Why we don't stutter when we talk to ourselves

Why we don't stutter when we talk to ourselves It’s true. Most people who stutter, don’t stutter when they talk to themselves, or read aloud to themselves. They only stutter when other people are present. Why is that? Why can’t I talk without stuttering to other people? A lot of people feel like it just doesn’t make any sense. However, if we think about stuttering through a trauma-informed lens, it makes perfect sense. Wait. What? Trauma-informed lens? How does trauma play a role here? What we’re talking about here isn’t that trauma causes stuttering, but that the experience of stuttering can be traumatic for people. We’re not talking PTSD level trauma (technically PTSD requires threat or perceived threat of death, serious injury, or sexual violence). We’re talking about years of continuous, acute, “small-t” trauma. Trauma that was likely first experienced in grade school when being bullied, teased or laughed at, and feeling helpless to do anything in the situation. This begins to set up the perception that speaking to others (e.g. friends, in front of a class, reading out loud in class, etc.) is threatening. When the brain perceives a threat it goes into fight or flight response. In this state it’s the emotional part of the brain that’s taken over. It sends hormones and other chemical messengers out to the body resulting in things like increased heart rate, faster breathing, increased tension in muscles, among other things. In this fight or flight response to the perception of threat, our thinking or rational part of the brain is taken offline. We can get it back online, but it takes a little bit of time, a bit of awareness, and perhaps some tools to help calm the nervous system. Over time this stress response gets deeply rooted in our brains. As they say, neurons that fire together, wire together. So, the more often we experience a perceived threat and we respond with the same tension, and we try to use the same tricks to get out of a stuttering moment, those responses and actions become the automatic, default response. Because the rational part of the brain can be so easily taken offline in this situation, our brains may have a hard time recognizing even a familiar friendly face as safe. When you’re alone, reading out loud to yourself, speaking to yourself, praying by yourself, etc. There’s no perceived threat. The threat is only there because someone else is there. There’s no reason for your brain to go into the fight or flight response. There’s no stress response leading to the automatic response of fear, anxiety, worry, struggle, tension, head movements, arm movements, etc. that have been engrained by the many years of small-t traumas, and the unsuccessful attempts to escape the triggering event - the stutter. This is just my theory in a quick nutshell. It’s probably not a perfect theory, but I do believe that the experience of stuttering can result in some form of trauma. It’s clear that the impact that stuttering has on people is not too dissimilar from multiple symptoms associated with PTSD. This theory might also explain why we stutter more when we first meet people - we don’t know them or how they will respond if we stutter - and less around people we know well and feel safe with. So, now when someone asks, “Why don’t I stutter when I talk to myself?” You can say, it’s because of trauma and that our brains perceive the experience of talking to people as a threat. Let's also be clear, stuttering is still considered a neurologically based communication disorder, with differences in structure and function of the brain. So even if the perception of the threat is totally gone, it doesn't mean the stuttering will be. But perhaps when the threat is gone or greatly reduced, we will be able to speak with more ease and less tension. What are your thoughts?