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From: Ellen-Marie Silverman
Date: 19 Oct 2005
Time: 08:01:44 -0500
Remote Name: 64.12.116.198
Joyce, You are asking some very juicy questions!! Seriously, they are very germane, even basic. They could be the basis for a textbook. Let me start by reiterating the nature of shenpa. Then I will "talk" a bit about clinical stuttering as habit. Shenpa is both the urge, or itch, and the scratching. So, by addressing the shenpa of my stuttering, what I am doing, basically, is not struggling to not stutter. I refrain from the struggle to not stutter and remain present to and relax into the urge to stutter. This weakens my tendency to avoid stuttering which can take the form of stuttering forcibly or not talking at all. That is the behavioral outcome of deciding that, when I experience the urge to stutter, I will stay present with that urge instead of running from it. // Indeed, there is habituation associated with stuttering problems. The way we think and behave in relation to the impulse to stutter is strengthened over time by thinking what we think and doing what we do. The more we think and act in certain ways, the stronger those beliefs and behaviors become. So therapy challenges thoughts and behaviors that maintain stuttering problems and teaches and encourages new, more realistic and natural responses. That is what therapy does. Done well, that is quite sufficient. Thank you for your questions, Joyce. Ellen-Marie Silverman