Stuttering and stammering (PWS)
PWS is an acronym meaning Person Who Stutters
or Person Who Stammers. To ‘stammer’ or to ‘stutter’
mean the same thing, stammering is the term most used in the United
Kingdom whereas stuttering is more commonly found in North America,
New Zealand and Australia.
It is estimated that approximately 1% of the population suffers from
some degree of stammering, that’s around 50 million people worldwide,
and there is no particular type of person who stammers. Stammering
usually starts in early childhood, between the ages of 2 and 5, these
children are less conscious about their stammer and for around 70%
of these children the symptoms will just disappear. For the remaining
30 % the stammer is taken into later childhood and early teens where
they become self-conscious and more aware of speaking in the right
way. Over the years, certain strategies are developed to cope with
the situation. Once aware of the problem, feelings and thoughts about
stammering are developed, this then begins to affect the person on
many levels, this is why stammering is not only seen as a speech disorder,
but as a social and communication disorder too. The feelings and thoughts
are taken into adult life and can have an affect on social life and
work, feelings of being held back, embarrassment, frustration and
annoyance. Stammerers can often have a low self-image and have difficulty
with being self-assertive; they may see every self-assertive act as
an aggressive act. Because they may not be assertive they may often
see themselves as without rights.
As to why stammering occurs we are yet to fully understand, research
into brain activity has shown a difference yet whether this is due
to the cause or the effect is not known. Other research shows that
there may be hereditary influences, that there is a 20% greater chance
of you stammering if a close relative has a speech problem; or maybe
that stammerers often had some difficulty with learning the words
or sounds of speech in early childhood, and that emotional stress
on a child can be an issue. One thing we do know is that stammerers
usually don't stammer when they sing, speak in unison, whisper, talk
to a pet or speak to a small child. There have even been cases where
a stammerer, having problems saying their own name has resorted to
having it changed officially, only to find that once this has been
done they are then unable to say the new chosen name and the old name
can be spoken quite fluently. Another researched fact shows that stammerers
typically have IQs 10 to 14 points higher than the general population.
There is no particular type of stammer, is may be a repeat in sounds
or syllables, a prolonging of sounds, a block in speech so no sound
is unable to come out. Some may close their eyes or rush through speech.
Also the way that stammerers deal with their speech varies greatly.
Stammerers often have irregular breathing patterns and try to speak
with little or no air in their lungs and some stammerers even try
to speak while inhaling. Some, unfortunately, avoid stammering by
avoiding speaking altogether.
 |
|
 |
Stammerers tend to avoid eye contact with their listeners as they
don’t want to see their listener’s reaction to their stuttering.
They may use 'word substitution’; certain words which they know
may cause difficulty are changed for others which may be easier to
say. This is also known as 'avoidance behaviour’, it’s
a need to hide the stammer, a fear that others may be judged because
of their speech. To someone who is well practiced in avoidance, they
can very successfully use the technique that nobody, not even their
spouse, knows that they stutter.
Stuttering however doesn’t have to be an effect on a persons
level of success. The list of both famous and successful people throughout
history who stuttered is endless, going back to biblical times as
Moses was said to have been a stammerer. Lewis Carroll, the well-known
author of Alice in Wonderland hoped to become a priest but was rejected
because of his stuttering. Quite surprisingly, due to his reputation
as a great orator, Winston Churchill was also a stammerer. He dealt
with it in such a way that kept it undetected. His speeches would
be prepared well in advanced and memorized back to front. It is often
the case that some people develop a remarkable vocabulary by substituting
words to avoid stammering.
Marilyn Monroe was documented to have spent many hours in speech therapy
and that possibly her exaggerated mouth movements and breathy voice
were methods for controlling her stammer. Other more recent movie
stars who stammer include Bruce Willis and James Earl Jones, the man
behind the voice of Darth Vadar. James Earl Jones is in fact seen
as an ex- stammerer due to the fluency in his speech when playing
a role, but in fact his stammer is still very noticeable when talking
spontaneously.
