In your own words. Does stuttering affect your self-esteem/confidence, and if so, how do you deal with it?

In your own words. Does stuttering affect your self-esteem/confidence, and if so, how do you deal with it? In my opinion: If we stutter more, it could lead to reduced confidence in our ability to execute speech. It's like a self-perpetuating cycle: stuttering > less confidence > increasing protection mechanism to over regulate speech execution > placing more limitations to express communication > more stuttering my ideas to deal with it: * stop linking confidence/self-esteem with the protection mechanism to execute speech * unlearn the need to rely on confidence to express communication - which could result in loosening the regulation of speech execution (i.e., being less perfectionistic to initiate speech execution or we might have less tendency to speak more perfect than our panic response (or approach-avoidance conflict) can handle) * stop viewing (and confusing) "*the need for increasing one's confidence to execute speech*" (and 100s of other limitations on perceived stimuli prior to stuttering) as "*it's random and unpredictable*" or "*it's neurological*". * Separate them: neurogenic stuttering ≠self-imposed limitations that we have at least some control over