. They simply don’t know what else might be lurking down there. Is it a fear of asserting yourself...of looking aggressive or coming on too strong...of being the real you? Usually, the problem lies in this area. There is something about yourself that you feel is unacceptable, so you hold back until it feels safe to talk. “Safe” means that you can now talk because the intensity of the feelings has dropped and you can now remain within your comfort zone. “