His whole name is Joseph G.Sheehan, and here are the excepts from his writings: ​ > The conflict in stuttering is not simply between speaking versus inhibiting expected stuttering. In the double approach-avoidance conflict situation, there is both a conflict between speaking and not speaking and between being silent or not being silent. The avoidance does not come primarily from the fear of stuttering as such but from the competition between the alternative possibilities of speech and silence, with the stuttering a resultant of this conflict. Speaking holds the promise of communication but the threat of stuttering; silence eliminates temporarily the threat involved in speaking, but at a cost of abandonment of communication and consequent frustration. Many stutterers show a fear of silence, and filibuster furiously in their speech to keep any pause from becoming dangerously long. Since most stuttering occurs initially, silence plus initiation of speech becomes a conditioned cue for the painful experiences of anxiety and stuttering. ​ Resource: https://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/pioneers/jsheehan/sheehanmem.html