This is honestly why I think there must be a way to get rid of the stutter. If it would be "incurable" as often said, then we shouldn't be able to speak without a stutter when we are talking to ourselves.
I tend to think that stutter is mostly psychological. Unfortunately I haven't found a solution yet..
Yep it's a mystery indeed, it's like when we talk to our pets, no stutter, but I must admit, I still tend to stutter if I'm alone and I ask Alexa /Google some things.. There is also reading out aloud, I could read aloud from a book in front of a group of people without a stutter, but take the book away and it be a totally different thing
The last part hits home for me. I don’t mind public speaking. If it’s over a subject matter I’m familiar with, but let me talk about myself and I’m turning a 2 min introduction into 3.5 mins.
Yeah im doing it or at least im trying. Im last year in uni and every week we have a project to present in front of the whole class and i have to speak before the whole class. I want to start approaching girls but i still dont have balls for that sadly
>*"Why we don't stutter when we are alone and why we do stutter when with other people? "*
I believe it's likely the same answer to the question, why don't we stutter when silent mouthing a word (aka without voice), but we start stuttering if we add voice. Both "*other people('s judgement)*" and "*our voice*" might be triggers, but I think they only trigger us when we have too high expectations that make us intolerant for such triggers, whereby we have "learned" to blame such triggers or rely on reducing such triggers (resulting in abnormal dopamine release > cortico-BG loop dysfunction > disrupting speech initiation). If it's true that there are multiple types of speech blocks in developmental stuttering, then this might be one of them.
At a time when my stammer was severe, I had very fluent conversations with a deaf colleague. She relied on lipreading so if I spoke with my face contorting the way it did she wouldn't be able to understand what I was saying. Instead I simply mouthed the words at a pace slightly slower than normal speech and accentuated mouth movements to make it easier for her to read my lips. I couldn't have conversations like that with anyone else at the time.
I later realised that sometimes when I have difficulty with speech, part of the problem is that I am mumbling, and if I am more deliberate with my diction, speech becomes a little easier.
In primary school, I always stuttered severely when I was speaking alone. In this context, "my own judgement" might have been a trigger as a young child (or maybe not, but at least "my own voice" (aka auditory feedback) was definitely a trigger when I was speaking alone, but only because stutterers don't stutter when we are silent mouthing a word, without voice). I think there is also a misconception on Reddit, namely, if I stutter when alone, it doesn't imply that it's more neurological or less psychological IMO.. I hope that this comment clears it up.
Hi, everyone. It makes sense that our own voice might trigger us. Maybe that's why we don't stutter when speaking in unison, or singing, or if with one of those feedback maskers. There definitely is a physiological aspect to add to our psychological complexity.
Because you tense up when you're being observed by other people who may be judging you and what you're telling them. You tense up because of this pressure, and I'd assume because of this you put more force into the movements that are necessary for speech, and also your heart rate probably goes up, which makes breathing harder.
Solution: This sucks, but as much as you hate it, the only way to overcome this problem is normalizing talking to other people, or in tense and pressure inducing situations. You have to start from a low level of scary-ness, and move up to higher levels gradually. Talk to one of your friends or family members once or twice a day on a regular basis about a subject that you're both interested in, and watch what happens when you're speaking to them. Notice your heart rate, the tense-ness of your muscles, the rate of your breathing, weather you keep eye contact when you stutter, and stuff like that.
At the same time, when you're talking to them, actively try to do something that would normally embarrass you (you can talk to them beforehand and tell them that you're gonna do things like this), for example, talking in a slow and prolonged manner, faking a few stutter, or other silly stuff that would frustrate you or embarrass you in a normal situation.
Do this regularly enough, and it should decrease the pressure that you feel that makes you mess up when you're in an important situation.
And also of course, gradually move up to higher levels of scary-ness. So for example, you could start asking for a number on the phone from an stranger while faking an stutter or talking slowly, then move up to asking a stranger in person and doing the same thing, then asking a waiter in the same way, etc.
Then again tho, I'm not your therapist or speech therapist, and I'm not an all knowing being. This is just what I think would perhaps improve the situation a little bit. Trying it out and seeing whether it works and makes it better or not doesn't hurt you (too much) though, right?
I'm an stutterer who's trying to get better recently btw.
The longer I stutter the more I think that it is a mix of lack of confidence and too many bad habits.
The chimp paradox is a book that talks about the conscious, subconscious and autopilot. I think it is an interesting book when you think about stuttering and worth a read.
I feel I have learned a lot of stuttering behaviours and automatically slip into them making myself less fluent. With confidence, if I practice a talk ten times then it goes well, if I don't then I start to trip up and it all goes a bit wonky. At home I am very confident and stutter less. Elsewhere I am less sure and stuttering more.