As we know stammers don’t usually stammer when singing. One
of the most famous success stories of recent is that of Gareth Gates,
the British singer who shot to fame in 2002 when he became runner-up
in the television show ‘Pop Idol’. There were suggestions
at the time that Gareth had got as far as did through gaining the
sympathy vote, these accusations were soon dismissed as although he
came second he was soon signed up with Simon Cowell’s record
label and continues to have an extremely successful career to this
day as well as doing a great job of raising awareness and understanding
of stammerers.
Stammers have also for a long time been portrayed comically through
fictional characters, Porky Pig, Awkright from ‘Open All Hours’
to the more recent Professor Quirell in J. K. Rowlings ‘Harry
Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone’. Many fictional
characters have done little to promote the understanding of stammering,
focusing more on ridicule with little sensitivity. However it isn’t
all negative, many of us remember Michael Palin’s character
Pilate in Monty Pythons ‘Life of Brian’ or ‘Ken’
in ‘A fish called Wanda’ in both films Palin portrays
stammerers. He based the role on his own father who suffered from
stammering all his life and has done a considerable amount of work
to support charities which work to help people who stammer, inculding
‘The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children’. He
quotes: "Anyone who knows what it is to stammer either personally
or, as in my case, through a loved one's experience, will know the
effect it can have on a life. To know what you want to say and be
unable to say it is almost intolerably frustrating. All the patience
in the world cannot prevent it affecting the self-confidence and self-esteem”
The stammer itself can occur in various situations, there can be periods
of fluency, maybe when in a comfortable situation with family or friends
At other times the stammer may occur more frequently, maybe through
tiredness, excitement or under stress, . The stammer may be worse
when speaking to someone in authority or on the telephone, introducing
themselves or others, job interviews, ordering at a bar and talking
when others can overhear. It has even be known for people who stammer
to put off getting married because they are anxious about saying their
vows.
It's a vicious cycle, stammerers tend to react to stress by tightening
the muscles of their vocal cords. Therefore, just to think of a situation
where your stammer will be a nuisance causes tension and this tension
will make the stammer worse. It’s not about people 'pulling
themselves together' or 'thinking before they speak', it goes far
deeper, described by American speech therapist Sheehan, as being like
an iceberg. Only the tip of the iceberg shows above the surface while
the bulk of it is hidden under the water. Most people who stammer
agree that there is much more going on 'under the surface' for them
than other people realise.
So how can an IAPH therapist help?
There are various forms of treatment and therapy available, some of these include:
- Electronic Anti-Stuttering Devices
- Speech
Language Pathologist
- Speech Clinics
- Stuttering Self-Therapies
- Drug treatment
These techniques work to a certain degree and results depend very much on the particular case but unfortunately, many of these techniques require a huge conscious effort on the part of the stammerer. Many people give up speech therapy, the unnatural sounding speech, all be it fluent, is for some worse than stammering itself. Approximately 5% to 10% of stammerers are receiving some form of therapy. These low numbers are an indication of the effectiveness of current treatments. Although many stammerers may wish to seek some form of therapy, many are reluctant to even make the initial contact.
We have found though, that the most successful treatment for stuttering and stammering, is a short course of 'pure' hypnoanalysis - as taught and practiced by IAPH therapists. Our experience is, that stuttering and stammering is very often a symptom of 'social anxiety': it is a performance-related symptom. Sufferers tend to stutter much more, when they feel 'on the spot', 'looked at' or embarrassed... this intense dislike of being 'on the spot' is known as social anxiety (or social phobia).
Therefore, if a stutterer or stammerer went through a course of 'pure' hypnoanalysis (with an IAPH therapist) they could not only resolve ther stuttering or stammering, but also all the other symptoms associated with social anxiety/social phobia.. some of which are: blushing, difficulty in maintaining eye contact, fear of being judged, dislike of talkiing on the phone, fear of meeting people, fear of getting into relationships, fear of conflict, fear of writing in front of other people....in fact any situation where the person feels 'on the spot' or in a 'performance-related situation where they feel under scrutiny' Wouldn't it be nice to resolve all the symptoms a person had, rather than just focussing on one or two of them?
How
can 'pure' hypnoanalysis help?
For details of how hypnotherapy can help with stuttering and stammering,
contact your nearest therapist here.
