commentr/StutterDecember 16, 2020

Content

Absolutely. Keep in my mind this is what has helped me and may not work for all. This might be long but I’ll do my best. As I was researching stuttering I became convinced that stuttering was not related to some mechanical problem with my speech. I could speak perfectly by myself so why couldn’t I do it around people? It had to be some mental or emotional block. I ended up going down a rabbit hole about neurolinguistic programming but long story short I became obsessed with how the mind works. I reached out to a therapist, Jeffrey Gurian, who seemed to be more focused on the emotional and spiritual side of things. I worked with him monthly for a couple years. He posed a lot of interesting questions to me such as “am I afraid to speak fluently because it’s obvious I can” and “what if you were reading aloud in a room by yourself but someone was hiding behind the couch. If they suddenly popped out would I automatically start stuttering”. Things like that. He also focused on positive affirmation and reading aloud to yourself as practice. He’d have me record it and listen to it to get used the sound of myself speaking fluently. He had me put myself in uncomfortable speaking situations because avoiding them only reinforces my stuttering. The biggest thing though was the realization that stuttering is a choice. It sounds crazy I know, but if you can speak fluently alone you are choosing to give others the power to make you stutter. It took me a long time to get to this point. I kept putting myself in uncomfortable situations and doing my best to ensure I was the one in control of my speech and not anyone else. Over time it just got easier. There was no day I woke up feeling different, the anxiety just slowly went away and better speech came with it. I’m not perfectly fluent now and i still worry about stuttering sometimes, but my stutter is hardly noticeable to anyone that doesn’t know about it. I chalk up stuttering now to more of a habit than anything else. I stuttered pretty terribly for 20 years. Stuttering becomes a habit and it is damn hard to break. I hope that was helpful. Please feel free to ask any additional questions.

Themes

Causes & VariabilityAnticipation & AvoidanceCoping & Advocacy

Subthemes

Trauma & PsychologicalOverthinking & MonitoringMindfulness & BreathingVoluntary Stuttering & Exposure