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From: Ed Feuer
Date: 10/7/02
Time: 3:38:50 PM
Remote Name: 142.161.128.92
There are a number of things that practioners approaching stuttering often cannot see.
First of all, the anxiety is sometimes justified. There are social and vocational consequences in a still largely ignorant world that views stuttering as a sign of shame, failure and incompetence. Even if the adverse reaction and trauma happens only one in 10 times, that remains the strongest memory. Having a fluent practioner willing to go out in streets and stores and do comprehensive pseudo-stuttering is worth at least a graduate-level course in learning about the nature of the problem.
Secondly, there is the fact that because stuttering is intermittent, there is the problem of the fragmented self. Less communicative stress brings less or even no stuttering and resulting Self-Image A. More communicative stress brings more stuttering and adverse consequences — a situation that creates Self-Image B. But the person who stutters desperately prefers Self-Image A. That results in denial, avoidance of feared words and difficult situations, and maladaptive struggle.
The fragmented self must be healed and that is where genuine and thorough systematic desensitization, healing and strengthening come in. But these are elements usually sadly lacking in current stuttering therapies.