My Brain Has a Mind of its Own

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Re: Emotional Memory

From: John Paskievich.
Date: 10 Oct 2007
Time: 11:08:08 -0500
Remote Name: 24.77.216.171

Comments

Hi Mark; Nice to hear from you. I still stutter but I can manage it much better. My biggest problem was anticipatory anxiety which would trigger all sorts of conditioned responses which would, in turn, increase the anxiety which would trigger more fight, freeze or flight responses. I tried to break this cycle from both ends. Firstly,I worked on lessening my anticipatory anxiety by deliberately putting myself into all sorts of speaking situations that I would rather have avoided. This helped to desensitzie myself to the reactions of others. And I would always make a point of always congratulating myself for doing so. I also made a point also of recalling the stories of fellow stutterers that I had met over the years. Knowing that so many were going through the same things as I was provided me a feeling of solidarity. Secondly,I would also identify and monitor all the out of control conditioned responses that my stuttering would trigger eg rapid speech, machine gun repeitions, shallow breathing etc. I would try to modify these behaviours one by one and in various ways so as to short circuit the conditioned responses. By deliberately mimicking and repeating my own conditioned responses I found that I was able to stop them. It's not an easy process and high pressure speaking situations still trigger relapses but when they happen I don't beat myself up over them but rather see them as further learning opportunities. Keep up your good work in the land of Oz and greetings to your compatriot John S.


Last changed: 10/23/07