About "overcoming" stuttering

[Vermillion]

I've always wondered this.

Is it possible to overcome stuttering without changing all of the psychological baggage/fears/worries/anxieties?

Let me explain this better:

Most stutterers have some degree of fear of giving presentations. Before the presentation, they would worry and feel anxious about the impending doom that is about to arrive. And as they expected, they freeze up and stutter in their presentation.

Now compare this to some people with anxiety disorders who may have bigger fears of public speaking than we do. Before the presentation, they may be having panic attacks, sweating like crazy, heart beating. However, when its time to give their speech, they would not stutter.


So what I'm trying to get at is, do we have to change all that fear into confidence before we overcome stuttering? Can't we work on our "physical" speech alone and all the psychological stuff will fix itself?

because we all know that the fears and worries came as a RESULT of stuttering, not a CAUSE of stuttering.

[lupes]

I think its a mix of both psychological and physical factors that cause stuttering.

But I know i stutter more when im nervous, so that must be psychological.

Also the fact that i KNOW im going to stutter in a presentation, thats also psychological.

So its probably best to address both?

[andrewg818]

As somsone who has overcome stuttering.. [and been around many others who have done so.. WHILE they were doing so].. I'll answer your question this way:

Yes, you can be fluent while you have those fears--but you will not have overcome the feeling of being a stutterer.
You do not need to overcome the fears first to be fluent.
HOWEVER, once you use your techniques for overcoming stuttering to speak successfully in those situations IN SPITE of your fear..the fear will then GRADUALLY dissipate after repeated success.
So, really, what you're asking is a which comes first--the chicken or the egg question-- and, it is pretty much a fact in psychology...that we FIRST do the thing we fear WHILE we fear it..and THEN we gradually overcome that fear...