>I'm currently watching this video by Mort Cooper. He poses that the reason we stutter, is because we don't want to stutter. There are two elements that could lead to a speech block: 1. not focusing on maintaining the forward flow of speech 2. not resisting disruptions in the forward flow of speech Blocking caused by not wanting to stutter, in my opinion, belongs under element #2. It's similar to: fear of stuttering. Whereas 'fear of fluency' or 'fear to speak on the timing of my prosody or intention' falls under element #1. Avoiding stuttering is element 2, whereas avoiding to speak immediately whenever you want to speak (or avoiding to speak immediately when you have the intention) is element 1. An example: If I am swimming, then I need to: * focus on maintaining the forward flow of swimming e.g., so that I instruct to send command signals to move my arm and leg muscles (to swim) * resist disruptions in the forward flow of swimming e.g., resist anticipation anxiety (like "*oh no, I can't swim, I'll fail, people will laugh*"), that leads to fight flight **freeze** response that freezes my arm or leg muscles (resulting in blocking the arms or leg muscles when swimming) You said: "*To talk, when I feel I'm scared to talk. TO stutter, when I feel I don't want to stutter.*" Yes indeed, speak when you fear moving your mouth (to maintain fluency). Speak when you fear stuttering. I don't advice to justify stuttering, to justify the stutter cycle, to justify the stutter program, to justify reinforcing pathways to a stutter speech plan (or stutter mental state) or to justify not putting complete faith in the feedforward system, to justify not resisting disruptions in the forward flow and to justify not focusing on fluency laws to not maintain the forward flow of speech. However, I do advice, if you stuttered, to not care about it, to not pay attention to it, to not overthink or overreact about it and to allow and really experience anticipatory anxiety without responding to it, while resisting avoidance-behaviors and resisting the compulsion of holding back speech. Conclusion: I agree with dr. Mort (and dr. Bodenhamer in his book mastering blocking and stuttering - neurosemantics/NLP), that one way PWS block is caused by a panic response (element 2) e.g., when speaking a feared word in a feared situation. I can resonate. In another situation, however, like speaking when we are alone, research states that 40% of PWS still stutter when they are alone or talk to a pet. If I stutter when I'm alone, then I don't fear stuttering, I don't fear negative listeners responses or other aspects from element 2. In my experience, I do experiernce that I'm not focusing on maintaining the forward flow of speech (e.g., fear of fluency, fear of putting complete faith in the feedforward system, fear to focus on maintaining the forward flow of speech). This is element 1. I believe this is mainly caused by unhelpful beliefs/attitudes (shaped from negative experiences or from incorrectly perceiving environmental factors that led to losing faith in the feedforward system and instead, developed beliefs/attitudes to reinforce overreliance on unhelpful corrections such as sensory feedback in a failed attempt to speak more fluently). >*"All I know is that I shouldn't use avoidance behaviours when I feel I want to use avoidance behaviours."* I agree, we should resist or unlearn avoidance-behaviors. To add to that, I argue that most PWS don't realize that a speech block is caused by an avoidance-behavior itself, which is 'holding back speech' and 'waiting out speech' e.g., because of anticipatory anxiety (or the panic response it caused). This is considered element 2. Another lifechanging discovery I'd like to propose is that, avoiding: focusing on maintaining the forward flow of speech, is also an avoidance-behavior. I argue that most PWS avoid fluency laws such as speaking on the timing on their prosody or intention (instead, PWS speak on the timing of anticipatory anxiety, unhelpful corrections and other avoidance-behaviors). This is element 1. Conclusion: In my experience and to my knowledge, stutter therapies don't approach these 'primary avoidance-behaviors', unhelpful beliefs/attitudes or unhelpful corrections that directly lead to speech blocks. They do, however, focus on avoidance-behaviors (like substituting words and avoiding feared situations), unhelpful beliefs/attitudes (like social anxiety) or unhelpful corrections (such as secondaries), to manage the effects of stuttering - but not the underlying root that led directly to the speech block, in my opinion. Therefore, I suggest to explain this to your psychologist to be, who is specialized in anticipation anxiety so that he can guide you specifically to deal with aspects of the underlying stutter cycle that led to a speech block (instead of managing the effects of stuttering)