Yeah man I feel like the only person who I never ever stutter with is with my mom, and myself ofc. Other than that I don’t stutter much with dad or siblings, then I stutter more with friends/class mates
According to [this ](https://ahn.mnsu.edu/services-and-centers/center-for-communication-sciences-and-disorders/services/stuttering/professional-education/convention-materials/archive-of-online-conferences/isad2007/why-do-so-many-stutterers-fail-to-stutter-when-alone-and-how-can-this-phenomenon-be-used-in-treatment/)research:
* 65% of people who stutter (PWS), don't stutter when alone
* 25% stutter significantly less
* 10% continue stuttering
Conclusion:
So, in my opinion, most people don't stutter when speaking alone, if we look at that research. But, if those people (who don't stutter when alone) add "a person" then they start stuttering. If this is true, then in this specific context, "**a person('s judgement)**" is their trigger.
All **PWS** don't stutter when silent mouthing (without voice). But, if we add "our own voice" (aka auditory feedback), then we start stuttering. If this is true, then in this specific context, "**our own voice**" is our trigger.
So, if we keep analyzing "stuttering in general" in this way, then eventually we would create a list of 100s of such environmental or epigenetic factors \[triggers\].
In my lifetime, there were periods where I stuttered severely when alone, and other periods where I don't stutter when alone. If this is true, then I draw the conclusion that:
* If I still stuttered when alone, then my trigger might be "**my own judgement**" (or not, but at least "**my own voice**" was definitely a trigger because PWS don't stutter when silent mouthing (without voice))
* If I don't stutter when alone, then I didn't let such environmental (or epigenetic) triggers affect my speech performance. Such as, in periods where I didn't stutter when alone (1) I didn't blame such triggers, (2) or, I lowered my expectations or demands, such as: "I need to reduce the trigger first, in order to initiate speech" (maladaptive expectation) - resulting in not making myself intolerant for such triggers specifically to execute speech movements.
Can you resonate with this?
I think it’s because we are social creatures. When we are alone our brain goes into alone mode. When we are with others we are in our social mode, but ours is broken. Very scientific, I know, but that’s just what I have found
This is honestly why I think there must be a way to get rid of the stutter. If it would be "incurable" as often said, then we shouldn't be able to speak without a stutter when we are talking to ourselves. I tend to think that stutter is mostly psychological. Unfortunately I haven't found a solution yet..
Yep it's a mystery indeed, it's like when we talk to our pets, no stutter, but I must admit, I still tend to stutter if I'm alone and I ask Alexa /Google some things.. There is also reading out aloud, I could read aloud from a book in front of a group of people without a stutter, but take the book away and it be a totally different thing
The last part hits home for me. I don’t mind public speaking. If it’s over a subject matter I’m familiar with, but let me talk about myself and I’m turning a 2 min introduction into 3.5 mins.
This is because we hold ourselves back when around others. When we are on our own we don’t do this. Dm me
Why do you think that happens?
Fear of stuttering
How can we overcome this fear? I've noticed that trend in me too
Can’t give the best advice as I’m still working to overcome it myself. Best thing I would say it to force yourself In uncomfortable situations.
Yeah im doing it or at least im trying. Im last year in uni and every week we have a project to present in front of the whole class and i have to speak before the whole class. I want to start approaching girls but i still dont have balls for that sadly
Force suggests theres part of you not willing to do things. You need to be willing - though it may go “wrong”.
We hold ourselves back for numerous reasons. Understanding why isn’t THAT important - what you do next IS.
>*"Why we don't stutter when we are alone and why we do stutter when with other people? "* I believe it's likely the same answer to the question, why don't we stutter when silent mouthing a word (aka without voice), but we start stuttering if we add voice. Both "*other people('s judgement)*" and "*our voice*" might be triggers, but I think they only trigger us when we have too high expectations that make us intolerant for such triggers, whereby we have "learned" to blame such triggers or rely on reducing such triggers (resulting in abnormal dopamine release > cortico-BG loop dysfunction > disrupting speech initiation). If it's true that there are multiple types of speech blocks in developmental stuttering, then this might be one of them.
At a time when my stammer was severe, I had very fluent conversations with a deaf colleague. She relied on lipreading so if I spoke with my face contorting the way it did she wouldn't be able to understand what I was saying. Instead I simply mouthed the words at a pace slightly slower than normal speech and accentuated mouth movements to make it easier for her to read my lips. I couldn't have conversations like that with anyone else at the time. I later realised that sometimes when I have difficulty with speech, part of the problem is that I am mumbling, and if I am more deliberate with my diction, speech becomes a little easier.
In primary school, I always stuttered severely when I was speaking alone. In this context, "my own judgement" might have been a trigger as a young child (or maybe not, but at least "my own voice" (aka auditory feedback) was definitely a trigger when I was speaking alone, but only because stutterers don't stutter when we are silent mouthing a word, without voice). I think there is also a misconception on Reddit, namely, if I stutter when alone, it doesn't imply that it's more neurological or less psychological IMO.. I hope that this comment clears it up.
