commentr/StutterJune 7, 2022

Content

This may be a bit long... but here goes. I see the following options for stutterers. 1. Costal Breathing where you breathe and talk a specific way. 2. Traditional(?) therapy which looks at a mix of fluency techniques and mental health 3. Drugs. Some people claim they work - I don't have interest in this. 4. Gimmicks. Ear pieces etc - again some claim they work - I don't have an interest. Personally, I don't want to breathe or talk a specific way. Others get on well with costal breathing and that is great for them but it isn't for me. I would recommend the book self therapy for the stutterer by Malcom Fraiser. I would then recommend you seeking a speech therapist of speech course which is aligned with this book. With your condition you need to keep in mind there are several things to think about. 1. There is an impairment to your fluency 2. There are your physical behaviours that you have started doing to battle this impairment. 3. There are then your emotions about your condition and how you are percieved. I personally block a lot and recently it has got quite bad due to a recent promotion and the stress of proving myself to a new group of people. When I block, I get a lot of physical tension and pull the odd face battling to get out a word. Emotionally, I am having a difficult couple of weeks but I remain generally confident. I know that most people don't give a crap about my speech. I know most people respect me regardless of my stutter. I know to be mindful about negative reactions of others. (If I am self concious, I may negatively misread a situation. I may perceive bias against me when really, my emotional state is skewing what is actually happen.) Something else I personally struggled with. In school I was taunted a bunch. Then the kids grew up and took me literally 3-4 years to get over the bullying. In my mind, those snide remarks, while not being said where still there. It took some patient people to help demonstrate that I had no evidence that this was still a problem. Having some therapy really helps unpack your stutter and your feelings about it and should improve your life drastically. Going back to the book and related courses. There are several components. 1. Desensitise yourself to your condition. Essentially, own the fact you have a stutter and move on. 2. Promote techniques to give you more control when you stutter. This shortens / prevents a stutter. 3. Analyse your behaviours around stuttering and attempt to normalise and correct them. I don't want to ramble too much. If you ever want to chat you can ping me a message. I honestly wish you the best of luck and hope you feel better about things soon.

Themes

Anticipation & AvoidanceEmotional ExperienceCauses & VariabilityIdentity & Disability

Subthemes

Avoidance & SubstitutionOverthinking & MonitoringAnxiety & Social JudgmentStress & Fight/FlightIdentity & Self-PerceptionStigma & Bullying

Codes (3)

ordering_service_encounteremotional_stateperceived_judgment