Why Do So Many Stutterers Fail to Stutter When Alone and How Can This Phenomonen Be Used in Treatment?

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Stuttering alone? Cause of stuttering. Treatment...

From: Orlin Baev, Bulgarian
Date: 02 Oct 2007
Time: 10:15:55 -0500
Remote Name: 134.29.31.204

Comments

Hello, Ilia and Natalia, I am happy to see your paper here. As a matter of fact, I quoted you in my research on stuttering – and the quote was exactly about the fact that stutterers do not stutter or decrease their stuttering when talk by themselves, alone. It is definite indication for strong psychological presence in the etiology of that disorder. But, as you mention, some neurological cause or dysfunction might be involved as well – this is why in some cases stutterer speaks dysfluently even alone. I am such a case. In my opinion it happens when there is strong inherited predispositions. For example in my family my mother and my aunt stammer and on my line of the pedigree at least 5 cousins of mine stutter. You are arising very interesting hypothesis about the eventual neural dysfunction – the premotor area linked with the basal ganglia… And how about the cerebellum? It is main praxis center too and acts in the speech production decisively. Anyway – in my research and in several other experiments lead from Bulgarians (Margarita Stankova, PhD – speech pathologist, psychiatrist, etc.) we found out that the levels of neuroticism and anxiety in stutterers is much increased. And I tis increased even in little children, who still do not realize their problem. That’s why we refer to the stuttering as to neurotic disorder (logo neurosis or speech neurosis). Here is one possible definition: “Stammering represents the manifested symptoms of the maladaptive neurotic defense mechanism (Somatisation) to the social phobia of the stutterer” (Orlin Baev).” However, stuttering is open subject with many unknown variables …


Last changed: 10/25/07