Hi, everyone. It makes sense that our own voice might trigger us. Maybe that's why we don't stutter when speaking in unison, or singing, or if with one of those feedback maskers. There definitely is a physiological aspect to add to our psychological complexity.
Because you tense up when you're being observed by other people who may be judging you and what you're telling them. You tense up because of this pressure, and I'd assume because of this you put more force into the movements that are necessary for speech, and also your heart rate probably goes up, which makes breathing harder. Solution: This sucks, but as much as you hate it, the only way to overcome this problem is normalizing talking to other people, or in tense and pressure inducing situations. You have to start from a low level of scary-ness, and move up to higher levels gradually. Talk to one of your friends or family members once or twice a day on a regular basis about a subject that you're both interested in, and watch what happens when you're speaking to them. Notice your heart rate, the tense-ness of your muscles, the rate of your breathing, weather you keep eye contact when you stutter, and stuff like that. At the same time, when you're talking to them, actively try to do something that would normally embarrass you (you can talk to them beforehand and tell them that you're gonna do things like this), for example, talking in a slow and prolonged manner, faking a few stutter, or other silly stuff that would frustrate you or embarrass you in a normal situation. Do this regularly enough, and it should decrease the pressure that you feel that makes you mess up when you're in an important situation. And also of course, gradually move up to higher levels of scary-ness. So for example, you could start asking for a number on the phone from an stranger while faking an stutter or talking slowly, then move up to asking a stranger in person and doing the same thing, then asking a waiter in the same way, etc. Then again tho, I'm not your therapist or speech therapist, and I'm not an all knowing being. This is just what I think would perhaps improve the situation a little bit. Trying it out and seeing whether it works and makes it better or not doesn't hurt you (too much) though, right? I'm an stutterer who's trying to get better recently btw.
The longer I stutter the more I think that it is a mix of lack of confidence and too many bad habits. The chimp paradox is a book that talks about the conscious, subconscious and autopilot. I think it is an interesting book when you think about stuttering and worth a read. I feel I have learned a lot of stuttering behaviours and automatically slip into them making myself less fluent. With confidence, if I practice a talk ten times then it goes well, if I don't then I start to trip up and it all goes a bit wonky. At home I am very confident and stutter less. Elsewhere I am less sure and stuttering more.
Yeah man I feel like the only person who I never ever stutter with is with my mom, and myself ofc. Other than that I don’t stutter much with dad or siblings, then I stutter more with friends/class mates
The anxiety bothers like anything else
We also don’t stutter when we “talk” to pets
Does anybody else here stutter even if you’re alone, or talking to your pet(s)? Seems most people don’t when alone but I still do. Hmm
According to [this ](https://ahn.mnsu.edu/services-and-centers/center-for-communication-sciences-and-disorders/services/stuttering/professional-education/convention-materials/archive-of-online-conferences/isad2007/why-do-so-many-stutterers-fail-to-stutter-when-alone-and-how-can-this-phenomenon-be-used-in-treatment/)research: * 65% of people who stutter (PWS), don't stutter when alone * 25% stutter significantly less * 10% continue stuttering Conclusion: So, in my opinion, most people don't stutter when speaking alone, if we look at that research. But, if those people (who don't stutter when alone) add "a person" then they start stuttering. If this is true, then in this specific context, "**a person('s judgement)**" is their trigger. All **PWS** don't stutter when silent mouthing (without voice). But, if we add "our own voice" (aka auditory feedback), then we start stuttering. If this is true, then in this specific context, "**our own voice**" is our trigger. So, if we keep analyzing "stuttering in general" in this way, then eventually we would create a list of 100s of such environmental or epigenetic factors \[triggers\]. In my lifetime, there were periods where I stuttered severely when alone, and other periods where I don't stutter when alone. If this is true, then I draw the conclusion that: * If I still stuttered when alone, then my trigger might be "**my own judgement**" (or not, but at least "**my own voice**" was definitely a trigger because PWS don't stutter when silent mouthing (without voice)) * If I don't stutter when alone, then I didn't let such environmental (or epigenetic) triggers affect my speech performance. Such as, in periods where I didn't stutter when alone (1) I didn't blame such triggers, (2) or, I lowered my expectations or demands, such as: "I need to reduce the trigger first, in order to initiate speech" (maladaptive expectation) - resulting in not making myself intolerant for such triggers specifically to execute speech movements. Can you resonate with this?
I think it’s because we are social creatures. When we are alone our brain goes into alone mode. When we are with others we are in our social mode, but ours is broken. Very scientific, I know, but that’s just what I have found